Griz back on the road to face Mustangs

The Montana soccer team, coming off a pair of one-goal losses to open the season, will return to the road this week for a match at Cal Poly.

The Grizzlies (0-2-0) and Mustangs (0-2-0) will kick off at 8 p.m. (MT) on Thursday at Cal Poly's Alex G. Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo.

Montana will host MSU Billings at 1 p.m. on Sunday in what will be an exhibition match for the Yellowjackets.

Coverage: Thursday's match will have an audio broadcast and live stats available.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies opened their season last week with a pair of one-goal setbacks against Creighton and Portland.

Facing the Bluejays in Omaha, Neb., on Thursday, Montana fell behind in the 50th minute, tied the match at 1-1 on Josie Windauer's first career goal in the 80th minute, then lost in heartbreaking fashion on a goal with just 46 seconds left in the second overtime.

On Sunday in Missoula, Montana again played a scoreless first half. And again the opponent had the first goal in the second half, with the Pilots going up 1-0 in the 56th minute. This time the Grizzlies could not come up with the equalizer.

Sunday's loss was just Montana's second at home in its last 16 matches in Missoula.

At a glance (Cal Poly): The Mustangs, like the Grizzlies, are 0-2-0 but have a solid body of work. They went 2-0-0 in exhibition play, including a 2-1 home win over a Fresno State team that was picked fourth in the preseason Mountain West Conference poll.

Cal Poly opened at home last week and lost 2-0 to No. 24 Stanford and 2-1 to Saint Mary's, a match the Mustangs led 1-0 going into the 74th minute against a team that was coming off a one-sided 3-0 defeat of Sacramento State three days prior.

Cal Poly, which didn't play any matches during the 2020-21 school year, was picked seventh out of 11 teams in the Big West Conference preseason poll, with one first-place vote.

History:

* Montana and Cal Poly have played seven times since their first matchup in 1996, with the Mustangs holding a 4-3-0 advantage.

* The Grizzlies are 1-1-0 against Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, with a 3-1 win in 1998, a 1-0 loss in 2001.

* The teams played six times from 1996 to 2003 and didn't square off again until playing in Missoula in 2019.

* Montana won that match 1-0 on a McKenzie Kilpatrick goal in the 80th minute. Thursday's match is the back end of that home-and-home agreement.

Summary:

Montana set up its opening-week schedule to make a big splash against a pair of fellow mid-major programs in Creighton and Portland.

Both matches were competitive, both were tight, both were disappointing to lose, which indicates to coach Chris Citowicki just how far his program has come since his first day on the job in 2018.

"I would have been pleased with it a few years ago. We would have been pinned back and struggled in those matches and just tried to find a way to compete," he said.

"Now it's, we should have won that game. How did we not put that away? I was really impressed with the way we played, to the point of being frustrated that we didn't come away with any wins."

Montana got out-shot by Creighton 19-7, but it was the Grizzlies who were the more dangerous team over the back half of the second period.

In Sunday's loss, Montana allowed just two shots on goal over the final 55 minutes, and the goal the Pilots scored landed squarely in the soft category according to Citowicki.

A ball from outside the 18-yard box was lifted toward goal and got over Montana's keeper to the far side.

"There was only one game last year when we possessed the ball more and created better opportunities than we did last week," said Citowicki.

"We were possessing the ball well against high-level teams, creating good opportunities, just not executing them. The frustration is there, but it's nice to be in that position."

As he said he would, Citowicki cycled his two returning goalkeepers in the season's first two matches.

Junior Elizabeth Todd started against Creighton. Redshirt freshman Camellia Xu played the second half and overtime periods.

Xu got the start on Sunday, with Todd playing the second half.

"It's hard to rotate a goalkeeper midway through the game. The energy and communication and presence you get from that person, you want that to be consistent," said Citowicki.

"Now you're replacing it with a completely different person, and you get different things coming at you. But we did really well with them."

Neither had played a minute of regular-season collegiate soccer before the Creighton match. In addition to their inexperience, they had to fill the position played so well the last four years by Claire Howard.

"Imagine the pressure of having to fill Claire's shoes, to say, go out there and good luck against Creighton, good luck against Portland," said Citowicki.

"They did so well in those moments to not make critical mistakes. I was pleased with them to go into those environments and do what they did."

Next up is Cal Poly, which is seeking its first win of the season, just as Montana is.

"Cal Poly is a good team. They lost 2-0, but they aggressively pressed Stanford. They remind me of us in the way they're organized, with the way they press, how they try to win the ball," said Citowicki.

"And then in possession, they are very good. It's a very well-drilled and organized team."

Against the Cardinal, Cal Poly went just five players deep into its bench. On Sunday, the Mustangs had 24 players get on the field.

"They rotated a ton of players for the second game, so they're going to be fresh and looking for a result after those two losses, especially after giving up the lead so late against Saint Mary's," said Citowicki.

"We've both played two difficult games and have come out of it saying, all right, the next one is the match we're focusing on now."

Game notes:

* Thursday's match will be a homecoming for junior midfielder Molly Massman, who is from San Luis Obispo.

* It will also be a return to their home state for Elizabeth Todd (Oakland), Taylor Hansen (Cardiff by the Sea) and Caitlin Rogers (Murrieta).

* Cal Poly, previously a Division II team, became a Division I program the same year as Montana: 1994. The Mustangs have been competing in the Big West Conference since 1996.

* Alex Crozier has been coaching Cal Poly since it became an NCAA program in 1992. He's led the Mustangs to six NCAA tournaments, eight regular-season conference championships and three Big West tournament titles.

* In its most recent season, in 2019, Cal Poly went 6-10-3 and finished fifth in the Big West at 3-3-2.

* The Mustangs were picked seventh out of 11 teams in this year's preseason poll. ... Sophomore midfielder Camille Lafaix, a United Soccer Coaches third-team All-West Region selection as a freshman, made the 11-player preseason all-league team.

Schedule notes:

* Creighton followed its home victory over Montana on Thursday with a 2-0 home win over Drake on Sunday.

* Gonzaga, next week's lone opponent, is 2-0-0 after opening the season with a 4-0 home win over Eastern Washington and a 3-1 road win at Georgia on Sunday. Georgia was picked 13th out of 14 teams in the preseason SEC poll. ... Gonzaga continues its Power 5 schedule with a road match at Purdue on Thursday. The Boilermakers were picked 11th out 14 teams in the Big Ten. Gonzaga will play at Portland State on Sunday, then host Hawaii on Thursday, Sept. 2, before facing Montana on Sunday, Sept. 5.

* Montana's first two-match home stand will be against Texas Southern and Boise State on Sept. 10 and 12. ... Texas Southern, picked seventh out of 10 teams in the Southwest Athletic Conference, which was the lowest-ranked Division I league in the nation in 2019, is 0-2-0 after losing 2-1 to Louisiana-Monroe and 5-0 to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. ... Boise State, picked third in the Mountain West, is 1-0-0 after winning 1-0 at Utah on Sunday, the team that defeated Portland 3-1 on Thursday.

* Montana will wrap up its nonconference schedule with another tough match, at Long Beach State on Thursday, Sept. 16. The Beach topped the Big West preseason poll and opened the season with a 2-0 road win at Cal State Northridge. LBSU plays at No. 8 Pepperdine and No. 4 UCLA this week. ... Long Beach State's game against Montana will be the Beach's first home match of the season.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Through the first round of matches, Idaho (2-0-0), Weber State (1-0-0) and Northern Colorado (1-0-1) emerged without a loss. ... The Vandals won 1-0 at both North Dakota State and North Dakota. ... The Wildcats picked up a Power 5 win with a 2-0 victory at Kansas State. ... Northern Colorado defeated Colorado College in Greeley, then played to a 0-0 draw with Air Force in a neutral-site match in Denver.

* The Big Sky preseason favorites, Northern Arizona and Montana, both opened 0-2-0. The Lumberjacks lost 2-1 at Utah State in a match that had all the scoring occur in the opening 21 minutes. Two days later NAU lost 2-1 at Utah Valley in overtime. Northern Arizona led 1-0 going into the 72nd minute.

* In featured games this week, Idaho puts its undefeated record on the line on Friday at Oregon State, Weber State hosts Utah Valley and Utah State, Northern Colorado plays at Utah State and Utah, and Northern Arizona plays matches at Arizona on Friday, Oregon on Sunday.

Upcoming: After hosting MSU Billings on Sunday, Montana will have a single-match week, capped by a game at Gonzaga on Sunday, Sept. 5.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Taylor Hansen

Claire Howard

McKenzie Kilpatrick

Molly Massman

Caitlin Rogers

Elizabeth Todd

Josie Windauer

Camellia Xu

University of Montana Athletics