Griz to face Gamecocks on Wednesday

The Montana soccer team will face South Carolina on Wednesday in the opening round of the 48-team NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship.

The Grizzlies (9-1-0) and Gamecocks (10-4-0) will play at 4 p.m. (MT) at Gillette Field in Wilson, N.C., in a first-round match.

The winner will advance to face No. 13 Georgetown at 4 p.m. (MT) on Saturday in the round of 32 at the same site.

Montana qualified for its fifth NCAA tournament by winning the Big Sky Conference tournament and receiving the league's automatic bid.

South Carolina received an at-large bid out of the Southeastern Conference. It is making its eighth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, its 14th overall.

Coverage: Video streaming of Wednesday's game will be available at NCAA.com.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies enter the national tournament with a record of 9-1-0, their only setback a 3-2 overtime home loss to Eastern Washington on Friday, April 9.

Montana won the Northwest Division of the Big Sky at 7-1-0 and faced Northern Colorado, the No. 2 seed out of the Southeast Division, in the semifinals of the four-team Big Sky tournament in Ogden, Utah.

The Grizzlies got goals from Taylor Stoeger in the 59th minute and Stoeger again in the 96th to win 2-1 in overtime.

Montana was scheduled to play Northern Arizona, the No. 1 seed out of the Southeast Division, on Saturday, April 17, in the Big Sky championship match. That match was declared a no contest when NAU had COVID issues within its team. The Grizzlies were declared tournament champions.

At a glance (South Carolina): The Gamecocks, who played 10 of their 14 matches in the fall, are 10-4-0.

They went 6-2-0 in league in the fall to win the SEC East title. Playing as the No. 4 seed in the SEC tournament in Orange Beach, Ala., in November, South Carolina defeated No. 5 Missouri in the quarterfinals, 3-2, before losing to No. 1 seed Arkansas in the semifinals, 2-1.

South Carolina has played four nonconference matches this spring. The Gamecocks defeated College of Charleston, Coastal Carolina and Elon, all by a score of 3-0. Their most recent match was a 2-1 home loss to Clemson on April 10, 2-1. Clemson is the NCAA tournament's No. 14 seed.

Who to watch for (Montana): Senior Claire Howard was voted the Big Sky Conference Goalkeeper of the Year. She has 32 career shutouts, a Big Sky record. Senior forward Alexa Coyle, first-team All-Big Sky, leads the Grizzlies with five goals and 10 points.

Coyle and Howard were joined on the All-Big Sky first team by senior midfielder Avery Adams and senior outside back Taylor Hansen.

Who to watch for (South Carolina): Forward Catherine Barry leads South Carolina with six goals and 16 points. Four of her goals have been game-winners. She was named to the SEC All-Freshman team in November.

Junior midfielder Jyllissa Harris was voted first-team All-SEC, senior midfielder Lauren Chang second team.

NCAA bona fides (Montana): The Grizzlies are playing in their fifth NCAA tournament, their third since 2011. They made previous appearances in 1999, 2000, 2011 and 2018.

Montana is 1-4 in NCAA tournament matches. The Grizzlies' lone win came in 2000, a 1-0 win at Washington State in the first round in the final season the tournament was made up of 48 teams before increasing to 64 in 2001.

Montana lost 2-1 at Texas A&M in 1999, fell 5-0 at Washington in the second round in 2000, lost 3-0 at Stanford in 2011 to the eventual national champion Cardinal and lost 5-1 at Washington State in 2018.

NCAA bona fides (South Carolina): The Gamecocks have played in 13 NCAA tournaments. Twelve of those have come since 2007. They advanced to the national quarterfinals in 2014, '16 and '19 and the national semifinals in 2017.

South Carolina has a 17-12-3 NCAA tournament record and has advanced past the first round in nine of its last 10 appearances.

In the rankings: South Carolina takes a No. 18 national ranking by the United Soccer Coaches into the tournament. ... South Carolina has a Southeast Region ranking of No. 4, Montana is No. 8 in the West. ... In the NCAA RPI, South Carolina ranks 28th, Montana 66th.

Series notes:

* Montana and South Carolina will be playing for the first time on Wednesday.

* The Grizzlies have gone 1-1-0 against the SEC. They defeated Alabama 1-0 in Waco, Texas, in 1998 and lost 4-3 in overtime at Missouri in 2014.

* Montana is 0-2-0 against current SEC member Texas A&M but both of those matches came when the Aggies were still members of the Big 12.

Summary:

Montana is playing in the NCAA tournament for the second time under third-year coach Chris Citowicki. And that's where the similarities between postseason appearances end.

In Citowicki's first year, in 2018, Montana qualified for the six-team Big Sky tournament on the final weekend of the league's regular season.

As the No. 5 seed, no one was paying much attention to the Grizzlies, but they won three matches in five days, all by shutout, all over higher-seeded teams.

Five days later, Montana was playing an unexpected first-round match at Washington State. Final: 5-1.

This season the Grizzlies were picked first in the preseason coaches' poll, won the Northwest Division title quite handily, then defeated Northern Colorado in the Big Sky tournament semifinals.

"In 2018, it was, let's go to (the Big Sky tournament) and see what we can pull off," says Citowicki. "Then it was, I can't believe we're going to the NCAA tournament!

"This is more expected, so we're more prepared. This was the goal going into the season. We've achieved our goal. This is where we wanted to be. Now let's throw down and see what happens."

On Wednesday, Montana will face a South Carolina team that has one of the nation's top NCAA tournament resumes over the last six seasons. Three of those trips have led to the national quarterfinals. In 2017, South Carolina made it to the national semifinals.

The Gamecocks have won 11 postseason matches the last four tournaments and have played in 32 overall.

"The biggest thing they have is the consistency and the experience of being in this environment. This is a team that knows what it's like to go there, knows what it's like to compete and move through the rounds," says coach Chris Citowicki. "For us, 2018 was the last time, and that was kind of a surprise."

What gives this Montana team a better chance than the Grizzlies had in 2018 is its scoring ability. The 2018 team averaged less than one goal per match on the season. This team is averaging 2.04, the best per-game average since 2000.

Six players have scored multiple goals, all upperclassmen, eight have scored in all.

"We're not going to go there and regret after 90 minutes how we played," said Citowicki. "We're going out there to compete, as I'm sure they are. I haven't been this excited about a game ever. Let's throw down and have some fun."

Montana has allowed just six goals through 10 matches, posting six shutouts. The team's 0.58 goals-against average ranks 33rd nationally, its shutout percentage (.600) is tied for 24th.

Senior goalkeeper Claire Howard owns that 0.58 goals-against average, which has her ranked 31st in the nation. For her career she has a 0.83 goals-against average, best in program history. Her 32 shutouts have established a new Big Sky Conference record.

"The mistake would be setting up a defensive game plan and forgetting about what we're good at. We've scored more goals this year than we have the previous years by quite a bit," said Citowicki.

"We are going to express ourselves. We are going to move forward into the attack. Knowing you have Claire Howard in goal to protect you is awesome. She can keep us in the game and give us a chance."

Montana notes:

* Wednesday's match will be the second-farthest east the Grizzlies have traveled to play. In 2006, Neil Sedgwick took his third team to Newark, Del., for matches against Lehigh and Yale.

* Montana is 3-17 all-time against ranked opponents and hasn't defeated a ranked team since 2000. The Grizzlies have dropped their last nine matches against ranked opponents with just two goals scored while allowing 39.

* Montana landed four players on the Big Sky All-Tournament team: Claire Howard, Alexa Coyle, Taylor Hansen and Taylor Stoeger.

* Coyle was voted to the all-tournament team for the fourth time, Howard and Hansen for the second time.

* Stoeger, who scored both of Montana's goals in its 2-1 overtime win over Northern Colorado in the semifinals, was voted MVP.

* Previous tournament MVPs for Montana: Janessa Fowler (2018), India Watne (2011), Amy Wronski (2000), Misty Hall (1999) and Karen Hardy (1997).

* Stoeger became just the fifth player in program history to score a pair of goals in a postseason match. The others: Ashlee Pedersen (2015), Tara Schwager (2004), Amy Schlatter (2x, 2000) and Sara Overgaag (1997).

* Montana's Big Sky tournament semifinal win over Northern Colorado was career win No. 70 as a head coach for Chris Citowicki. He won 47 at St. Catherine and is now 23-16-12 at Montana.

* Montana's Big Sky tournament semifinal win over Northern Colorado gave Citowicki a 20-5-7 record against league opponents in his three years coaching the Grizzlies.

* With her 71st career start against Northern Colorado, Claire Howard took over the program record for games started at goalkeeper. Railene Thorson (1994-97) held the previous record of 70.

* No goalkeeper in program history has played more minutes than the 6,742 logged by Howard, even with a shortened senior season.

* Alexa Coyle enters the tournament with 19 career goals. She ranks ninth in program history, one behind Erin Craig (2009-12).

* Montana has scored at least one goal in all 10 matches this season. The last time the Grizzlies had a stretch of 10 straight matches with a goal in the same season: 2000. The 1997, '98 and '99 teams also accomplished that feat.

* Montana has scored three goals in the NCAA tournament: Heidi Melville in a 2-1 loss at Texas A&M in 1999, Shannon Forslund in a 1-0 win at Washington State in 2000 and Kennedy Yost in a 5-1 loss at Washington State in 2018.

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Players Mentioned

Avery Adams

Alexa Coyle

Janessa Fowler

Taylor Hansen

Claire Howard

Ashlee Pedersen

Taylor Stoeger

Kennedy Yost

University of Montana Athletics