Sunday, August 29
Missoula, Mont.
1 PM
Montana
1-3-0
4
vs
0
MSU Billings
1
2
F
MSU Billings
0
0
0
Montana
0
4
4
Photo by: Derek Johnson
Griz collect win No. 1 on Griggs’ hat trick
8/29/2021 6:15:00 PM | Soccer
Junior Jaden Griggs had a natural hat trick -- three goals in succession, all in the second half -- to lead the Montana soccer team to its first win of the season on Sunday afternoon at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.
Tied 0-0 at the half, the Grizzlies (1-3-0) erupted for four second-half goals to win 4-0 over MSU Billings.
Griggs, who entered the match without a goal in her Montana career, would have been surprised as anyone had she been told beforehand that she would walk off the field after 90 minutes with three.
"I would have said, let's start out with one first."
They came in a variety of ways: a spinning shot with her left foot after getting set up by a Taylor Hansen cross, a put-back off an Ali Monroe shot and then No. 3, when she took a long lead pass and waited, waited and waited before finally scoring to give Montana its 17th hat track in program history.
It was the first for the Grizzlies since Erin Craig did it in a 4-4 draw at Southern Utah in 2011.
"A lot of it came down to my teammates," Griggs said. "They were feeding me really good balls that I could run onto or just creating chances for themselves, and I got on the end of it. It was the people around me."
The final margin belies the problems the Yellowjackets and their low block created for the Grizzlies in the first half.
Montana got the ball wide at will and owned 63 percent of the possession through the first 45 minutes -- with 80 percent of that coming on the offensive end of the field -- but 14 shots and seven corners didn't lead to a single goal against what felt like the entire populace of Billings milling around in front of net.
And when the ball did get through all those bodies, MSUB goalkeeper Clare Keenan, who was dynamite at handling crosses and the three shots that were put on frame, was there to keep the match scoreless.
"Going into halftime, I wrote down two things," said UM coach Chris Citowicki. "One, finish your chances. The second was frustration. When you play a team that plays in the lower block, their goal is to frustrate you for as long as possible and win the game in the final 10 minutes.
"If we came out of the locker room and just kept dumping balls in behind, it was not going to work. We had to find a different way to get through it. We couldn't go out wide every single time."
Maybe not, but that's how Montana scored its first goal, when Hansen, who injected a new energy into the match coming out of the locker room, raced up to steal a pass that was being played out of the box.
She took the ball up the right side, almost to the end line, then crossed it to Griggs, who collected the ball with her back to goal, then spun and finished with her left foot into the upper right corner.
It was the play Montana needed to break out of its scoring funk.
"Last spring I kept saying we won this game or that game because we have seniors, and it should be that same pattern every year," said Citowicki.
"They've been in those situations before. When things are tight, you need seniors to step up. You put the team on your back and find a way to get it done. That's what Taylor did."
That goal relieved the pressure of being in a scoreless game in the second half against a Division II opponent and opened things up for more good things.
Griggs struck again in the 70th minute when Ali Monroe's shot was spiked to the ground instead of being caught by MSUB back-up goalkeeper Tuva Sallvin. Griggs was there for the easy clean-up goal.
The hat trick came when Griggs was played a ball up the field that she chased down to right of goal. Another player may have rushed into a shot while Sallvin was still on her feet and balanced and prepared to make the save.
Griggs waited. And waited. And waited. She took the ball almost to the end line before forcing Sallvin to blink first.
"Her last goal was her best one," Citowicki said. "She waited for the goalkeeper to start leaning and tilting to go down and then just lifted it over her leg.
"She could have shot early when she was still standing, but she wanted her to go down. That's when she released the shot. It was such a high-level finish. It's what we see from Jaden in practice but hadn't seen in a game yet."
Montana's final goal came in the closing minutes, when Hansen played a corner kick high to Molly Quarry. Hansen got the ball back and sent a screamer into the box that freshman Bella O'Brien, positioned at the near post, redirected into the net for career goal No. 1.
"Our (first-half) crosses may have been on, but they weren't working, so we had to fix how we went about it," said Hansen. "Something needed to change, and we definitely fixed it and started to get the flow."
Montana didn't have nearly the possession advantage in the second half that it did in the first, but the Grizzlies had four goals over the final 45 minutes after getting blanked through a half.
"I said, this is like an escape room, and you're using the same key to open the door," said Citowicki. "If it doesn't work, find another key. For their response toward the problem to be so intelligent is pretty cool.
"That's the best thing to come out of this game. I told them, by the end of this, you'll have found a different way out of the room. Once you get out and get that first one, you'll get multiple goals."
Camellia Xu got the start in goal and made three saves to pick up her first collegiate win. Skyleigh Thompson made her first career start, and Madi Elcombe and Maddie Seelhoff made their collegiate debuts off the bench.
Montana outshot MSU Billings 31-8 and took 10 corner kicks to none for the Yellowjackets.
The Grizzlies will play just one match in the week ahead, at Gonzaga next Sunday at 2 p.m. (MT). The Bulldogs are 3-1-0, with a 3-1 win at Georgia and dominant victories over a pair of Big Sky opponents, 4-0 at home against Eastern Washington and 7-0 on the road at Portland State on Sunday.
Gonzaga, which lost 1-0 at Purdue on Thursday, will host Hawaii this Thursday before facing Montana on Sunday.
Tied 0-0 at the half, the Grizzlies (1-3-0) erupted for four second-half goals to win 4-0 over MSU Billings.
Griggs, who entered the match without a goal in her Montana career, would have been surprised as anyone had she been told beforehand that she would walk off the field after 90 minutes with three.
"I would have said, let's start out with one first."
They came in a variety of ways: a spinning shot with her left foot after getting set up by a Taylor Hansen cross, a put-back off an Ali Monroe shot and then No. 3, when she took a long lead pass and waited, waited and waited before finally scoring to give Montana its 17th hat track in program history.
It was the first for the Grizzlies since Erin Craig did it in a 4-4 draw at Southern Utah in 2011.
"A lot of it came down to my teammates," Griggs said. "They were feeding me really good balls that I could run onto or just creating chances for themselves, and I got on the end of it. It was the people around me."
The final margin belies the problems the Yellowjackets and their low block created for the Grizzlies in the first half.
Montana got the ball wide at will and owned 63 percent of the possession through the first 45 minutes -- with 80 percent of that coming on the offensive end of the field -- but 14 shots and seven corners didn't lead to a single goal against what felt like the entire populace of Billings milling around in front of net.
And when the ball did get through all those bodies, MSUB goalkeeper Clare Keenan, who was dynamite at handling crosses and the three shots that were put on frame, was there to keep the match scoreless.
"Going into halftime, I wrote down two things," said UM coach Chris Citowicki. "One, finish your chances. The second was frustration. When you play a team that plays in the lower block, their goal is to frustrate you for as long as possible and win the game in the final 10 minutes.
"If we came out of the locker room and just kept dumping balls in behind, it was not going to work. We had to find a different way to get through it. We couldn't go out wide every single time."
Maybe not, but that's how Montana scored its first goal, when Hansen, who injected a new energy into the match coming out of the locker room, raced up to steal a pass that was being played out of the box.
She took the ball up the right side, almost to the end line, then crossed it to Griggs, who collected the ball with her back to goal, then spun and finished with her left foot into the upper right corner.
It was the play Montana needed to break out of its scoring funk.
"Last spring I kept saying we won this game or that game because we have seniors, and it should be that same pattern every year," said Citowicki.
"They've been in those situations before. When things are tight, you need seniors to step up. You put the team on your back and find a way to get it done. That's what Taylor did."
That goal relieved the pressure of being in a scoreless game in the second half against a Division II opponent and opened things up for more good things.
Griggs struck again in the 70th minute when Ali Monroe's shot was spiked to the ground instead of being caught by MSUB back-up goalkeeper Tuva Sallvin. Griggs was there for the easy clean-up goal.
The hat trick came when Griggs was played a ball up the field that she chased down to right of goal. Another player may have rushed into a shot while Sallvin was still on her feet and balanced and prepared to make the save.
Griggs waited. And waited. And waited. She took the ball almost to the end line before forcing Sallvin to blink first.
"Her last goal was her best one," Citowicki said. "She waited for the goalkeeper to start leaning and tilting to go down and then just lifted it over her leg.
"She could have shot early when she was still standing, but she wanted her to go down. That's when she released the shot. It was such a high-level finish. It's what we see from Jaden in practice but hadn't seen in a game yet."
Montana's final goal came in the closing minutes, when Hansen played a corner kick high to Molly Quarry. Hansen got the ball back and sent a screamer into the box that freshman Bella O'Brien, positioned at the near post, redirected into the net for career goal No. 1.
"Our (first-half) crosses may have been on, but they weren't working, so we had to fix how we went about it," said Hansen. "Something needed to change, and we definitely fixed it and started to get the flow."
Montana didn't have nearly the possession advantage in the second half that it did in the first, but the Grizzlies had four goals over the final 45 minutes after getting blanked through a half.
"I said, this is like an escape room, and you're using the same key to open the door," said Citowicki. "If it doesn't work, find another key. For their response toward the problem to be so intelligent is pretty cool.
"That's the best thing to come out of this game. I told them, by the end of this, you'll have found a different way out of the room. Once you get out and get that first one, you'll get multiple goals."
Camellia Xu got the start in goal and made three saves to pick up her first collegiate win. Skyleigh Thompson made her first career start, and Madi Elcombe and Maddie Seelhoff made their collegiate debuts off the bench.
Montana outshot MSU Billings 31-8 and took 10 corner kicks to none for the Yellowjackets.
The Grizzlies will play just one match in the week ahead, at Gonzaga next Sunday at 2 p.m. (MT). The Bulldogs are 3-1-0, with a 3-1 win at Georgia and dominant victories over a pair of Big Sky opponents, 4-0 at home against Eastern Washington and 7-0 on the road at Portland State on Sunday.
Gonzaga, which lost 1-0 at Purdue on Thursday, will host Hawaii this Thursday before facing Montana on Sunday.
Team Stats
MSUB
UM
Goals
0
4
Shots
8
31
Shots on Goal
3
11
Saves
7
3
Corners
0
10
Fouls
3
5
Scoring Plays
Griggs, Jaden (1)
Assisted By: Hansen, Taylor
GOAL by UM Griggs, Jaden (FIRST GOAL), Assist by Hansen, Taylor, goal number 1 for season.
50:14
Griggs, Jaden (2)
Assisted By: Monroe, Ali
GOAL by UM Griggs, Jaden, Assist by Monroe, Ali, goal number 2 for season.
69:54
Griggs, Jaden (3)
Assisted By: Larsen, Allie
GOAL by UM Griggs, Jaden, Assist by Larsen, Allie, goal number 3 for season.
82:05
O'Brien, Bella (1)
Assisted By: Hansen, Taylor , Quarry, Molly
GOAL by UM O'Brien, Bella, Assist by Hansen, Taylor and Quarry, Molly, goal number 1 for season.
87:46
Game Leaders
Players
Shots
5
SOG
3
Goals
3
Assists
0
Shots
1
SOG
1
Goals
1
Assists
0
Shots
3
SOG
1
Goals
0
Assists
2
Shots
2
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
1
Players Mentioned
M
/ SoccerF
/ SoccerD
/ Soccer
M
/ SoccerM
/ Soccer
D
/ Soccer
D
/ Soccer
F
/ Soccer
G
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