Grizzlies face major road challenges

The Montana soccer team, which last weekend played matches at North Dakota and North Dakota State, will return to the road this week with matches at Washington State and Gonzaga.

The Grizzlies (0-0-2) will face the No. 23-ranked Cougars (1-0-0) on Friday at 8 p.m. (MT) in Pullman at WSU's Lower Soccer Field.

Montana will play the Bulldogs (1-1-0) on Sunday at 2 p.m. (MT) at GU's Luger Field in Spokane.

Friday's game against Washington State will be a rematch of the teams' NCAA tournament matchup in November, won by the Cougars 5-1 on the strength of four second-half goals.

Montana at a glance:

* The Grizzlies opened their season with a pair of draws on the road last weekend, tying North Dakota 0-0 and North Dakota State 1-1.

* Montana was limited to just five shots against North Dakota -- the Fighting Hawks were held to five as well -- and put all five on goal.

* After falling behind 1-0 in the first half against the Bison on Sunday, the Grizzlies outshot NDSU 19-3 over the match's final 70 minutes.

* Montana evened the score at 1-1 on Alexa Coyle's 11th career goal in the 65th minute. She was assisted by Taylor Stoeger, who collected her first point as a Grizzly.

* Montana finished the match with a 22-8 advantage in shots, the second-highest shot differential of the coach Chris Citowicki era. The Grizzlies outshot Southern Utah 23-7 in a home draw last season.

* The draw against North Dakota on Friday was the eighth time in nine seasons the Grizzlies have either won or tied their season opener.

* Sunday's draw marked the second time in program history Montana has started the season with consecutive draws. The 2013 team opened with home ties against Air Force and Wyoming.

* Friday's shutout of North Dakota was the 18th of her career for Claire Howard. The program record for solo shutouts is 24, set by Kailey Norman (2013-16).

* Howard faced just 13 shots on the season-opening road trip and made four saves.

* Montana generated nine corner kicks against both North Dakota and North Dakota State, a total reached just three times last season.

* Howard played every minute in goal on the trip, as did sophomore center back Caitlin Rogers and freshman center back Allie Larsen.

* Freshman forward Emme Fernandez started both games, freshmen Quinn Peacock, Sydney Haustein and Jaden Griggs each saw action in both matches off the bench.

* Seven players came out of the opening weekend with multiple shots taken. Coyle led the way with six.

* Montana is 3-16 all-time against ranked opponents, with eight consecutive losses. The Grizzlies have scored just twice in those eight setbacks.

* Montana last win against a ranked opponent was a 1-0 victory at No. 19 Washington State in the first round of the 2000 NCAA tournament.

* Other wins against ranked opponents: 4-1 over No. 16 BYU in 1998 and 1-0 over No. 16 San Diego State in 1996.

Washington State at a glance:

* The Cougars opened their season with a 4-0 shutout of Seattle on the road last week. They outshot the Redhawks 17-3 and allowed just a single shot on goal.

* Four players scored the four goals, senior goalkeeper Ella Dederick, who missed last year's final 15 games with an injury, collected her 21st career shutout.

* The Cougars were picked fourth in the Pac-12 preseason poll, coming in behind Stanford, UCLA and USC.

* Washington State is coming off a 13-6-1 season. After knocking off Montana in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Cougars fell 1-0 on the road at Georgetown, a team that would make the national semifinals.

* Washington State has advanced to the NCAA tournament seven times in the last eight seasons.

* WSU went 5-5-1 in the Pac-12 last fall to finish seventh. Back from that team is senior forward Morgan Weaver, first-team All-Pac-12, who led the Cougars in scoring last fall with seven goals and two assists.

The Montana-Washington State series:

* The Cougars lead the series 13-6-2 and are unbeaten against the Grizzlies (9-0-1) in the teams' last 10 matchups.

* Montana is 2-9-1 against Washington State in Pullman, with seven straight losses. The Grizzlies' last win over the Cougars on their home field was the NCAA tournament match in 2000.

* The last win for Montana in the series was a 2-1 overtime victory in Missoula in 2004.

Gonzaga at a glance:

* The Bulldogs opened their season last week with a 4-3 road loss at No. 19 Texas, a game that was tied 3-3 going into the 81st minute. Gonzaga outshot Texas 23-15 and had nine corners to the Longhorns' four.

* The season-opening road trip continued with a 2-1 overtime victory at Sam Houston State. Trailing 1-0, the Bulldogs tied it in the 82nd minute and won it with one second left in the opening overtime.

* Gonzaga hosts unbeaten Colorado State (2-0-0) on Thursday night.

* Erin Healy, a freshman from San Diego, leads the team with three goals through two matches. She scored once against Texas and netted both goals against Sam Houston State.

* Gonzaga went 10-4-4 a year ago, with losses to Oregon, Missouri, BYU and Santa Clara, and finished fourth in the West Coast Conference at 5-2-2 after being picked eighth in the preseason coaches' poll.

* The Bulldogs were picked fifth in this year's poll, behind BYU, Santa Clara, Pepperdine and Portland.

* Senior India Jencks, second-team All-WCC last season and the team's leading scorer in 2018 with six goals and three assists, was one of 11 players voted to this year's preseason All-WCC team.

The Montana-Gonzaga series:

* Montana leads the all-time series 13-10-0. The Grizzlies went 12-0 against the Bulldogs between 1994 and 2002. Since then, Gonzaga has won 10 of 11.

* Montana is 8-6 against Gonzaga in Spokane but just 1-6 over the last seven matches on the Bulldogs' home field.

* The Grizzlies' last win in the series came in 2014, 2-0 in Spokane, on first-half goals by Mackenzie Akins and Allie Simon, both assisted by Chloe Torres.

* Gonzaga won the teams' most recent matchup, 1-0 in Missoula in 2016.

Upcoming: Montana makes its home debut on Friday, Sept. 6, when the Grizzlies host UC Santa Barbara (0-0-2) at South Campus Stadium at 5 p.m. The Gauchos opened their season with home draws against Minnesota and San Jose State.

The weekend concludes with a match at California (1-0-0) on Sunday, Sept. 8, at 2 p.m. (MT) in Berkeley. The Bears opened the season with a 5-0 victory over Weber State, the team picked second, one spot ahead of the Grizzlies, in the preseason Big Sky Conference coaches' poll.

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Players Mentioned

Mackenzie Akins

Alexa Coyle

Emme Fernandez

Jaden Griggs

Sydney Haustein

Claire Howard

Allie Larsen

Kailey Norman

Quinn Peacock

Caitlin Rogers

Taylor Stoeger

University of Montana Athletics