Duerksen to Grizzlies: Don’t change anything, it’s working
4/27/2021 2:23:00 PM | Soccer
When the members of the Montana soccer team awoke in their hotel rooms in Pullman, Wash., on the morning of Nov. 8, 2000, on the day of the biggest game of their lives, their minds didn't immediately turn to the Cougars, the Washington State team they would be playing that afternoon in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The Grizzlies had gone to sleep the night before, on what had been Election Day in America, not knowing who had won the race for president between Al Gore and George W. Bush. They would wake up to even more indecision. Florida was undecided. The race couldn't be called. It was that close.
It's all they could think about. That is until they opened the curtains.
"We woke up excited to find out who the president was. Then we looked outside and the world was covered in snow. It was not expected, and it was several inches," recalls then Montana coach Betsy Duerksen. "There was doubt as to whether the game was even going to be played."
It was played, and Montana would win 1-0. That's notable because the Big Sky Conference champion hasn't won a match in the NCAA tournament since. That's the burden -- and opportunity -- the Grizzlies take into Wednesday, when this year's Montana team faces South Carolina at 4 p.m. (MT) in Wilson, N.C.
Duerksen is at home in Southern California these days, San Clemente to be exact, a surf town where the residents never wake up to unexpected snowstorms. We wanted to know: If Duerksen could be teleported across the country today to address this year's team following its 75-minute practice, what would she tell the Grizzlies? We wanted to know, so we called her and asked.
This year's team wouldn't know Duerksen, but it should. She built the foundation upon which they play more than 25 years later. She didn't turn Montana into a soccer school, but she did the next best thing. She built a soccer program that could thrive in the immense autumn shadow of a successful football program. Montana is still pulling that off.
Her first team played in 1994. The Grizzlies' first-ever match was a 4-0 drubbing of Gonzaga. When the Big Sky Conference first began sponsoring soccer, in 1997, Montana ruled. The Grizzlies would go 30-3-1 against league opponents those first four years, winning tournament titles in 1997, 1999 and 2000. Goal differential in those 34 matches: +92.
So if she had been able to talk to this year's team in North Carolina, a surprise guest speaker charged with providing the goosebumps that would remain through game time tomorrow, her words and her presence would have meant something. She clearly knows what she's talking about.
"I would tell them that teams can become so focused on the outcome, that that's when fear takes over," she says. "Stay focused on the process of what's gotten you here, the camaraderie of team, the hard work you've put in, the staying true to whatever your style of play is, the process of playing for each other.
"When you put your mindset there, focusing on the process and not on the outcome of winning, it makes it much more enjoyable and you tend to have more success because fear doesn't overtake you.
"They clearly prepared well this season and have had so much success already. So what they're doing works. You don't have to change anything. Stick with the preparation you've done in the past. Trust that that's working, so you go play like you've been playing all season."
Montana won the first Big Sky regular-season championship in 1997, going 5-0-0, then defeated Portland State and Weber State by an aggregate score of 8-2 to claim the first tournament title in Missoula. But the league did not yet have an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, so Montana's 11-match winning streak to end the season was the crowning achievement.
"That was a disappointment in my early years. My '97 team was really good. I feel like that team would have been able to win a game (in the NCAA tournament) as well, but we had no way of getting in," Duerksen said.
That chance finally arrived in 1999, and Montana took advantage, sweeping the regular-season and tournament titles. The Grizzlies' reward? A trip to College Station and a first-round matchup with Texas A&M. Montana led 1-0 at the half on a goal by Heidi Melville in the 43rd minute, but Aggie goals in the 48th and 70th minutes let A&M escape with a 2-1 victory.
"There is a learning experience you have to go through for sure," said Duerksen. "The first time we went to A&M, it was so professionally run that we were all a little bit in awe. The second time you do it, you're more experienced. There is a lot to be said for getting more and more experience under your belt so you're not intimidated."
The NCAA tournament was not the first time Montana played Washington State during the 2000 season. The Grizzlies faced the Cougars in Pullman in late September, with the temperature in the low 60s at the start of the match.
Montana scored first, in the 21st minute. Washington State answered with two goals less than four minutes later and took a 2-1 lead into the half. Amy Wronski made it 2-2 in the 55th minute, but the Cougars would get goals in the 77th and 81st minutes to win 4-2.
Montana would lose 3-2 in overtime at Sacramento State in early October but wouldn't lose again for more than a month, in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Washington. The nine-match winning streak that followed the loss to the Hornets came with the Grizzlies outscoring their opponents 32-3, including a 5-0 shutout of Sacramento State in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament.
Montana was invited to the NCAA tournament as the automatic bid from the Big Sky, following a 1-0 victory over Northern Arizona in the championship match, but even that came with a whiff of condescension. The Grizzlies wouldn't be allowed onto the main, 48-team dance floor until they proved they truly belonged.
That's why Montana found itself hosting Northwestern State, the Southland Conference champion, in Missoula on Nov. 4 in one of the tournament's three play-in matches. The NCAA had sent a message. Montana responded with one of its own. The Grizzlies would outshoot the Demons 23-6 and win 6-0.
Three days later, on Election Day, they were on a bus bound for Pullman. The snow arrived while they slept, even if a decision on the presidential race didn't. There was talk of delaying the match by a day, until conditions might improve. Instead a battalion of shovel-wielding workers got busy removing the snow from Cougar Soccer Field.
The home team wanted to get this over with so it could go on to face rival Washington, which was one of 16 teams to receive a bye, in the round of 32.
The Cougars were 13-6, with five of those losses to ranked teams. Five days before the match against Montana, Washington State had knocked off No. 2-ranked Washington, which was led by goalkeeper Hope Solo, 1-0 in double overtime in Pullman. The Cougars wanted to do it again in the NCAA tournament. They wanted to end the Huskies' season.
They just had to get by Montana, which they had already done earlier in the season.
But then the snow arrived. It would prove to be the great equalizer. "It would be a big factor," said Duerksen. "That early match, probably in possession they were the better team. They would have had the run of play in normal conditions. The snow was to our advantage. I think we were maybe a little bit tougher, a little grittier and could withstand the conditions better.
"They shoveled the field and it was still snowing at the beginning. It was difficult conditions to be playing in for sure."
Goalkeeper Natalie Hiller said back in 2000, "I've always played my best soccer in pretty crummy conditions and weather. When I woke up and saw it was snowing, I smiled because I love the snow. For me it was fine. For the team it was tough keeping our feet and we slipped around a lot, but we kept our focus well and battled through it."
Washington State would outshoot Montana 10-5 in the first half, putting four of those shots on goal. Hiller was there every time. The teams went to their locker rooms tied 0-0.
Play balanced out in the second half. The Grizzlies got off a shot that went just wide. A breakaway was called offside. Montana was coming. Then, the breakthough. Jodi Campbell played the ball up the left side, got it into the middle to Liz Roberts, who touched it to Shannon Forslund, who put it away for what would be the game's only goal.
"I can review the video in my head at will right now," says Duerksen. "There were some really special kids on that team, and Shannon clearly was one of them. She was the type of person who could rise up in the difficulty of a snowstorm. She is a legend in my mind for sure."
Hiller would face 15 shots, eight corner kicks and keep every ball she saw out of the net. She finished with eight saves.
"There were other kids who played huge, like Natalie, our all-of-(5-foot-6) goalkeeper who was convinced in her mind she was (6-foot-2)," says Duerksen. "She played way beyond herself. That team had an awesome culture. There were a lot of people who were about being selfless and serving the team first."
Duerksen, with three children and a husband who worked full time, stepped down following the 2003 season. She couldn't give her all to one without sacrificing the other. So she called it good. She departed the program, but the foundation had been set.
Though the Grizzlies had on-and-off success, Montana wouldn't return to the NCAA tournament until 2011. Coach Chris Citowicki, just the fourth coach in program history, following Duerksen, Neil Sedgwick and Mark Plakorus, took his first team, in 2018, to the tournament. He matched Duerksen this spring, making it two trips. They now account for four of the program's five NCAA appearances.
His hope is that history repeats itself. Like Duerksen's team at Texas A&M, Citowicki's team in 2018 was just happy to be there, if not quite ready to compete at that level, when Montana lost 5-1 at Washington State. The team's confidence in itself didn't match the moment the Grizzlies found themselves in.
This time it's different. Montana expected to be here and is here. The Grizzlies are no longer just happy to be in this position. They're ready to play, ready to compete.
"I'm really happy for Chris. He's a kind man, a humble man," said Duerksen. "I think he has really good values and knows how to develop a team culture that's positive. As soon as I met him, I was confident he would have success.
"He and I share a similar mentality that you can have fun, be kind and win, all of the above. If you make it all about winning, you can make it a not-fun experience for the kids, even though you might win and have success. You miss out on the best things about being part of the team. I think he does a good job of making sure the kids have that amazing team experience and win. You want both."
Duerksen won't be in North Carolina, at least in person, but she will be in spirit. That will never change. The program is a part of her for life. She put that much into it. If only she could be there today, talking to the players who are keeping the tradition of Grizzly Soccer going: have fun, be good people and win. Because it's been a while, at least on the big stage. On Wednesday the next opportunity arrives.
"I think it was Julie Foudy who said, having butterflies is good. It means you care," Duerksen said. "You just have to get those butterflies to align and move in formation, not let them scatter. I hope they do well. I'll be sending them my good vibes, my good prayers, my good thoughts, all of it."
The Grizzlies had gone to sleep the night before, on what had been Election Day in America, not knowing who had won the race for president between Al Gore and George W. Bush. They would wake up to even more indecision. Florida was undecided. The race couldn't be called. It was that close.
It's all they could think about. That is until they opened the curtains.
"We woke up excited to find out who the president was. Then we looked outside and the world was covered in snow. It was not expected, and it was several inches," recalls then Montana coach Betsy Duerksen. "There was doubt as to whether the game was even going to be played."
It was played, and Montana would win 1-0. That's notable because the Big Sky Conference champion hasn't won a match in the NCAA tournament since. That's the burden -- and opportunity -- the Grizzlies take into Wednesday, when this year's Montana team faces South Carolina at 4 p.m. (MT) in Wilson, N.C.
Duerksen is at home in Southern California these days, San Clemente to be exact, a surf town where the residents never wake up to unexpected snowstorms. We wanted to know: If Duerksen could be teleported across the country today to address this year's team following its 75-minute practice, what would she tell the Grizzlies? We wanted to know, so we called her and asked.
This year's team wouldn't know Duerksen, but it should. She built the foundation upon which they play more than 25 years later. She didn't turn Montana into a soccer school, but she did the next best thing. She built a soccer program that could thrive in the immense autumn shadow of a successful football program. Montana is still pulling that off.
Her first team played in 1994. The Grizzlies' first-ever match was a 4-0 drubbing of Gonzaga. When the Big Sky Conference first began sponsoring soccer, in 1997, Montana ruled. The Grizzlies would go 30-3-1 against league opponents those first four years, winning tournament titles in 1997, 1999 and 2000. Goal differential in those 34 matches: +92.
So if she had been able to talk to this year's team in North Carolina, a surprise guest speaker charged with providing the goosebumps that would remain through game time tomorrow, her words and her presence would have meant something. She clearly knows what she's talking about.
"I would tell them that teams can become so focused on the outcome, that that's when fear takes over," she says. "Stay focused on the process of what's gotten you here, the camaraderie of team, the hard work you've put in, the staying true to whatever your style of play is, the process of playing for each other.
"When you put your mindset there, focusing on the process and not on the outcome of winning, it makes it much more enjoyable and you tend to have more success because fear doesn't overtake you.
"They clearly prepared well this season and have had so much success already. So what they're doing works. You don't have to change anything. Stick with the preparation you've done in the past. Trust that that's working, so you go play like you've been playing all season."
Montana won the first Big Sky regular-season championship in 1997, going 5-0-0, then defeated Portland State and Weber State by an aggregate score of 8-2 to claim the first tournament title in Missoula. But the league did not yet have an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, so Montana's 11-match winning streak to end the season was the crowning achievement.
"That was a disappointment in my early years. My '97 team was really good. I feel like that team would have been able to win a game (in the NCAA tournament) as well, but we had no way of getting in," Duerksen said.
That chance finally arrived in 1999, and Montana took advantage, sweeping the regular-season and tournament titles. The Grizzlies' reward? A trip to College Station and a first-round matchup with Texas A&M. Montana led 1-0 at the half on a goal by Heidi Melville in the 43rd minute, but Aggie goals in the 48th and 70th minutes let A&M escape with a 2-1 victory.
"There is a learning experience you have to go through for sure," said Duerksen. "The first time we went to A&M, it was so professionally run that we were all a little bit in awe. The second time you do it, you're more experienced. There is a lot to be said for getting more and more experience under your belt so you're not intimidated."
The NCAA tournament was not the first time Montana played Washington State during the 2000 season. The Grizzlies faced the Cougars in Pullman in late September, with the temperature in the low 60s at the start of the match.
Montana scored first, in the 21st minute. Washington State answered with two goals less than four minutes later and took a 2-1 lead into the half. Amy Wronski made it 2-2 in the 55th minute, but the Cougars would get goals in the 77th and 81st minutes to win 4-2.
Montana would lose 3-2 in overtime at Sacramento State in early October but wouldn't lose again for more than a month, in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Washington. The nine-match winning streak that followed the loss to the Hornets came with the Grizzlies outscoring their opponents 32-3, including a 5-0 shutout of Sacramento State in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament.
Montana was invited to the NCAA tournament as the automatic bid from the Big Sky, following a 1-0 victory over Northern Arizona in the championship match, but even that came with a whiff of condescension. The Grizzlies wouldn't be allowed onto the main, 48-team dance floor until they proved they truly belonged.
That's why Montana found itself hosting Northwestern State, the Southland Conference champion, in Missoula on Nov. 4 in one of the tournament's three play-in matches. The NCAA had sent a message. Montana responded with one of its own. The Grizzlies would outshoot the Demons 23-6 and win 6-0.
Three days later, on Election Day, they were on a bus bound for Pullman. The snow arrived while they slept, even if a decision on the presidential race didn't. There was talk of delaying the match by a day, until conditions might improve. Instead a battalion of shovel-wielding workers got busy removing the snow from Cougar Soccer Field.
The home team wanted to get this over with so it could go on to face rival Washington, which was one of 16 teams to receive a bye, in the round of 32.
The Cougars were 13-6, with five of those losses to ranked teams. Five days before the match against Montana, Washington State had knocked off No. 2-ranked Washington, which was led by goalkeeper Hope Solo, 1-0 in double overtime in Pullman. The Cougars wanted to do it again in the NCAA tournament. They wanted to end the Huskies' season.
They just had to get by Montana, which they had already done earlier in the season.
But then the snow arrived. It would prove to be the great equalizer. "It would be a big factor," said Duerksen. "That early match, probably in possession they were the better team. They would have had the run of play in normal conditions. The snow was to our advantage. I think we were maybe a little bit tougher, a little grittier and could withstand the conditions better.
"They shoveled the field and it was still snowing at the beginning. It was difficult conditions to be playing in for sure."
Goalkeeper Natalie Hiller said back in 2000, "I've always played my best soccer in pretty crummy conditions and weather. When I woke up and saw it was snowing, I smiled because I love the snow. For me it was fine. For the team it was tough keeping our feet and we slipped around a lot, but we kept our focus well and battled through it."
Washington State would outshoot Montana 10-5 in the first half, putting four of those shots on goal. Hiller was there every time. The teams went to their locker rooms tied 0-0.
Play balanced out in the second half. The Grizzlies got off a shot that went just wide. A breakaway was called offside. Montana was coming. Then, the breakthough. Jodi Campbell played the ball up the left side, got it into the middle to Liz Roberts, who touched it to Shannon Forslund, who put it away for what would be the game's only goal.
"I can review the video in my head at will right now," says Duerksen. "There were some really special kids on that team, and Shannon clearly was one of them. She was the type of person who could rise up in the difficulty of a snowstorm. She is a legend in my mind for sure."
Hiller would face 15 shots, eight corner kicks and keep every ball she saw out of the net. She finished with eight saves.
"There were other kids who played huge, like Natalie, our all-of-(5-foot-6) goalkeeper who was convinced in her mind she was (6-foot-2)," says Duerksen. "She played way beyond herself. That team had an awesome culture. There were a lot of people who were about being selfless and serving the team first."
Duerksen, with three children and a husband who worked full time, stepped down following the 2003 season. She couldn't give her all to one without sacrificing the other. So she called it good. She departed the program, but the foundation had been set.
Though the Grizzlies had on-and-off success, Montana wouldn't return to the NCAA tournament until 2011. Coach Chris Citowicki, just the fourth coach in program history, following Duerksen, Neil Sedgwick and Mark Plakorus, took his first team, in 2018, to the tournament. He matched Duerksen this spring, making it two trips. They now account for four of the program's five NCAA appearances.
His hope is that history repeats itself. Like Duerksen's team at Texas A&M, Citowicki's team in 2018 was just happy to be there, if not quite ready to compete at that level, when Montana lost 5-1 at Washington State. The team's confidence in itself didn't match the moment the Grizzlies found themselves in.
This time it's different. Montana expected to be here and is here. The Grizzlies are no longer just happy to be in this position. They're ready to play, ready to compete.
"I'm really happy for Chris. He's a kind man, a humble man," said Duerksen. "I think he has really good values and knows how to develop a team culture that's positive. As soon as I met him, I was confident he would have success.
"He and I share a similar mentality that you can have fun, be kind and win, all of the above. If you make it all about winning, you can make it a not-fun experience for the kids, even though you might win and have success. You miss out on the best things about being part of the team. I think he does a good job of making sure the kids have that amazing team experience and win. You want both."
Duerksen won't be in North Carolina, at least in person, but she will be in spirit. That will never change. The program is a part of her for life. She put that much into it. If only she could be there today, talking to the players who are keeping the tradition of Grizzly Soccer going: have fun, be good people and win. Because it's been a while, at least on the big stage. On Wednesday the next opportunity arrives.
"I think it was Julie Foudy who said, having butterflies is good. It means you care," Duerksen said. "You just have to get those butterflies to align and move in formation, not let them scatter. I hope they do well. I'll be sending them my good vibes, my good prayers, my good thoughts, all of it."
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