Montana surges into October

The Montana soccer team, on a five-match winning streak and without a goal allowed since Sept. 5, will play its first Big Sky Conference home games this weekend when it hosts Sacramento State and Portland State at South Campus Stadium.

The Grizzlies (6-4-0, 2-0-0 BSC) will face the Hornets (1-6-2, 0-1-0 BSC) at 3 p.m. on Friday and the Vikings (3-5-0, 1-0-0 BSC) on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Montana opened its league schedule last weekend with a road sweep of Big Sky preseason favorite Northern Arizona and Southern Utah.

Coverage: Both games will stream on ESPN+ with Jackson Wagner calling the action.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies, picked second in the preseason coaches' poll, topped the preseason favorite Lumberjacks on Friday night in Flagstaff 1-0 behind Caitlin Rogers' free kick that she took near midfield in the 57th minute. It was her first career goal.

Montana finished off the Big Sky-opening sweep with a 1-0 victory at Southern Utah on Sunday afternoon in Cedar City. Bella O'Brien's second goal of the season, in the 44th minute off assists from Ally Henrikson and Ava Samuelson, would be the game-winner.

Redshirt freshman Camellia Xu made 13 saves in the two shutouts, which lowered her goals-against average to 0.76, upped her save percentage to .857 and garnered her Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors for the third time this season.

It marked the first time in program history a Grizzly has been named the Defensive Player of the Week three times in a single season. Only Erin Craig, in 2011, has earned Offensive Player of the Week honors three times.

The win over Northern Arizona kept Montana unbeaten against the Lumberjacks over the teams' last eight meetings (4-0-4). The win over Southern Utah improved the Grizzlies to 6-0-4 all-time against the Thunderbirds.

At a glance (Sacramento State): The Hornets, picked fifth in the preseason coaches' poll, have just one win in nine matches this season, a 3-0 home win over Nevada, which itself is struggling at 1-7-1.

In its one common nonconference opponent with Montana, Sacramento State lost 4-2 at Cal Poly three days after the Grizzlies lost 2-1 to the Mustangs on the road.

The Hornets opened league on Sunday with a 4-2 loss at Portland State. Sacramento State tied it at 2-2 early in the second half, but the Vikings scored the game-winner in the 51st minute, then added an insurance goal in the 76th.

Sacramento State is 0-5-1 away from home this season. The Hornets' only positive result was a 1-1 draw at Fresno State.

Freshman midfielder Abigail Lopez leads the team with three goals. The Hornets have just nine as a team in nine games while allowing 19, including four to Portland State, Pacific and Cal Poly, and three to Saint Mary's.

At a glance (Portland State): The Vikings, who went 0-8-0 in the spring, were picked ninth out of 10 teams in this year's preseason coaches' poll and struggled early, losing 7-0 at home to Gonzaga, 4-0 at home to Boise State and 3-0 at San Francisco.

But a 1-0 loss to still unbeaten Oregon (5-0-4) on a late penalty kick on Sept. 19 rolled into a 4-2 victory over Sacramento State last weekend, giving the Vikings some momentum going to Greeley to face Northern Colorado on Friday night.

In PSU's victory on Sunday, freshman Abi Hoffman scored in the fifth, 48th and 51st minutes to give Portland State its first hat trick since 2017 and earn Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Hoffman, who entered the Sacramento State match without a collegiate goal scored, now leads the team with three goals. Prior to Sunday, the Vikings had scored just five goals through their first seven matches. They've been outscored 21-9 this season.

Portland State has played six of its first eight matches this season at home. The Vikings are 1-1-0 on the road, with a 2-1 win at NCAA Division II Western Oregon and a 3-0 loss at San Francisco.

Series history (Montana-Sacramento State): Montana leads the all-time series with Sacramento State 16-7-6 ... The Grizzlies are unbeaten against the Hornets in the teams' last eight meetings (6-0-2) ... Montana is 7-2-3 against the Hornets in Missoula ... Sacramento State's last win in the series was a 3-0 victory in Missoula in 2013 ... Montana swept the series last year, winning twice in Sacramento, 1-0 in overtime and 3-0 ... Sami Siems scored three of the Grizzlies' four goals in the two matches on just three shots taken, which led to Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week honors ... Montana's seven-year unbeaten streak against Sacramento State followed a stretch when the Grizzlies won just once against the Hornets between 2004 and 2013, going 1-6-4.

Series history (Montana-Portland State): Montana leads the all-time series with Portland State 15-12-3 ... The Grizzlies are 4-0-1 against the Vikings in the teams' last five meetings ... Montana is 8-6-2 at home against Portland State ... Before winning at home in 2019 and sweeping last spring's series at Missoula County Stadium, the Grizzlies had a losing record at home against the Vikings, who went 5-0-1 in Missoula between 2003 and 2013 ... Montana has given up just four goals to Portland State in the teams' last nine meetings ... In last year's two-match series in Missoula, Montana won 2-1 and 3-0 ... PSU's goal in the 29th minute of that series opener was the only goal allowed by the Grizzlies last spring in their first seven matches.

Montana notes:

* Montana hasn't allowed a goal since Gonzaga scored one in the second half in the Bulldogs' 3-0 win in Spokane on Sept. 5. That was also the Grizzlies' last loss. (Gonzaga is now 10-1-0 and ranked 16th nationally.)

* Montana has gone five matches and more than 465 minutes without a goal allowed. The five consecutive shutout wins are one off the program record, set by the 2012 team. It's just the fourth time in program history the Grizzlies have posted five straight shutout victories.

* Xu leads the Big Sky in shutouts with six (totaled in her first eight complete collegiate games played) and goals-against average. Her six shutouts are one off the national lead among freshmen goalkeepers. Wake Forest's Kaitlyn Parks has seven (though Parks is in her third year; she redshirted in the fall of 2019, then played the spring season before reclassifying as a freshman this fall in terms of eligibility).

* Xu is one shutout away from tying the program record for shutouts by a freshman. Claire Howard had seven in 2017, Grace Harris had seven in 2006.

* Taylor Hansen continues to remain tied for the Big Sky lead in assists with four. Taylor Stoeger is tied for fourth with three. Sydney Haustein is tied for second in goals scored with four.

* Montana leads the Big Sky in goals-against average (.783) and ranks 61st nationally.

* Caitlin Rogers' first career goal on Friday night in Flagstaff, the game-winner, was unassisted. It came off a free kick from near midfield that skipped through the hands and legs of the NAU goalkeeper, with Taylor Stoeger providing interference.

* Sunday's goal was an all-freshman connection by players who entered the match off the bench. Samuelson played a ball from right to left into the box, where Henrikson headed it to the ground, where O'Brien was waiting.

* O'Brien now has two goals on two shots this season. She scored Montana's fourth goal in the Grizzlies' 4-0 home win over MSU Billings.

* The assist was Samuelson's second of the season, Henrikson's first collegiate point.

* Montana took just two corner kicks in two matches on the road last week while allowing 11.

* The Grizzlies are 3-1-0 at home this season and 11-2-6 in their last 19 home matches dating back to the 2018 season.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Like Montana, Northern Colorado and Weber State had 2-0-0 starts to their league schedules.

* UNC won 3-1 at Southern Utah on Friday, 2-0 at Northern Arizona on Sunday, leaving the preseason favorite Lumberjacks in a 0-2-0 hole after two home matches.

* Weber State needed more dramatics to open 2-0-0. The Wildcats defeated Idaho and Eastern Washington by identical 2-1 scores and needed to rally from a 1-0 deficit in both matches to do it.

* Both Eastern Washington and Idaho split on the road trip with victories at winless Idaho State, which is now 0-11-1 and has been outscored 39-5 this season.

Friday matches: SAC at UM, PSU at UNC, SUU at EWU, NAU at UI

Sunday matches: PSU at UM, SAC at UNC, ISU at WSU, NAU at EWU, SUU at UI

Upcoming: Montana will play its annual grudge match against Northern Colorado in Greeley on Sunday, Oct. 10, at noon. Greeley also will be the site of the Big Sky tournament in early November.

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Hansen

Sydney Haustein

Ally Henrikson

Claire Howard

Bella O'Brien

Caitlin Rogers

Ava Samuelson

Sami Siems

Taylor Stoeger

Camellia Xu

University of Montana Athletics