Depth highlights first soccer scrimmage

On a Sunday afternoon that originally had Montana scheduled to play at Boise State, a new normal left Grizzlies facing Grizzlies at South Campus Stadium in Missoula as the Montana soccer team held its first intra-squad scrimmage of the fall.

The takeaway: These Grizzlies, the ones in white, the would-be starters had there been a match at Boise State, are really good, worthy of their place atop the Big Sky Conference preseason poll. And those other Grizzlies, those in maroon? They're pretty salty themselves.

It took a late goal by freshman Josie Windauer for White to get away from Maroon in the third period and post a 2-1 victory.

Alexa Coyle put White up 1-0 in the second period. Raye Burton evened the score early in the third for Maroon.

"We feel like we could have one team in the conference and another one, and both would make playoffs with this group we have right now," said third-year coach Chris Citowicki.

"A lot of talent, a lot of depth on this team. I loved seeing it from both ends."

The game featured three shots, from Burton, Taylor Stoeger and Sami Siems, that went off the crossbar before Coyle opened the scoring in the final minute of the second period.

Off a well-placed corner kick by Rita Lang, Coyle took an initial shot that was blocked in traffic. The rebound came back to her. Her second attempt would be the day's first goal.

"That's something we value so much in this program. Every time we play each other, we say it's one of the hardest games we ever play, just because we're so competitive across the board," Coyle said.

"Overall, for our first 11-v-11 scrimmage or game since last fall, there were a lot of good things and some great play on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball."

After White, as expected, dominated time of possession and control of the ball in the opening 25-minute period, Maroon, behind Stoeger, who switched sides during the first break, came to life offensively.

The team took six shots in the second period, putting four on goal, all of which were stopped by Howard.

"The returners did a good job setting the standard of what we expect in a full-field game, and the freshmen did well integrating themselves in their first 11-v-11 game," said Howard.

"Looking at the result, I'd trust our second team against any team in the Big Sky. Knowing the longevity of the season, we're going to be hard to beat down the line if we continue the trajectory we're going."

Burton made it 1-1 early in the third period. Her strong shot from 20 yards out got past the fingertips of a diving Howard. The ball hit the right post, came back into the field of play and hit Howard in the back. It went foot to post to back to net.

After playing for Maroon the first two periods, Windauer moved to White for the third and scored the game-winner.

Following a scramble that had goalkeeper Brooke Johnston far out of net, Windauer got the ball on the right side and had a 1-v-1 against Johnston, who had scrambled back to goal.

The player who scored 83 times at Columbia Falls High in her career looked poised and in control as she scored inside the right post for the day's final goal.

"Today was a lot of fun," said Windauer. "It was great to get out on the full field and play 11's. I love the energy of this team and how everyone competes. Everyone goes hard like it's a real game.

"It's really fun to play with 31 players who have the same mentality, who want to win and compete hard. It has me excited and thankful to be here with this group of girls."

While the scoring gets the lion's share of the attention, the defensive play was just as strong, particularly in the first period, when the Maroon back line of Marley Muelhaupt and Reese Elliott in the center and Kendall Furrow and Catie Buck on the outside kept White scoreless.

"I came in thinking, okay, maybe the score will run up a bit," said Citowicki. "A ton of people surprised me today and did really well."

But it was the scoring that was the most promising for a team that had 15 goals in 19 matches last season. That team, which allowed just 16 goals and had nine shutouts, rode its defense to a Big Sky regular-season title.

On Sunday, against that championship-level defense, Montana had three goals and three more shots that hit the crossbar.

"We got into a lot of good spaces and had a ton of opportunities," said Citowicki. "We talk about the difference between attacking and building to good moments.

"Last year we had chances, but so many of them were low quality. Today we were creating high-quality opportunities from really smart players, so I was very happy."

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Catie Buck

Raye Burton

Alexa Coyle

Reese Elliott

Kendall Furrow

Brooke Johnston

Rita Lang

Marley Muelhaupt

Sami Siems

Taylor Stoeger

Josie Windauer

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