Montana opens season under the lights at Creighton

The Montana soccer team, on the heels of two satisfying exhibition victories, will open its regular-season schedule on Thursday night with a road match at Creighton.

The Grizzlies and Bluejays will play at 6 p.m. (MT) at Creighton's Morrison Stadium in Omaha, Neb. It is the season opener for Creighton as well.

Montana prepped for its opener with a 9-0 victory over Rocky Mountain on Sunday and a 7-0 win over Carroll on Monday.

Creighton's lone exhibition game was a 2-1 victory over Missouri State in a match played in Kansas City on Aug. 10.

Creighton will host Drake on Sunday afternoon. The Grizzlies will face Portland on the same day at South Campus Stadium in Missoula in their home opener.

Coverage: Thursday's match can be watched via subscription on FloSports.

Looking back (Montana): The Grizzlies opened their condensed spring schedule with seven straight victories on their way to winning the Big Sky Conference Northwest Division title with a 7-1-0 record.

Montana won the Big Sky tournament title with a 2-1 overtime victory over Northern Colorado, then fell 1-0 to South Carolina in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

The Grizzlies finished the season 9-2-0, their best season winning percentage in program history.

It was the program's second consecutive regular-season title, its eighth overall, its sixth tournament championship and its fifth trip to the NCAA tournament.

Looking back (Creighton): The Bluejays went 4-6-0 in the spring, 4-4-0 in Big East matches. After opening 0-4-0, Creighton closed going 4-2-0.

The Bluejays' season ended with a 2-1 overtime loss to Georgetown in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. The Hoyas would go on to earn the No. 13 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.

Looking ahead (Montana): With four Big Sky championships over the last three seasons -- two regular season, two tournament -- the Grizzlies were picked second in the preseason coaches' poll.

Montana collected four first-place votes, more than any other team, but came in behind Northern Arizona, which had two first-place votes.

The Grizzlies return six starters and a dozen letterwinners from last year's team that went 9-2-0.

Headlining the returners are a pair of seniors: two-time first-team All-Big Sky outside back Taylor Hansen, who was a United Soccer Coaches first-team All-West Region selection in the spring, and forward Taylor Stoeger, the MVP of April's Big Sky tournament.

Looking ahead (Creighton): The Bluejays were picked a strong fifth out of 11 teams in the Big East preseason coaches' poll, coming in behind Georgetown, Butler, Connecticut and Providence.

Sophomore midfielder Aida Kardovic, who led the team in the spring with nine points, on four goals and an assist, was named to the preseason All-Big East team.

Game notes:

* Thursday's match will be played at Creighton's Morrison Stadium, a 7,500-seat soccer-specific stadium that was built in 2003.

* The Bluejays advanced to five NCAA tournaments between 2002 and '10 under former coach Bruce Erickson but have not reached the national tournament since.

* Creighton is coached by Ross Paule, who has been with the Bluejays since the 2015 season.

* The teams played in 2013 and '15, with Creighton winning both matchups.

* In 2013, the teams met in Omaha. Montana took a 1-0 lead in the 67th minute on a goal by Stephanie Carl, but Creighton rallied with goals in the 87th and 94th minutes to win in overtime.

* In 2015, the teams met in Missoula. After a scoreless first half, Creighton outshot Montana 12-4 in the second and scored the game-winner in a 1-0 victory on a goal off a corner kick in the 53rd minute.

* Creighton went 2-2-0 at home last season, with victories over DePaul and Marquette, losses to Butler and Xavier.

* Montana was perfect in true road matches in the spring, going 4-0-0, with two-game sweeps of Idaho and Sacramento State. The Grizzlies are 7-1-2 in their last 10 road matches.

* Creighton returns 10 starters from the spring. Kardovic was a first-team All-Big East selection. Junior midfielder Ansley Atkinson was second team.

* The Bluejays return both goalkeepers who played every minute last season and combined for a 1.38 goals-against average: sophomore Keelan Terrell and redshirt freshman Mikayla Grocki.

* Montana's starting goalkeeper on Thursday night, either junior Elizabeth Todd or redshirt freshman Camellia Xu, will be playing in her first regular-season match.

Summary

For all the success Montana has enjoyed in the Big Sky Conference under fourth-year coach Chris Citowicki, and it's been a lot -- the Grizzlies have gone 20-4-7 against league opponents -- the program goes into 2021 seeking a signature nonconference win for Citowicki.

Montana's three wins under Citowicki that have not been against league opponents -- Vermont, Cal Poly and MSU Billings -- have all come at home. Thursday is a chance to get road win No. 1.

"That's the next evolution, right? We need to start getting those types of results if we want to take the next step as a program. Or we can just be happy in the Big Sky, but it's not the same," Citowicki said.

"We want to dominate domestically, which I think we've been doing well, and then can you compete at the mid-major level?

"We're getting to the point where these kids are hungry to win some of these types of games. We want to go to Creighton and play well on Thursday night.

"A Thursday night, under the lights, in one of the most beautiful facilities in the country? And opening night? You couldn't ask for a better test. I'm excited to go there and just lay it all out."

Montana has allowed just 48 goals in 52 matches in Citowicki's first three years, and the defense should be a strength again this fall.

The back line returns intact and welcomes back a healthy Caitlin Rogers, the 2019 Big Sky co-Defensive MVP who was limited to 33 minutes in the spring while she recovered from an injury.

They'll play in front of either Todd or Xu on Thursday. Both played in both exhibition matches on Sunday and Monday, but neither faced a shot on goal.

"We have two good ones, so I feel good," said Citowicki. "Who is going to step up? I don't know yet. This phase of four games over the next two weeks will answer a lot of questions.

"It'll be nice to play what should be very competitive games that are going to come down to minute moments. We'll see who steps up."

The offense should be the beneficiary of those two lopsided exhibition wins. Everyone knows Montana won't score like that during the regular season, but the confidence it brought is invaluable.

"It's one thing if we played Washington State and Oregon, and we left those games feeling like we played sound defensively, but who's drained of confidence?" asked Citowicki.

"The forwards, the midfielders, us as a team as we wonder if we can play our system and move the ball. The most complicated and difficult thing is to build your offensive confidence.

"We can build defensive confidence in two or three days. Restoring confidence in a forward takes weeks. At some point you want to score some goals so everyone feels good about themselves and carries that forward.

"So we've accomplished all of our goals over this two-week period. Now let's test it with Creighton."

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Hansen

Caitlin Rogers

Taylor Stoeger

Elizabeth Todd

Camellia Xu

University of Montana Athletics