Griz open Big Sky play on the road

The Montana soccer team will open its Big Sky Conference schedule this week when it hits the road for matches at Northern Arizona and Southern Utah.

The Grizzlies (4-4-0) will face NAU (2-7-0) on Friday at 8 p.m. (MT) at Lumberjack Stadium in Flagstaff and SUU (1-7-0) at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Thunderbird Soccer Field in Cedar City.

Both matches can be watched on ESPN+.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies will go into league play on a roll, having won three in a row, all by shutout, and four of five after opening the season with three one-goal losses.

The last two victories were both over then regionally ranked opponents. Montana shut out Boise State at home on Sunday, Sept. 12, then four days later won 1-0 at Long Beach State.

The victory over the Beach was the first out-of-conference road win for the Grizzlies under fourth-year coach Chris Citowicki.

Montana goes into Big Sky play with a nonconference record of at least .500 for the first time since 2017.

At a glance (Northern Arizona): After being picked first in the preseason coaches' poll, the Lumberjacks opened the season 0-7-0 while facing a difficult schedule. Current record of NAU's first seven opponents: 37-17-4.

Northern Arizona got its first win of the season at home on Friday, 6-0 over Arizona Christian, then made it two in a row with a 2-0 road win at Dixie State on Sunday.

Senior forward Madison Montgomery, who has three goals this season, was a first-team All-Big Sky selection in the spring and the league's co-Offensive MVP.

Northern Arizona went 7-2-1 in the spring and won the Big Sky Southeast Division title with a 5-1-1 league record.

NAU defeated Idaho 1-0 in the Big Sky tournament semifinals but was unable to face Montana in the championship match because of COVID-related issues within its program.

At a glance (Southern Utah): The Thunderbirds opened their season with a 1-0 win at NAIA Hope International but have lost seven straight since, with just three goals scored.

SUU has mostly been competitive during its losing streak. Its last five results have all been one-goal losses.

Southern Utah opens league with a home match against Northern Colorado on Friday afternoon.

The Thunderbirds went 5-3-1 in the spring, ending the season on a four-match winning streak. They finished fourth in the Southeast Division with a 3-3-0 league record.

Series history (Montana-Northern Arizona):

* Montana leads the all-time series with Northern Arizona 16-6-5 and is unbeaten (3-0-4) against NAU over the teams' last seven matchups.

* Over the teams' last 10 meetings, the Grizzlies and Lumberjacks have combined to score 14 goals. Three of those 10 results have been 0-0 draws.

* Montana is 5-5-2 against Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.

* In the teams' most recent meeting, in 2019 in Flagstaff, Montana won 1-0 on Alexa Coyle's header off an Allie Larsen free kick in the 69th minute.

* Northern Arizona's last win in the series was a 2-1 victory in Missoula in 2013.

Series history (Montana-Southern Utah):

* Montana has never lost to Southern Utah, going 5-0-4 against the Thunderbirds.

* The Grizzlies are 2-0-3 against Southern Utah in Cedar City.

* The teams' last two matchups have been draws, 1-1 in Missoula in 2018 and 0-0 in Cedar City in 2019.

Summary:

It's heady times for the Montana soccer program. The Grizzlies enter league with a record of .500, something that hasn't happened under Citowicki, with the two most recent wins coming against teams that were regionally ranked.

But whether you're 6-1-1 Idaho or 0-9-1 Idaho State, everyone returns to the starting line this week with the opening of league. Everybody is at 0-0-0.

"In my time here, we've never had a more successful nonconference slate. It's really nice to be in the position where we have some results that we can carry into conference play, but now everybody is at zero. Nobody has any points or wins," Citowicki said.

That's not to say history doesn't matter. It will be a major storyline when Montana meets up with Northern Arizona on Friday night.

The two teams won their divisions of the Big Sky last season and were on a collision course to meet up in the tournament championship match until it was declared a no contest and the Grizzlies were gifted the title and a spot in the NCAA tournament.

"Could they have beaten us in finals? Who knows? Should they have been the ones going to the NCAA tournament? Who knows? I know they've wanted this game since then," said Citowicki.

The two teams also were picked atop the preseason poll. Northern Arizona came in first. Montana had more first-place votes but came in second by a narrow margin.

"They were picked ahead of us in the polls, so you've got 1 against 2, so let's go at it," Citowicki said.

"When it comes to Big Sky play, everything is personal all of a sudden. There is history and we play each other every year, so it means so much more. It's different now. Games are scrappier. You've got to try to find a way to win."

Looking back, it's been a solid body of work for Montana this fall. The Grizzlies opened the season with a double-overtime loss at Creighton, a team that is now 6-2-1. Then there was the 2-1 loss at Cal Poly, a team that is for the first time this season regionally ranked.

The 3-0 loss at Gonzaga came against a team now 9-1-0 and outscoring its opponents 34-3. The Bulldogs have vaulted up to No. 2 in the West Region, behind only Pepperdine, which is ranked No. 6 nationally.

It hasn't been anything that Montana has changed that's led to better outcomes, Citowicki says. "We haven't trained differently. It's been there. It was minute details that were going wrong, and that can happen when you have a younger team. We're not making the same mistakes we were weeks ago."

Senior co-captain Taylor Hansen agrees. "We've just been doing the same things we have been doing. Things have started clicking and we've been executing, just putting things together," she said.

"We're very resilient. After the results early on, we could have put our heads down but we got back to work. The communication on the field has gotten a lot better. We're working together a lot better."

After losing 3-0 at Gonzaga to drop to 0-4-0 against Division I opponents, Montana got things righted with a 6-0 home win over Texas Southern.

Then came the breakthrough result, a 1-0 home win over Boise State. But breakthrough took on a new meaning four days later when Montana won 1-0 at Long Beach State.

Both matches were scoreless at the half. Twice Montana came through with the game-winner. Against the Broncos it was Delaney Lou Schorr off a corner kick. Against the Beach, it was Sydney Haustein on a breakaway.

"Our last performance was a complete professional performance all the way through," said Hansen. "We talk about competing for 45 minutes, then competing for the next 45 minutes, all the way through.

"That's something we've done really well the last couple of games."

The results mean something but not in the standings, not now at the start of league. The teams that rose to the top during nonconference will likely be there in the end, but everyone is still 0-0-0 today.

"When it gets to Big Sky play, we definitely have a target on our backs, so that's different," said Hansen. "Instead of being the underdog going into these games, now people are coming after us."

Montana notes:

* Redshirt freshman Camellia Xu was named the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday for the second time this season. Xu made six saves while facing 26 shots in Thursday's win at Long Beach.

* Xu has posted shutouts in four of Montana's last five matches. In the Grizzlies' last three wins, over Texas Southern, Boise State and Long Beach State, they've outscored their opponents 8-0.

* Junior midfielder Sydney Haustein entered the season without a goal scored through her first two years. She has four this season on just five shots.

* Montana has now had a shutout streak of at least three matches in all four years under Citowicki. The longest was four, late in the 2019 season.

* Haustein is tied for the Big Sky lead in goals scored with Northern Colorado's Lexi Pulley, whose team has played two more matches than Montana.

* Taylor Hansen leads the Big Sky in assists with four. Taylor Stoeger is tied for second with three.

* Xu leads the Big Sky with four shutouts and ranks second in goals-against average (0.97).

* Montana has an RPI of 172 in the NCAA's first ranking of the season that came out this week. The Grizzlies trail Idaho (164) and Eastern Washington (168).

* Northern Arizona has an RPI of 222, Southern Utah 335, one spot behind No. 334 Texas Southern. Only seven Division I teams rank below the Thunderbirds.

* Montana has allowed just two first-half goals this season. Both were scored by Gonzaga.

* Montana has gone 20-4-7 against Big Sky opponents under Citowicki.

This week in the Big Sky Conference:

Friday's schedule: UM (4-4-0) at NAU (2-7-0), UNC (2-6-2) at SUU (1-7-0), EWU (2-5-0) at ISU (0-9-1), UI (6-1-1) at WSU (3-5-0)

Sunday's schedule: UM at SUU, UNC at NAU, UI at ISU, EWU at WSU, SAC (1-5-2) at PSU (2-5-0)

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Players Mentioned

Alexa Coyle

Taylor Hansen

Sydney Haustein

Allie Larsen

Delaney Lou Schorr

Taylor Stoeger

Camellia Xu

University of Montana Athletics