Big Sky champs draw Washington State

The Montana soccer team celebrated a Big Sky Conference championship on Sunday, then again on Monday when the NCAA revealed that the Grizzlies will be heading to Pullman to face Washington State in the opening round of the national tournament.

Montana and Washington State will play at 6 p.m. (MT) on Saturday at WSU's Lower Soccer Field.

"Playing at that place is a thrill for everybody," said coach Chris Citowicki, who has taken three of his first four teams to the NCAA tournament.

"That field is absolutely amazing, the atmosphere they generate is amazing, and it's the NCAA tournament. We talk to our seniors that that's where you want to go out, in the NCAA tournament."

It will be another tall task for the Grizzlies in the postseason. This time they'll face a Washington State team that went 13-2-4 during the regular season, with one-goal losses to Seattle and Stanford.

The Cougars finished third in the loaded Pac-12 at 7-1-3, finishing behind UCLA and USC. They were ranked No. 18 in last week's national poll and on Monday had a solid RPI of 28.

Montana has an RPI of 137. The Grizzlies went 13-5-1, their most wins since 2000, and have lost just once since Sept. 5.

The Grizzlies are making their sixth trip to the NCAA tournament, their third in the last four years.

This year's senior class is the first in program history to make three NCAA tournaments.

"That's crazy. It's unbelievable. People are lucky if they get one," said senior Zoe Transtrum, who assisted on the game-winning goal in Montana's 1-0 victory over Weber State in Greeley on Sunday in the Big Sky title match.

She was a freshman on the 2018 Montana team that made a surprising run to the Big Sky championship as the No. 5 seed. That team also went to Washington State and lost an opening-round game 5-1.

Montana faced South Carolina in April and lost 1-0 in Wilson, N.C.

"In 2018, with the run we had to end the season, we were just happy to be there," Transtrum said. "It's different this time, knowing three-quarters of the team has been to the NCAA tournament before.

"There is a lot more experience going in. We expected to be here. This is the new expectation."

The team's matchup in the 2018 NCAA tournament was a 1-0 game at the half before Washington State pulled away in the second half, with goals in the 49th, 61st, 64th and 83rd minutes before Kennedy Yost scored for Montana.

"We've been there before, which definitely helps," said Citowicki. "The first time I went there, I wasn't prepared for it. The more I do this, the more comfortable I feel, the more comfortable the team feels."

Montana played in the NCAA tournament in 1999, 2000, 2011, 2018 and last spring. The Grizzlies will be trying to pick up their first win since 2000, when they won 1-0 against Washington State in Pullman.

"You want to recreate that again, so we're going up there with that in mind," said Citowicki. "Can we get that result again?"

The NCAA bid comes a day after Montana won the Big Sky Conference tournament, giving the Grizzlies five league titles (three tournament, two regular season) in Citowicki's first four years.

Montana, the No. 2 seed, got by No. 6 Sacramento State 1-0 in Friday's semifinals, then defeated No. 4 Weber State on Sunday, also by a 1-0 score.

The Grizzlies got the only goal they would need in the 36th minute, when Sydney Haustein played a ball up the field to Transtrum, who touched it to a streaking Jaden Griggs, who powered in a shot from close range.

"I went into the game thinking I don't want this to be my last game," said Transtrum. "I don't want to retire yet.

"Sydney played such a good through-ball to me. I saw Jaden sprinting across and knew she was in a better position than me to score in that moment, so it was a split-second decision to pass to her."

The winner of Saturday's match will advance to face either No. 3 Tennessee or Lipscomb in the second round.

University of Montana Athletics

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