Griz sweep Big Sky awards

It wasn't that long ago that the Montana soccer team was in serious soul-searching mode. Just last week actually.

The Grizzlies had seen their six-match winning streak come to an end, at home of all places, with a scoreless draw against Portland State on Oct. 3.

Then, in a battle of what were supposed to be the top two teams in the Big Sky Conference, Montana lost 1-0 at Northern Colorado.

It wasn't the loss itself that had the Grizzlies looking inward. It was how it came about. After the Bears scored late in the first half, Montana had no counter-punch to get back in the game.

Over the 45 minutes of the second half, needing to generate something offensively to get back in the game, Montana took four shots, just one of them on goal.

It was the 11th time in 11 matches this season, not including the one-sided outliers against MSU Billings and Texas Southern, that the Grizzlies failed to score more than a single goal in a match.

Looking ahead at a road trip to Idaho, which opened the season 8-2-1, and perennial nemesis Eastern Washington, Montana had reason to be concerned.

With so much at stake, Montana went on the road last weekend and swept the Vandals and Eagles, outscoring their opponents 4-1, outshooting them 41-11.

"The bounce-back was impressive because of how quickly it happened," said coach Chris Citowicki, who hinted last week that the team had done some things to recreate itself offensively.

It worked: For the first time this season, Montana scored multiple goals in back-to-back matches.

"It was a massive rebound from the Northern Colorado game and previously the Portland State game. You're looking at two games that could have set us back," said Citowicki.

"We were at a fork in the road and we chose to go in a completely different direction than I think a lot of people would have thought."

Instead of doubling down on a defense that had allowed one goal over the previous eight matches, Citowicki took a late-season gamble. He freed up the offense, even if it came at a cost to the defense.

His team had won five consecutive 1-0 victories before facing Portland State. Friday's 2-1 win came by the same margin but brought half the emotional strain.

After giving up a goal just over three minutes in, Montana outshot Idaho 22-5 over the final 87 minutes and created 15 corner kicks, the most for the team since 2017, or pre-Citowicki.

It was aggressive, it was free-flowing, it was fun. "It's the least stressed I've been on the sideline," he said after the game.

It's unique to soccer, given the low-scoring draw, that you can become an incredibly strong defensive team and rarely lose. As long as your offense can come through on occasion, you can even win games.

"I've had to evolve to not be as afraid of losing and be more willing to put more players higher up in the field, knowing we're going to be numbers down in the back," said Citowicki.

"It's been quite a change over the last week to be honest. It's been four years of winning games 1-0 to figure that out."

Indeed: Citowicki has coached 67 games at Montana. His team has allowed one goal or fewer in 53 of those matches. And the championships and trophies have come his program's way.

Still, he's all about evolving, all about improving, all about changing when it's for the betterment of his program.

Because at the end of the day, he wants a team that can fall behind 1-0 at Northern Colorado and still know it's far, far, far from over.

"I hate losing. That's always going to be a part of me. Now I have to start loving to win, which is very different," said Citowicki.

After Montana opened its road trip with a commanding 2-1 win at Idaho on Friday night, the Grizzlies made it a sweep with an equally impressive 2-0 win at Eastern Washington on Sunday afternoon.

Skyleigh Thompson scored twice, Montana outshot the Eagles 19-4, and the defense, which can still be salty even with a change in team philosophy, didn't allow a shot until the 63rd minute.

"We needed those two results," said Citowicki. "We bounced back really strong, and it's just going to continue because I feel like we're in a very good spot right now."

The wins helped Montana sweep this week's Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors.

Taylor Stoeger, who scored twice in the second half in Friday's comeback win and probably should have been credited with an assist on Sunday, was named the Offensive Player of the Week.

It marks the second time this season Stoeger has been named the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week.

It was Stoeger's third two-goal match in three seasons as a Grizzly and gave her the team lead in points with 11, on four goals and three assists.

Camellia Xu was named the Defensive Player of the Week for the fifth time this season.

After giving up a goal at 3:06 on Friday, Xu blanked Idaho and Eastern Washington over the next 177 minutes. She finished the road trip with four saves while facing 11 shots.

Sunday's shutout at Eastern Washington was her ninth of the season, which has her tied for the national lead. Her save percentage of .868 ranks 16th, her goals-against average of 0.62 ranks 25th.

Entering the final weekend of the regular season, Xu is one shutout shy of the single-season program record of 10, set by Kristen Hoon in 2012 and matched by Claire Howard in 2018.

Montana (9-5-1, 5-1-1 BSC) will host Weber State (9-6-0, 6-1-0 BSC) on Friday at 3 p.m., Idaho State (2-14-1, 2-5-0 BSC) at 1 p.m. on Sunday at South Campus Stadium.

The Grizzlies are still in contention to win the Big Sky regular-season championship, which would be Montana's third consecutive.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Claire Howard

Taylor Stoeger

Skyleigh Thompson

Camellia Xu

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