Griz finally reach home opener

The Montana soccer team, after playing its first four matches on the road, will make its home debut when it hosts UC Santa Barbara on Friday at South Campus Stadium.

The Grizzlies (0-2-2) and Gauchos (0-1-2) will face off at 5 p.m.

Montana will then play its second Pac-12 opponent in as many weekends when the Grizzlies go up against California (3-0-0) on Sunday at 2 p.m. (MT) in Berkeley.

Montana will get its first two-match home weekend the following week when the Grizzlies host Cal Poly on Friday, Sept. 13, and Wyoming on Sunday, Sept. 15.

Nonconference road matches at San Francisco and Saint Mary's follow, with the start of the Big Sky Conference schedule set to begin the last weekend of September.

Notes on Montana:

* After opening the season with draws at North Dakota (0-0) and North Dakota State (1-1), the Grizzlies lost on Friday at No. 23 Washington State 6-0 and at Gonzaga on Sunday 1-0.

* Washington State followed its win over Montana on Friday with a 6-3 victory over James Madison on Sunday, scoring five goals in the match's first 25 minutes. The home sweep helped the Cougars (3-0-0) jump up to No. 17 in this week's national poll.

* Montana dropped to 0-10-1 in its last 11 matchups against Washington State, 1-11-0 in its last 12 games against Gonzaga.

* Montana had just two shots on goal against Washington State and Gonzaga, Zoe Transtrum's in the first half against the Cougars, Ali Monroe's in the second half against the Bulldogs.

* Montana has just one goal through the season's first four matches, Alexa Coyle's in the second half at North Dakota State that evened the match 1-1.

* The last time Montana started the season without a win through four matches was 2013. That team would rally to finish the year 7-8-4.

* The last time Montana started the season with just one goal through four matches was in 2008. That team was one of four that qualified for the Big Sky tournament.

* Despite being outscored 8-1 this season, the Grizzlies have matched their opponents in corner kicks created with 23.

* Coyle leads Montana in shots taken with seven. Taylor Hansen ranks second with four.

* Montana won just once in nine home matches last season, 1-0 over Vermont in a last-minute goal by Hallie Widner. Five of those nine home matches ended in either 0-0 or 1-1 draws.

Notes on UC Santa Barbara:

* The Gauchos went 13-7-1 last season and lost in the Big West Conference tournament championship match to Long Beach State 2-0.

* UCSB was picked second in this season's preseason coaches' poll, coming in behind Long Beach State with one first-place vote.

* Senior forward Shaelan Murison, who scored 10 goals last season on a team-high 100 shots to earn first-team all-league honors, was voted to the 11-player preseason All-Big West team.

* UC Santa Barbara opened its season with three home matches. The Gauchos played to a 2-2 draw against Minnesota and a 0-0 tie against San Jose State. UCSB lost 2-0 to California last Friday after allowing two second-half goals.

* UCSB concludes its road trip with a match at Idaho on Sunday afternoon.

Montana-UC Santa Barbara history:

UCSB leads the series history 2-0-0 ... The Gauchos defeated the Grizzlies 4-0 in Hawaii during the 2008 season ... UCSB won 1-0 when the teams met in Santa Barbara in 2015 with a 16-2 advantage in shots ... Montana is 13-11-1 against the nine teams who currently make up the Big West Conference.

Notes on California:

* The Bears went 5-12-2 last season, 1-9-1 in the Pac-12. Their lone league win was a 2-1 victory at Oregon.

* California had advanced to the NCAA tournament 14 straight seasons before missing last year. The Bears won 10 or more matches in 13 of those 14 seasons.

* Cal was picked sixth in the Pac-12 preseason coaches' poll. The league currently has four teams among the top 17 in this week's national poll: UCLA (2), Stanford (3), USC (4) and Washington State (17).

* The Bears are 3-0-0 on the season without a goal allowed. Only Vanderbilt, Denver, California, Clemson and Arizona have yet to allow a goal this season.

* One of those shutout wins was 5-0 over Weber State, the team picked second, one spot ahead of Montana in the Big Sky preseason poll. The other wins: 2-0 on the road at both UC Santa Barbara and San Diego State.

* Four Cal players already have multiple goals this season through three matches. ... The Bears host San Diego on Friday before hosting Montana on Sunday.

Montana-California history:

Montana is 0-3-1 against California ... The Grizzlies haven't played the Bears since 2005 ... Cal won 2-0 in the teams' first meeting, in 1995 at Oregon State and 1-0 at Cal Poly in 1998 ... Montana played to a 1-1 draw at California in 2003, pulling even early in the second half on a goal by Linsday Winans, the first of what would be her 29 career goals ... The Grizzlies lost 3-1 at Cal in 2005, with Winans once again scoring Montana's lone goal.

Storylines:

Montana completes the emotional circle:

The Grizzlies were rolling last week at this time, coming off a 1-1 draw at North Dakota State that had them outshooting the Bison 19-3 over the match's final 70 minutes.

Then Friday happened. Washington State 6, Montana 0. The worst loss for the Grizzlies since opening the 2010 season with a 7-0 road loss at New Mexico.

Montana was on its heels the entire first half at Gonzaga two days later, getting outshot 10-1 and giving up a huge advantage in time of possession. The Bulldogs used those chances to go up 1-0.

That the match ended with an even 50-50 split in time of possession reveals how the second half went. After halftime, the Grizzlies were the aggressor and came away with everything but a goal and a result.

One thing regained: some confidence.

"It's hard, especially with a younger team with no seniors, who would have the experience you rely on and can walk you through that stuff," said coach Chris Citowicki.

"They put so much heart and effort into it, but it was a beatdown. It took us a while to get out of it."

That lasted 45 minutes into Sunday's match. After halftime, a different story.

"Watching the film (of Sunday's match), we played well, really well that second half," said Citowicki. "We moved the ball well, we created the chances we wanted and certain people are stepping up into the positions I want them to step up into."

Should we be concerned at the lack of scoring?

No, says Citowicki, even though his team has scored just one goal through its first four matches. He asks you to remove his team's matches against any teams ranked among the top 25 in the nation and then look at the numbers.

Those numbers reveal his team has outshot North Dakota, North Dakota State and Gonzaga, put more shots on goal and created more corner kicks. The composite score of those three matches: 2-1.

"We're creating better opportunities than we were last year at this point," said Citowicki. "We have so much depth up top that we're trying to figure out what the right lineup is.

"It's just taken us a while to determine who's supposed to be starting up there. It became very clear after Sunday in the second half what we should be doing."

Citowicki on Friday's home-opening opponent:

"It's a big test. They have some good players up front and some defenders who I really like," he said. "It's a dangerous team, but as we showed against Gonzaga, we can compete with anyone. They'll provide us a very good test, but we're at home, which is nice.

"At what point do we step on the field and say, 'All right, I'm not scared. Let's just go at a team. Let's just throw it all out there'? We need to make that mental leap this week."

How much carryover will there be for the match at Cal after playing Washington State?

Another weekend, another Pac-12 opponent, one that has yet to allow a goal this season while netting nine itself.

If the Grizzlies went into a downward spiral with the way the match against the Cougars turned out -- 3-0 by halftime, 6-0 in the end -- how does Citowicki prepare them to face another strong opponent so shortly after playing the first?

"The game is there. We have to show up and compete," he said. "The ball is going to move quickly, so we have to be organized, be a bit more conservative on the front end in our tactics.

"If we feel like we can open up a bit, then let's open up. But first and foremost we have to protect ourselves."

A California homecoming:

Montana has seven players from the state of California. Most are from Southern California, which means Sunday's match and the games in two weeks at San Francisco and Saint Mary's are no easy trip, but at least they're within the state's border.

Those who are from nearest the Bay Area: freshman goalkeeper Elizabeth Todd of Oakland and junior goalkeeper Claire Howard of Santa Rosa.

It is a truer homecoming for third-year assistant coach Katie Benz, who played at Cal from 2008-11. Her first three years she played behind Alex Morgan. Yes, THAT Alex Morgan, who scored 45 times as a Bear between 2007-10. She's done okay for herself since.

As a senior in 2011, and finally given her chance, Benz scored 10 goals through her team's opening eight matches, including a hat trick against Denver, before suffering a season-ending broken leg. She graduated from the school in 2012 with a degree in legal studies.

The Big Sky is off to a slow start:

The league has just seven wins in 37 matches played through two-plus weeks of the season. Northern Colorado, Weber State and Montana, the teams picked 1-2-3 in the preseason coaches' poll, have no wins between them.

Northern Arizona (Iona, Detroit Mercy) has two wins, against teams that ended last season with RPIs of 241 and 309. Sacramento State has wins over Cal Poly (201) and Nevada (290), Idaho over CSU Bakersfield (266) and Oregon Tech, Eastern Washington over Nevada (290).

A win on Friday over UC Santa Barbara (88) would give Montana the league's signature win of the season.

Upcoming: Montana will get a two-match home weekend when the Grizzlies host Cal Poly (0-3-1) and Wyoming (1-0-2) at South Campus Stadium next week. The Cowgirls are coming off a 3-2 double-overtime home win over Northern Colorado.

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Players Mentioned

Alexa Coyle

Taylor Hansen

Claire Howard

Ali Monroe

Elizabeth Todd

Zoe Transtrum

Hallie Widner

University of Montana Athletics