Griz make home debut, host Pilots on Sunday

The Montana soccer team, which dropped its season opener on Thursday night at Creighton, will make its home debut on Sunday afternoon when it hosts Portland at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.

The Grizzlies and Pilots will play at 1 p.m. in what will be Montana's first sporting event on ESPN+.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies opened their season at Creighton on Thursday night and dropped a 2-1 double-overtime decision at Morrison Stadium.

After a scoreless first half, the Bluejays opened the scoring in the 50th minute. Montana answered back in the 80th when Josie Windauer punched in her first career goal on a loose ball in front of net.

Taylor Stoeger, who tried to heel-flick the ball into the goal, was credited with the assist after her attempt was blocked and rolled to Windauer. It was Stoeger's fourth career assist.

Creighton won it at 109:14, in the final minute of the second overtime, when a long cross from the right side to the far post was headed over Griz goalkeeper Camellia Xu.

Elizabeth Todd played the opening 45 minutes in goal for Montana and made four saves. Xu made three saves over the final 64:14.

Windauer and Allie Larsen both took a pair of shots. Caitlin Rogers, the 2019 Big Sky Conference co-Defensive MVP who was limited to 33 minutes in the spring due to injury, played all 109-plus minutes.

At a glance (Portland): The Pilots, who had their lone scheduled exhibition match canceled because of excessive heat and smoky conditions, opened their season on Thursday with a 3-1 loss at Utah.

Utah went up 1-0 in the sixth minute, then added another in the 61st. Portland pulled within 2-1 in the 84th, but the Utes added an insurance goal 28 seconds later for the final margin.

Portland outshot Utah 13-6, 9-3 in the second half, and created more corner kicks, but the Utes scored on all three shots they put on goal. The Pilots finished the match without a save.

Portland went 3-4-3 in the spring and was picked to finish fifth in the West Coast Conference preseason poll behind defending national champion Santa Clara, BYU, Pepperdine and Gonzaga.

Senior forward Taryn Ries, first-team All-WCC in 2018, '19 and '20, was voted to the All-WCC Preseason Team.

Portland is led by fourth-year coach Michelle French, who was an all-American for the Pilots in 1998 as a defender. Her teams played in four Final Fours.

One of the most successful women's soccer programs in NCAA history, Portland won 10 or more matches for 27 consecutive seasons between 1984 and 2010.

The Pilots have played in 21 NCAA tournaments, 14 times advancing to at least the quarterfinals, and won national championships in 2002 and 2005. They were national runner-up in 1995.

Portland advanced to the NCAA tournament every year from 2000 to 2013 but hasn't been back since.

Game notes:

* When Montana dropped its season opener on Thursday night, it was a program rarity. The Grizzlies had been 6-1-3 in their first match of the season the previous decade.

* Montana dropped to 0-3-0 all-time against Creighton. Both of the Grizzlies' losses to the Bluejays in Omaha over the years have come in overtime.

* Montana will be playing its first regular-season match at South Campus Stadium on Sunday since October 20, 2019, a 4-0 victory over Portland State. The Grizzlies played their home matches during the 2021 spring season at Missoula County Stadium at Big Sky High School.

* Montana has lost just once, 3-2 in overtime to Eastern Washington in April, in its last 15 home matches. The Grizzlies went 0-0-4 over their final four home matches of the 2018 season, went 4-0-2 in 2019 and 4-1-0 in the spring.

* For all of Montana's success at home since the program started in 1994 -- the Grizzlies are 120-61-25 in Missoula -- home openers have not been as successful. Montana is 14-10-3 in home openers.

* Montana won six of its first seven openers from 1994 to 2000, went 3-8-0 from 2001 to 2011 and has gone 5-1-3 the last nine seasons.

* Under fourth-year coach Chris Citowicki, Montana opened at home in 2018 with a 1-0 loss to Fresno State, with a 1-0 win over Cal Poly in 2019 and a 3-0 win over MSU Billings in March.

* Montana is 0-2-0 all-time against Portland. The Grizzlies lost 2-0 in a match played in Seattle in 1997, 7-0 at Portland in 2009. That 2009 Pilot team went 21-2-0 and lost in the national quarterfinals by a score of 2-1 at UCLA.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* The Big Sky had some impressive wins on Thursday night, with Weber State winning 2-0 at Kansas State, Northern Colorado winning 3-1 at home over Colorado College and Idaho winning 1-0 at North Dakota State.

* The Vandals won on a first-half penalty kick, the Bears broke free of a 1-1 deadlock with goals by Lexi Pulley in the 72nd and 74th minutes.

* Southern Utah won 1-0 at Hope International, a NAIA opponent. Idaho State played to a 0-0 home draw against Utah State in a match that had 37 shots and 18 corner kicks.

* Sacramento State lost 3-0 at Saint Mary's, a team picked to finish sixth in the West Coast Conference, Eastern Washington, under first-year coach Missy Strasburg, lost 4-0 at Gonzaga. The Eagles fell behind 3-0 after giving up three goals in the opening 14:39.

* Big Sky preseason favorite Northern Arizona and Portland State make their season debuts on Saturday. The Lumberjacks play at Utah State, the Vikings host Seattle.

* In other Sunday matches, Idaho completes its road trip with a match at North Dakota, Idaho State hosts Division II Westminster, Southern Utah plays at UC Irvine and Northern Colorado faces Air Force in Denver.

Upcoming: Montana will have another Thursday-road, Sunday-home double next week, traveling to face Cal Poly on Thursday night, then hosting MSU Billings on Sunday.

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Players Mentioned

Allie Larsen

Caitlin Rogers

Taylor Stoeger

Elizabeth Todd

Josie Windauer

Camellia Xu

University of Montana Athletics