Mustangs rally, top Grizzlies 2-1

Thursday, August 26

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

8 PM (MT)

Montana

0-3-0

Cal Poly

1-2-0

Montana

Cal Poly

8/26/2021 10:52:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana soccer team scored first on Thursday night at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo, Calif., but Cal Poly answered with two second-half goals to rally for a 2-1 victory.

Montana (0-3-0) took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute when Sydney Haustein scored her first career goal off an assist by Taylor Stoeger, who has assisted on both of the Grizzlies' goals this season.

It was Montana's first lead of the season.

"Stoeger got played in behind, a girl slows her down in the box, she cuts it back and Sydney scores from the top of the box. A beautiful goal," said UM coach Chris Citowicki.

Montana took a 1-0 lead into halftime and dominated possession and chances through the first 15 minutes of the second half.

The Grizzlies outshot the Mustangs (1-2-0) 4-0 to open the second half, including two breakaways, and generated a corner kick. But they had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.

"Instead of it being two or three to zero, all of a sudden it's 1-1, then 2-1. Then all of a sudden you lose," said Citowicki.

After being on its heels to start the second half, Cal Poly evened the score in the 64th minute. Less than two minutes later it was 2-1 when the Mustangs played a ball into traffic that evaded Montana goalkeeper Camellia Xu for an own goal.

The Mustangs put just three shots on goal all night.

"They had two clean chances and both went in the goal," said Citowicki, whose team outshot Cal Poly, put more shots on goal and possessed the ball for 55 percent of the match.

"It was a phenomenal performance from us against a good team. We created better opportunities than we have all year. We just didn't take advantage of them.

"The team executed the game plan to perfection. I'm very proud of them for that. We played really well. When it came to 1-on-1 with their goalkeeper, we didn't put the ball in the back of the net."

Freshman Ava Samuelson played 64 minutes off the bench and took a team-high three shots. Freshman Skyleigh Thompson took two shots in 45 minutes off the bench.

Josie Windauer made her first career start, Molly Massman played a team-high 81 minutes in a return to her hometown.

Xu, a redshirt freshman, made two saves in her second career start.

"Cam was great. Her distribution is unbelievably good in the back, along with her organization and communication," said Citowicki.

"We're playing really well but we're not quite there yet. We're keeping the ball well, we're moving the ball well, we're creating opportunities, but at the end of the day you have to take your chances."

Montana will host MSU Billings at 1 p.m. on Sunday at South Campus Stadium.