Griz rally, move to top of Big Sky

Friday, October 22

Missoula, Mont.

3 PM

Montana

10-5-1, 6-1-1BSC

Weber State

9-7-0, 6-2-0BSC

Weber State

Montana

Photo by: Derek Johnson

10/22/2021 7:54:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

It was Taylor Stoeger's two second-half goals that gave the Montana soccer team a 2-1 victory over first-place Weber State on Friday afternoon at South Campus Stadium in Missoula, but it was Skyleigh Thompson who got the rally started.

With the Grizzlies needing a second-half spark after giving up a goal early in the first half, the ever-hustling Thompson pressed the Wildcats' goalkeeper into a turnover, which Thompson sent to an open Stoeger that evened the match in the 70th minute.

Stoeger scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season less than four minutes later from the top of the box when a clearing header bounced right to her. She ripped it into the upper-left corner for the game-winner and her third two-goal match of the season.

"We talked before the game about being brave and having courage and taking chances and really just being aggressive. We weren't doing that in the first half," said coach Chris Citowicki. "We played a little too safe in my opinion."

The second-half surge moves Montana (10-5-1, 6-1-1 BSC) to the top of the Big Sky Conference standings with 19 points.

The Grizzlies will close out the regular season on Sunday with a home match against ninth-place Idaho State (2-14-1, 2-5-0 BSC) at 1 p.m. At noon on Sunday, Weber State (9-7-0, 6-2-0 BSC) will play at Northern Colorado (8-7-2, 6-1-0 BSC).

If Montana and Weber State both win, the Grizzlies would claim their third consecutive regular-season championship.

"This keeps us in it. We have the goal for the final day of the season of being in a spot where we can win the league, and we are now," said Citowicki.

Northern Colorado was scheduled to host Idaho State on Friday night, but travel issues forced that game to be postponed until Tuesday afternoon.

"It comes down to Weber going to Northern Colorado. Northern Colorado will be rested because they didn't have to play today, but Weber will have the momentum of playing that they'll take into that game. Fingers crossed they get the job done. That would open the door for us."

Facing a Weber State offense that hasn't been shut out since Sept. 19, Montana gave up a goal in the 12th minute off a corner kick.

Yira Yoggerst took the first shot in front of the net that Griz goalkeeper Camellia Xu saved. The bouncing rebound went to Andelin Baldwin, who scored her second goal of the season.

It was Weber State's first goal against Montana in Missoula since 2010, snapping a streak of four consecutive shutout victories for the Grizzlies over the Wildcats.

Montana would outshoot Weber State 7-4 in the first half, but the Grizzlies were unable to find the equalizer.

"How do you find space to unlock things? That was the rotational message," said Citowicki of his halftime adjustment. "It was moving the midfielders out wide to open up the ball straight to the forwards and then overloading from there.

"Tactically they did really well to understand the rotation we needed to open up the spaces we needed to score the goals. I'm pretty impressed."

Montana's opening goal had nothing to do with unlocking things or moving players anywhere. It was all about Thompson hustling on a play that 99 times out of 100 leads to the opposing goalkeeper kicking the ball out of harm's way.

A Weber State defender played the ball back to Mekell Moss, who had plenty of time and space had she played with some urgency. She didn't and Thompson was on her before she could do anything about it.

Thompson knocked Moss's kick to the ground and beat Moss to the ball near the end line, to the right side of the goal.

"I've always been a player that's pressed the goalkeeper. Most of the time it's not successful, but in times when it is successful, especially in a game like this, it's super important," Thompson said. "I think my coaches expect that from me as well."

Thompson passed the ball past Moss and back into the box, where Stoeger was waiting to one-time it into the open net.

"I saw (Stoeger) out of the corner of my eye. She's always where she needs to be, so it worked out perfectly," said Thompson.

The goal evened the score, but the nature of the play did more than that. It energized a facility that had been waiting for the moment when it could unleash its bottled-up anxiousness.

"That's just the kind of player Skye is," said Stoeger. "She is going to press everything at 100 miles per hour, and most people don't expect that."

It gave Thompson, who has three goals as a freshman, her first career assist as a Grizzly.

"It was amazing," said Citowicki. "It wasn't just the block, it was the possession and then the cross and then Stoeger's composure to finish. One-touch under pressure like that is just amazing."

In last Friday's 2-1 win at Idaho, Montana trailed 1-0 at the half before Stoeger evened it early in the second half. She added the game-winner less than five minutes later.

Friday's rally against the Wildcats came later in the second half, but it followed the same progression. Stoeger ties it, Stoeger adds No. 2 for the game-winner shortly thereafter.

The last eight goals Stoeger has scored -- six this year, two against Northern Colorado in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament in April -- have come in pairs.

The game-winner, in the 73rd minute, came when Allie Larsen played a ball into the box that was headed out. It went right to Stoeger, who left-footed it into the corner from 18 yards out.

"We just talked in the locker room about being first to every ball," Stoeger said. "We didn't think they were outplaying us, so we were like, let's turn it around. I just took it and hit it."

The Wildcats took three shots down the stretch, but Xu was solid in goal once again to collect her 10th win of the season.

Montana will go into Senior Day on Sunday on a three-match winning streak, with multiple goals scored in all three matches.

"It's very important to go into the tournament winning as many more games as we can, just to bring that momentum into the tournament," said Stoeger.