Soccer program hands out annual awards

The Montana soccer program handed out its annual awards earlier this month at the team's postseason banquet.

Not surprisingly, Claire Howard, the team's record-breaking goalkeeper, was named the Defensive MVP, while the team's leading scorer, Alexa Coyle, collected Offensive MVP honors.

Avery Adams -- "If you were to create a poster to say this is what our program is all about, it would be a picture of Avery," says Griz coach Chris Citowicki -- was awarded the Heart of a Griz.

The Newcomer of the Year award went to Allie Larsen, who started all 19 of the team's matches in the fall at center back, part of a defense that had nine shutouts and a 0.78 goals-against average.

Ask Howard and she'll tell you she hasn't had a single shutout in her first three seasons as a Grizzly. Rather, the 26 she gets credit for belong to the team.

It's not all modesty. There is certainly some truth to her claim. In 19 matches last season, Howard needed to make just 73 saves, or one every 25 minutes of match time.

She'll point to the back line in front of her, the two center backs and the two outside backs, and the holding midfielder. They're the ones who do the heavy lifting, she'll tell you, and keep the ball away from her.

To understand the true value of Howard, you just have to close your eyes at one of the team's practices or at one of its games.

Instead of your attention being drawn to the ball, it will lock in on a voice, Howard's, directing traffic in front of her, pointing out gaps in coverage, threats that might be going unseen, unanticipated.

"She doesn't make a lot of saves, but that's because she is such a good communicator and organizer," says Citowicki. "When you don't have her behind you, you realize how easy it is for things to break down.

"The back line keeps itself organized, but because she is the furthest one back and not often in the immediate action, she can scan the whole time."

Howard, second-team All-Big Sky Conference as well as a United Soccer Coaches second-team Scholar All-West Region selection, became the program leader in career shutouts when Montana blanked Portland State at home in October, 4-0.

She'll need just three as a senior to match the Big Sky record, four to set a new standard.

Citowicki has grown so accustomed to Howard's ever-present voice that he can start to take it for granted. Then he'll watch video -- with earphones in to get the full Howard experience -- of one of his team's spring practices and be reminded again what he was blessed with when he was hired.

"It's incredible how much she talks. When you focus in on just that, you start to understand how important she is back there," he says.

"She keeps everyone on their toes at all times. She's an amazing leader for the team."

Coyle, who made 20 starts her first season, led Montana in scoring as a freshman in 2017.

Citowicki arrived prior to the 2018 season, and Coyle would lead the Grizzlies in scoring once again, but it wasn't always an easy road as both coaches and players got to know each other in a compressed amount of time that bled deep into the season.

After starting all but three of the first 35 matches she played as a Grizzly, she found herself out of the starting lineup for four straight matches in October of her sophomore year and coming off the bench.

She played her way back into the starting lineup just in time for the Big Sky Conference tournament.

All she did over a few days in Ogden in early November was score the game-winning goal in Montana's semifinal victory over Weber State and net the game-winner in the Grizzlies' win in the championship match over Northern Colorado.

"Our journey together has been pretty amazing," said Citowicki, "from when I benched her for a while and she had to prove herself. And then she did. She won playoffs for us."

After scoring 10 goals as a freshman and sophomore, Coyle's output dropped as a junior last fall but that numbers-based focus would be an incomplete measure of the player.

She was limited to just four goals -- nine Big Sky players totaled more -- but her influence on any given match was never greater.

"Every game last year we heard the other coaches yelling, 'Don't let her turn! Don't let her shoot!' That was a new reality for her to get used to, so every year has been a new challenge," said Citowicki.

"The next challenge is that she now has to outsmart people. She can't just use her physicality to beat people anymore. She's evolving in that area immensely. She has continued that trajectory this spring and should be even better next year."

The award has had different names over the years, but only Lindsay Winans, from 2004-06, won it three times prior to Coyle, who needs two goals to break into the top 10 in program history.

She earned second-team All-Big Sky honors last season and if November is the measure of a player's ability to bring it when it matters most, there is this: three seasons, three times being voted to the Big Sky all-tournament team.

"Every spring she seems to get better and better. I've never seen her playing better than she is right now," said Citowicki.

"She would shoot before and maybe she would score and maybe she wouldn't. Now she can miss. She's at a whole new level."

In early November, Adams was voted by the coaches around the league as worthy of being named first-team All-Big Sky.

But that's only the final chapter. It's the start of the story, from early September, that puts that award in perspective.

Don't blame McKenzie Kilpatrick. She was tearing it up at outside back and playing herself into a starting role. And that was going to bump Adams to a reserve role the day the Grizzlies played at California.

But Caitlin Rogers would miss her only match of the season that day, requiring Citowicki to fill the gap at center back with Adams.

That was also the day Ali Monroe, the team's starter at holding midfielder, was lost for the season with a knee injury. Enter: Adams.

"Everything happens for a reason. If it wasn't for Ali getting hurt, Avery wouldn't have played as a holding mid. And she becomes the best holding midfielder in the conference," said Citowicki.

"These random things happened that put her in a spot she was supposed to be at."

The spot she was supposed to be at was taking a corner kick at Eastern Washington on the final day of the regular season on Oct. 30.

The math was simple enough: Montana needed a win, not a draw, to claim the regular-season championship. As the match entered the 79th minute, it was scoreless. Advantage: Eagles.

Then Adams lined up for the corner kick, which she delivered to the near post. And there came Kendall Furrow, heading in the game-winner in what would be a 1-0 victory.

Adams would go from displaced outside back to center back for a match to holding midfielder whose golden foot delivered for the Grizzlies their seventh regular-season Big Sky title in program history.

She would finish the season with three assists. Two led to game-winning goals.

"We always talk about the culture and the values of the program. The Heart of a Griz award goes to the player who shows what it's like to be part of this program and the type of person who exemplifies it very well," said Citowicki.

"That's Avery in a nutshell. There is just something about her and everybody knows it and everybody can feel it."

Montana had just one first-team All-Big Sky selection in 2017 and '18: Taryn Miller, who also was named the Big Sky Defensive MVP as a junior.

That led to one of the biggest questions entering Citowicki's second season: who would replace Miller at center back? And what would the drop-off be and how damaging would it be to the team's fortunes?

Those started to be answered back in July, at the team's player-run preseason practices, when Howard checked in with Citowicki one day and said everything was going to be fine.

She was referring to Larsen, seven inches shorter than Miller but with the same competitive nature.

"She competes at such a high level it's ridiculous," said Citowicki. "She is not only professional with her approach but emotional as well, which makes it frightening to go up against her in practice."

The listing of the former winners of the Newcomer of the Year award -- Larsen was also voted honorable mention All-Big Sky at season's end -- is a who's who in program lore.

It makes sense. If a player is good enough to stand out as a freshman, she'll likely continue to do so over the course of her career.

With Larsen and Caitlin Rogers, who was voted the Big Sky co-Defensive MVP last fall, dominating at center back and Howard behind them, it's no wonder Montana allowed a grand total of two goals in nine league matches last fall.

That's two goals in 870 minutes, one to Idaho State, one to Northern Colorado.

All will be back in August, as will Kilpatrick and fellow outside back Taylor Hansen, ready to take on another season of opponents.

"Allie is the type of person you need to keep challenging. She is the type of person who when she is told can't do something, she wants to do it even more," said Citowicki.

"Now we're challenging her in new ways, and she's reset her goals for the type of player she wants to become, and that's one of the best defenders we've ever had."

While there are no guarantees of anything at this time, Montana is scheduled to open its season by hosting Gonzaga on Aug. 20. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Avery Adams

Alexa Coyle

Kendall Furrow

Taylor Hansen

Claire Howard

McKenzie Kilpatrick

Allie Larsen

Taryn Miller

Ali Monroe

Caitlin Rogers

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