Montana falls in opener on late goal

Thursday, August 19

Omaha, Neb.

6 PM (MT)

Montana

0-1-0

Creighton

1-0-0

Montana

Creighton

Photos: Steven Branscombe

Photo by: Steven Branscombe

8/19/2021 9:50:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The new-look Montana soccer team lost 2-1 to Creighton in double overtime in Omaha, Neb., on Thursday night but managed to win over their head coach in a big way.

"Amazing. Loved it. To come into this stadium, in front of this crowd, it was one of the best performances I've seen one of our teams put in," said Chris Citowicki.

"To anybody who thought we weren't going to be as good as we were last year, I think we just might be better. It's going to be exciting moving forward because this is a heck of a team we have."

After the teams played to a 0-0 first half, Creighton opened the scoring in the 50th minute when the Bluejays netted a loose ball off a corner kick.

Redshirt freshman Camellia Xu, who played the second half and overtimes after junior Elizabeth Todd played the opening 45 minutes, got her hands on the ball, but it deflected off the post and into the goal.

The score would remain 1-0 until Montana scored a scramble-goal of its own in the 80th minute.

Freshman Ava Samuelson sent a corner kick into the box that Creighton's goalkeeper couldn't punch out. The bouncing ball found its way to sophomore Josie Windauer, who scored her first collegiate goal.

"Losing who we did (off last year's Big Sky championship squad), what is the identity of this team going to be? Are we going to be able to compete in a place like this?" asked Citowicki.

"This team is not going to lie down and it's not going to give up. They just kept fighting. I was really, really pleased with the team effort tonight."

The game appeared destined to be a draw before the Bluejays won it in the final minute of the second overtime.

Creighton played a ball from the right side to the far post, where Hailey Rothwell headed a high ball over Xu and back to the opposite post for the game-winner.

The victory improved Creighton to 3-0-0 all-time against Montana. Both of the Bluejays' wins over the Grizzlies in Omaha have come in overtime.

Thursday night's win set off a post-match party on the field. "To celebrate like crazy to beat Montana on your home field, that says a lot about our program and how people view us," said Citowicki.

Montana's keepers, who are replacing Claire Howard, the Big Sky Conference leader in career shutouts, made seven saves. Todd made four in the first half, Xu finished with three.

"They're both good. They can both handle it. I'm just so happy to have the two of them competing for the starting spot. If we go one way or the other, we're going to be good," said Citowicki.

On a warm, humid night, Montana went 21 players deep. The only player to stay on the field for all 109-plus minutes was Caitlin Rogers.

Rogers suffered a lower-leg injury a year ago and was limited to just 33 minutes in the spring. The 2019 Big Sky co-Defensive MVP was back to her previous form on Thursday, plus a little more.

"Shout-out to Caitlin, who was unbelievably good," said Citowicki. "She's better than she was a couple years ago. And the fact we can keep subbing just tells you how deep we are."

Windauer and Allie Larsen both took two shots for Montana, which hosts Portland on Sunday at 1 p.m. at South Campus Stadium. The Pilots lost 3-1 at Utah on Thursday evening.