Griz, Vikings play to scoreless draw

Sunday, October 3

Missoula, Mont.

1 PM

Montana

7-4-1, 3-0-1BSC

Portland State

3-6-1, 1-1-1BSC

Portland State

Montana

Photo by: Derek Johnson

10/3/2021 6:42:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana soccer team extended its shutout streak by 110 minutes on Sunday afternoon at South Campus Stadium, but this one wasn't as rewarding as the previous six, which were all wins.

The Grizzlies took 19 shots and put nine on goal against Portland State but couldn't solve PSU goalkeeper Sidney O'billovich and had to settle for a 0-0 draw in front of a vocal crowd of 376.

The clean sheet extended Montana's shutout streak to seven matches, tying a program record, and upped its minutes streak without allowing a goal to 665, dating back to Sept. 5.

Camellia Xu made four saves in the draw. It was her eighth shutout of the season in just 10 complete games played as a Grizzly to set a new program record for a freshman.

She is just two shutouts off the single-season program record of 10, set by Kristen Hoon in 2012 and Claire Howard in 2018.

Montana (7-4-1, 3-0-1 BSC) had its chances to win on Sunday, but then again so did Portland State, which looked nothing like the team that had earlier losses of 7-0 to Gonzaga and 4-0 to Boise State.

The Vikings (3-6-1, 1-1-1 BSC) put six of their 11 shots on goal, two of which had to be cleared off the end line by Montana defenders after initial saves by Xu.

"I think it's a fair result," said Griz coach Chris Citowicki. "They created some good opportunities, we created our opportunities.

"It was going to be whoever scored first was probably going to end up running away with it, and we kept missing our chances. At the end of the day you've got to score goals, and we both didn't."

Both keepers had to make their first save in the opening seven minutes, and it led to a match of back-and-forth chances over the next 100.

Xu's saves were fewer in number but higher in drama, including one in the 65th minute that was going top corner before Xu punched it wide and sent her crashing into the post.

Sydney Haustein cleared a ball off the end line in the 22nd minute, Caitlin Rogers did the same thing in the 38th.

The first half was also when Jaden Griggs had a breakaway that a hustling Portland State defender shut down before Griggs could get a good foot on the ball.

Taylor Hansen and Molly Massman both took four shots, Skyleigh Thompson came off the bench to electrify the crowd with her three shots and speed that constantly had her flying past Vikings.

It was a match of close-but-no-goal.

"I'm happy with how we're defending, happy with the saves Cam is making when she has to," said Citowicki, whose team scored one goal in each of its previous five matches.

"We just have to put it together on the other end now. But we're another point closer to playoffs."

With the tie, Montana gives up the top spot in the Big Sky Conference standings to Northern Colorado (6-6-2, 4-0-0 BSC), which has won four straight.

Weber State (6-5-0, 3-0-0 BSC) is also unbeaten and untied through two weekends of league play.

Montana will get its shot at the first-place Bears next Sunday when the teams match up in Greeley in what will be the Grizzlies' only match of the weekend.