Adams scores twice, Griz remain unbeaten

Friday, March 26

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

4-0-0, 3-0-0BSC

Portland State

0-5-0, 0-5-0BSC

Portland State

Montana

Photo by: Derek Johnson

3/26/2021 11:22:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Avery Adams, an outside back turned holding midfielder, woke up Friday morning without a goal scored in her Montana playing career.

She'll go to bed with two and the Grizzlies with a 3-0-0 record in league, 4-0-0 overall, after Adams scored twice to lead her team to a 2-1 victory over Portland State on Friday evening at Missoula County Stadium.

Adams opened the scoring in the 18th minute and broke a 1-1 deadlock with the game-winner in the 66th on a penalty kick after Jaden Griggs was dangerously tackled from behind just inside the top of the 18-yard box.

"That's all you can ask for," said Adams. "A win is a win at the end of the day."

While a win can never be expected in a sport as fickle as soccer, the Grizzlies were favored on Friday against a team that came in 0-4-0 and had been outscored 16-2 on the season.

Not wanting a repeat of last weekend's two 5-0 home losses to Idaho, the Vikings played it safe and packed it in defensively from the opening touch.

"In the first five minutes, it was trying to figure out how they were playing. As soon as we got the ball and they all dropped to halfway, they were going to make it 11-on-11 on half of the field and force us to break that down," said coach Chris Citowicki.

"They dropped in and congested the space and made it really difficult for us to play."

That allowed Montana to dominate time of possession early on and finally break through when Adams scored her first collegiate goal at 17:12.

McKenzie Kilpatrick took possession on the left side and got the ball to Adams in the middle of the field. She took one touch and ripped it from 25 yards out into the upper right-hand corner.

It was a goal-scorer's goal by someone who isn't known to be a goal scorer.

"My instinct isn't to shoot there," she said. "But just this week Chris and (Alexa Coyle) and some of my teammates just casually mentioned that I should try to shoot and get a goal.

"It was early on. Why not get a shot on goal? I thought I was going to mess it up, but I didn't."

The stats suggested that would have been enough, the game-winner. The Vikings had scored two goals all season, they had a defensive game plan, and they were going up against Claire Howard, Montana's goalkeeper who has 29 career shutouts and hadn't allowed a goal all season.

On an evening when things were unusual, the first home game under the lights in program history and with Adams scoring twice, Portland State did the unthinkable. They beat Howard.

Paige Donathan got the ball 12 yards in front of goal and slotted one inside the right post past a diving Howard in the 29th minute.

The teams went to the locker room tied 1-1, despite Montana holding a 12-3 advantage in shots, 8-0 in corner kicks.

The second half almost felt like a referendum. Montana had 12 ties in its first two seasons under Citowicki, many coming in games like Friday's. But this season was supposed to be different, a team led by experienced upperclassmen who were done settling for draws.

"We went to the locker room and said, this is very hard to break down. If you want to continue being at the top, we have to find ways to beat teams who play like this," said Citowicki.

"If you don't, then we're going to be tying games and potentially losing games. For us to find a way to do it in the second half, in our style, I loved it."

Twenty minutes in, Montana got the breakthrough goal.

With Montana maintaining possession outside the top of the 18 off a corner kick, PSU's Megan Cornett took Griggs down from behind. She was given a yellow card, Montana a penalty kick.

Adams stepped up, calm and collected as if she'd done this hundreds of times before. Inside left post, Montana with the lead.

"I felt good, so I stepped up and took it," she said. "I'm glad I was able to put it away for the team."

There was no way Montana was losing this lead. The Grizzlies outshot the Vikings 8-2 in the second half, 20-5 for the game to extend its unbeaten streak in regular-season matches against Big Sky opponents to 16.

"Everybody wants to beat us. They are doing their best and doing everything to stop us from scoring and we're still finding a way to get it done," said Citowicki. "I'm really proud of them for that.

"I cannot wait to play again. I wish it was Sunday. I want to go again."

Howard collected career win No. 28. She'll have to wait for another day to break the Big Sky record for career shutouts.

"We're finding ways to win this year. I'm proud of the team for that," said Adams. "Obviously giving up a goal is a big disappointment. That gives us more motivation to come out Sunday."

The teams will play again at noon on Sunday.