Griz to be tested in final nonconference match

The Montana women's soccer team, on a two-match winning streak and coming off a victory over a regionally ranked opponent, will wrap up its nonconference schedule this week with a game at Long Beach State.

The Grizzlies (3-4-0) and the Beach (3-2-1) will square off at 8 p.m. (MT) on Thursday at LBSU's George Allen Field in what will be Long Beach State's home opener.

Montana will open its Big Sky Conference schedule next week with matches at Northern Arizona on Friday, Sept. 24, and Southern Utah on Sunday, Sept. 26.

Coverage: Thursday's match will air on ESPN+.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies picked up their first NCAA Division I victories of the season last weekend, sweeping a two-match home stand against Texas Southern, 6-0, and Boise State, 1-0. The Broncos entered last week unbeaten, unscored upon and ranked No. 7 in the Pacific Region.

Montana blitzed the Tigers on Friday, scoring five times in the opening 39 minutes and cruising to a 6-0 victory. It was the most goals scored by the Grizzlies since 2014 and the most goals scored in the first half of a match since 1999.

In Sunday's 1-0 win over Boise State, a victory that improved Montana to 7-0-1 against the Broncos in the teams' last eight meetings, the Grizzlies broke up a tense game with a goal at 63:27 that proved to be the game-winner.

The deciding goal came on a freshman connection, with Bella O'Brien taking a corner kick that ended up loose in front of goal before Delaney Lou Schorr bodied it in for her first career goal.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Camellia Xu, who only needed to make three saves in the two matches, went 2-0-0 on the week with a pair of shutouts. She dropped her goals-against average from 1.66 to 1.13.

At a glance (Long Beach State): The Beach are among the teams that are receiving votes but just outside the top 25 in this week's United Soccer Coaches national poll. Long Beach State is sitting fifth in the West Region.

Sitting atop the West Region and ranked ninth nationally at 7-1-0 is Pepperdine. The Waves' only loss this season came at home against Long Beach State, 2-1. Three days later, the Beach lost 1-0 to then No. 4 UCLA, which is 6-0-0 and now ranked third nationally.

Long Beach State also has wins over Cal State Northridge and San Diego State. The Beach traveled to Seattle and played Washington to a 1-1 draw in their most recent match on Saturday.

Long Beach State was picked first in the Big West preseason coaches' poll in what should be a wide-open league. Six of the 11 Big West teams collected at least one first-place vote.

Junior forward Lena Silano leads LBSU with four goals and two assists through six matches. Three of her goals have come in the Beach's last two matches, including a goal in the 89th minute on Saturday that allowed her team to pick up a draw at Washington.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Morgan Houston-Shepherd has played every minute in goal and allowed just six goals through six matches. Senior defender Kaitlin Fregulia, the 2017 Big West Defensive Player of the Year, was voted to the preseason All-Big West team.

Long Beach State is coached by Mauricio Ingrassia, who has led the Beach to seven NCAA tournaments, including a spot in the Elite 8 in 2011.

Series history:

* Montana and Long Beach State will be playing for the first time on Thursday night.

* The Grizzlies are 14-12-1 all-time against the current membership of the Big West Conference.

* Montana is 15-28-4 in matches played in the state of California.

Summary:

After dropping one-goal decisions to Creighton, Portland and Cal Poly to open the season, Montana was on the winning side of a tight one on Sunday when the Grizzlies knocked off Boise State 1-0 at South Campus Stadium.

That added to previous wins over MSU Billings and Texas Southern, two wins that came by a combined score of 10-0.

"Going through nonconference, we've seen close games with Creighton, Portland and Cal Poly. We've played teams we should beat and we've beat them, not by one or two but handily," said coach Chris Citowicki.

"Now we're picking up results against good teams. To learn how to close out a game against a good team is huge. We've matured immensely. It's a completely different squad than it was when we started. It's the same group of players, they just get it now and are better."

Montana will conclude its nonconference schedule on Thursday night with the toughest test of them all, a road match under the lights at Long Beach State in the Beach's home opener.

"All this work that we've put in, let's test it one last time against somebody pretty talented," said Citowicki. "Let's see how we measure up against the team picked to finish first in the Big West. Isn't that what it's all about? If we want to measure ourselves against the best, here you go."

Montana played under the lights at Creighton, played under the lights at Cal Poly and will play under the lights next Friday night when the Grizzlies open league at Northern Arizona.

"We had that at Creighton and we dealt with it. We had that at Cal Poly and we dealt with it. Now we have that at Long Beach, with the added intensity of it being their first home game," said Citowicki. "The crowd should be pretty good, so it preps us for what we have coming up."

Long Beach State's roster is all California except for three outliers, from Minnesota, Nevada and Australia. But that doesn't mean Montana isn't familiar with the players on the Beach.

"Now that I've been here long enough and have recruited out of that area, Legends (FC) in particular, there are a lot of names that I recognize," said Citowicki. "Oh, I'd love to have that kid. She's at Long Beach. Oh, I'd love to have that kid. She's at Long Beach. So it's a very talented team.

"It should make for a very entertaining game. (Coach Mauricio Ingrassia's) history is very good. His squad is talented. They can defend well, they can hit you on the counter, they can keep the ball. It's just an all-around good team."

Montana notes:

* Montana's season-opening opponent keeps rolling. Creighton is 6-1-1 and on a five-match unbeaten streak during which the Bluejays have outscored their opponents 11-0.

* Portland is 3-3-0 and coming off a 3-0 win over Colorado College, Cal Poly is 4-4-0 and coming off a 5-0 win over San Jose State.

* Gonzaga is 7-1-0 and now receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches top 25 poll. The Bulldogs have won five straight by a combined score of 22-1.

* Montana swept the Big Sky Conference Players of the Week on Tuesday for the second time this season.

* Taylor Stoeger, who scored two goals in Friday's 6-0 win over Texas Southern, was named the Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career.

* Friday's two-goal output was Stoeger's second multiple-goal game of her career. She also scored twice in Montana's 2-1 overtime win over Northern Colorado in April at the Big Sky tournament, a win that sent the Grizzlies to the NCAA tournament.

* Taylor Hansen, part of a back line that limited Texas Southern and Boise State to 12 combined shots, just three on goal, and posted two shutouts, was named the Defensive Player of the Week. She also had two assists and a goal in Friday's win over Texas Southern.

* Hansen's two assists on Friday moved her into the top 10 in program history in career assists with 13. She is tied for ninth with Sheralyn Fowler (1995-96).

* When Taylor Stoeger and Sydney Haustein both scored twice in Friday's win, it marked the first time since 2000 that Montana has had multiple goal scorers in the same game. The last time it happened: Heather Olson and Amy Wronski both scored twice in a 5-1 home win over Cal State Northridge in 2000.

* Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Camellia Xu has posted a shutout in three of Montana's last four matches.

* Montana went up 5-0 on Friday on a pair of firsts: Skyleigh Thompson's first collegiate goal off Ava Samuelson's first collegiate assist.

* Montana now has eight players with a goal this season, seven who have had at least one assist.

* The Grizzlies took 31 shots in their 4-0 home win over MSU Billings, then upped that to 32 on Friday against Texas Southern. Only eight previous times in program history had Montana taken 31 or more shots in a match.

* Montana's last four wins over Boise State have all been by 1-0 scores. Only one of the teams' 15 all-time match-ups has been by a margin of more than one goal, the Broncos' 2-0 victory in 2007.

* Montana's three wins and 3-4-0 record have the Grizzlies sitting second in the Big Sky behind Idaho, which is off to a hot 5-1-0 start.

* All five of the Vandals' wins have come against Division I opponents. Their only loss was a 2-1 setback at Oregon State, which is off to a 7-0-0 start. Idaho is the only team to hold a lead against the Beavers this season.

* Portland State (Western Oregon, Cal State Northridge) and Weber State (Kansas State, Dixie State) are the only other Big Sky teams with multiple wins this fall.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Taylor Hansen

Sydney Haustein

Bella O'Brien

Ava Samuelson

Delaney Lou Schorr

Taylor Stoeger

Skyleigh Thompson

Camellia Xu

University of Montana Athletics