Montana opens season in North Dakota

The Montana soccer team will open its regular-season schedule this week with matches at North Dakota and North Dakota State.

The Grizzlies will face the Fighting Hawks on Friday at 2 p.m. (MT) in Grand Forks, the Bison on Sunday at noon (MT) in Fargo.

Both matches can be tracked through live stats and video, links to which can be found at GoGriz.com.

Openers:

* Montana is coming off its fourth NCAA tournament appearance, its first since 2011, which the Grizzlies claimed by winning the six-team Big Sky Conference tournament in November as the No. 5 seed.

* Montana went 7-9-6 last fall in its first year under coach Chris Citowicki. The Grizzlies lost just three times after Sept. 23.

* The Grizzlies returned seven starters from that team, including junior forward Alexa Coyle, who led the team in scoring last fall, with six goals and one assist, and redshirt junior goalkeeper Claire Howard, who had 10 shutouts in 2018 and a 1.09 goals-against average.

* Montana was picked third in the Big Sky preseason coaches' poll, behind Northern Colorado and Weber State.

* Montana is 12-10-3 in season openers in its history, 5-4-1 when those have been played on the road.

* The Grizzlies' 1-0 home loss to Fresno State to open the 2018 season ended a seven-year streak of either winning or drawing their first match of the season.

* Montana enters the season without a senior and only six players who are upperclassmen in eligibility.

* Montana holds an 8-2-1 record in its matches against North Dakota. The Grizzlies are 1-2-0 in Grand Forks. The teams played to a 0-0 draw last September in Missoula.

* North Dakota State leads Montana 3-1-0 in the programs' history, with all three Bison wins coming by shutout. The Grizzlies are 0-2-0 in Fargo, taking 3-0 losses in both 2005 and 2011. The latter was the last time the teams have met.

* North Dakota went 9-6-2 last season and finished sixth in the Summit League standings with a 3-4-1 conference record. The Fighting Hawks were picked sixth out of nine teams in the league's preseason poll.

* UND won both of its exhibition games, outscoring Manitoba 4-1 and Viterbo 5-0. The Fighting Hawks host Saint Mary's on Sunday.

* North Dakota is coached by Chris Logan, who is in his third year. Citowicki was Logan's associate head coach for the 2017 season before he was hired by Montana in May 2018.

* North Dakota State went 9-7-0 last season, with a 1-0 home loss to Northern Colorado, the team Montana defeated in the Big Sky tournament championship match.

* The Bison finished third in the Summit League standings at 6-2-0 in 2018 and were picked third in the preseason coaches' poll, coming in behind Denver, the team that knocked NDSU out of the Summit tournament in November, and South Dakota State.

* North Dakota State returned six starters, including senior forward Mariah Haberle, who was voted first-team All-Summit League last fall after leading the team with seven goals.

* The Bison added senior forward Elyse Huber in the offseason. The transfer from Nebraska scored seven goals for the Huskers as a sophomore in 2017.

* NDSU picked up a 3-0 exhibition win over Viterbo, with Haberle and Huber both scoring. The Bison lost 3-0 at Minnesota on Saturday, falling behind 2-0 through 19 minutes and getting outshot 26-9.

* North Dakota State, which opens its season on Friday night when it hosts Saint Mary's, is led by second-year coach Mike Regan.

Storylines:

* Montana wins one, loses one ...

The Grizzlies got off to a slow start in their exhibition opener against Mount Royal last Wednesday and led just 1-0 after the second of three 30-minutes periods, thanks to a goal from freshman Sydney Haustein.

Then the offensive floodgates opened and Montana pulled away for a 5-0 victory, with junior Alexa Coyle and sophomore Rita Lang both scoring twice in the final period.

Four days later Montana hosted MacEwan and lost 2-0, giving up the game-winner in the second period, a penalty kick in the third. The Grizzlies had just eight shots, only four on goal.

"What was nice is that it was two different teams, two different styles of play, two different styles of refereeing," said Citowicki. "It's exactly what you want. It wouldn't have done us any good to go 5-0 win, 5-0 win and go to North Dakota thinking that's what college soccer is like.

"We saw the extremes. We saw one team that was going to let us play and one that gave us zero time. Not everyone lets you play. Now we understand that. Now we know we have to win games in different ways. We had chances to do it, we just didn't execute in the second game.

"It's exactly what we needed. We needed that physicality before it hits us later. We needed a reality check, and we got it. What I loved is that every single player was annoyed. That game just lit a fire under everyone, thank you very much."

* Citowicki makes his return ...

Montana coach Chris Citowicki wasn't in Grand Forks very long, just enough to help Chris Logan earn Big Sky Coach of the Year honors in 2017.

Before that, Citowicki spent more than a decade in different jobs in Minnesota, from head coach to assistant to club positions.

With those ties -- the Fighting Hawks have 16 players on their roster from Minnesota -- there won't be many faces in North Dakota uniforms on Friday that Citowicki won't know.

"I'll know a lot of those kids. I could step on the field and call almost every single one of them by name. I know a lot of them quite well, so it will be fun to see them," he said.

"It's fun and it will probably be extra motivation for them. It becomes an emotional game that way. It makes it more competitive."

And then there will be the head-to-head coaching of Citowicki and Logan. Last season their teams played to a well-played 0-0 draw.

"Chris Logan is one of the smartest coaches I've ever worked with. He tactically sees the game better than most people," said Citowicki.

"I see it being a tight game again, because he's too smart. If something isn't working, he fixes it."

North Dakota went 9-6-2 last season, which included a 1-0 victory over Idaho, the team that would finish second in the Big Sky, and the draw on the road against Montana, the Big Sky tournament champion.

Those six losses? All came by either 2-1 or 1-0 margins. Gone is 15-goal scorer Katie Moller, but it's still North Dakota on the road.

The last time the Grizzlies traveled to Grand Forks was in 2015 for their league opener, the season after going unbeaten in league and roughing up UND in Missoula 7-0.

Montana was picked second in that season's preseason poll, North Dakota last. The result: North Dakota 2, Montana 1.

At the time it was one of the most shocking results for the program in the last decade. Until you remember that it's Grand Forks.

"It's going to be a hard weekend. You have to go the full 90, if not more, to try to get out of there with some points," said Citowicki.

"That's why our final exhibition was exactly what our kids needed. It's not as easy as you think it's going to be. Now we have to go on the road and do it against teams that are going to scrap even more. It's going to be a heck of a test."

* And then, the rebound ...

With all the emotions that will come with Friday's match -- the season opener, Citowicki's return -- no matter the result Montana will step onto Dacotah Field in Fargo less than 48 hours later to face a team projected to be even stronger than the Fighting Hawks.

North Dakota State isn't an opponent Montana has fared well against over the years. The Grizzlies lost 3-0 in Fargo in 2005 and got swept by the Bison in 2011, the last time the teams met.

NDSU won 4-0 in Missoula early in the 2011 season. Seven days later the Bison won 3-0 in Fargo.

Those teams were coached by Pete Cuadrado, now at Wyoming. He was followed by Mark Cook, whose successful six-year run ended with him moving to the Caribbean.

Regan has only continued the success. When the Bison went 6-2-0 in league last fall, Regan's first year, it made it 10 consecutive seasons finishing with a winning record in the Summit League.

"With the new coaching staff, it's a program that's on the up for sure," said Citowicki. "It's going to take them time to build it to everything they want it to be, but they are very smart and know what they are doing."

* And the starting lineup is ...

Citowicki has just 24 hours to figure that out prior to his team facing North Dakota. It might change from Friday to Sunday, it might not.

And who knows what will happen between this weekend and next, when Montana travels to face Washington State and Gonzaga.

"I'd love to know what my lineup is going to be. Every time someone takes a step forward, the person behind them steps over them or slightly behind them. I want to see people step up and play this weekend," Citowicki said.

"I want to figure out what this picture looks like, what our substitution rotation looks like. What is this team going to be like? Every time I have an idea, I don't know. There is so much competition, so much depth, that I just want someone to step up and claim a spot.

"So I'd love to be able to come back from the trip saying, she's on fire and needs to be playing all the time."

Upcoming: Montana will play Washington State on Friday, Aug. 30, in Pullman, Gonzaga on Sunday, Sept. 1, in Spokane. The Grizzlies' home opener will be against UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Sept. 6.

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Players Mentioned

Alexa Coyle

Sydney Haustein

Claire Howard

Rita Lang

University of Montana Athletics