Griz get first two-match home weekend

The Montana soccer team, having faced three of its first four Division I opponents on the road, will get its first two-match home weekend of the season when the Grizzlies host Texas Southern and Boise State at South Campus Stadium.

Montana (1-4-0) will play the Tigers (0-3-0) on Friday at 3 p.m., the Broncos (5-0-0) at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The Grizzlies lost 3-0 at Gonzaga on Sunday afternoon in their only match last week. Montana will wrap up its nonconference schedule with a match at Long Beach State next Thursday night.

The Grizzlies will open their Big Sky Conference schedule facing Northern Arizona and Southern Utah on the road the final weekend of September.

Coverage: This weekend's matches can be seen on ESPN+, with Jackson Wagner calling the action. Links to live stats can be found at GoGriz.com.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies lost their only match of the week on Sunday when they fell 3-0 at Gonzaga. Down 1-0 in the final minute of the first half, Montana gave up a goal in the closing seconds and never recovered. The Bulldogs outshot the Grizzlies 25-7, putting 13 shots on goal.

No opponent has put more shots on goal against Montana since Missouri's 15 in the Tigers' double-overtime win in 2014. ... The loss was the first by multiple goals for Montana in more than two years, since a 6-0 setback at Washington State in August 2019.

At a glance (Texas Southern): The Tigers are 0-3-0 this season, getting outscored 9-1. Texas Southern lost 2-1 in overtime at home to Louisiana-Monroe to open the season, then lost 5-0 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and 2-0 at Texas-Rio Grande Valley.

Texas Southern, which has put just nine shots on goal through three matches, was picked seventh out of 10 teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) preseason poll. The SWAC ended the most recent full season, the fall of 2019, ranked 31st out of 31 Division I leagues in RPI by the NCAA.

The Tigers went 2-8-0 during the spring season, three times giving up eight goals to an opponent and getting outscored 33-7. TSU's lone wins in the spring came against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 2-0, and Alcorn State, 1-0, teams that ranked 332nd and 338th in the final 2019 RPI out of 338 Division I teams.

At a glance (Boise State): The Broncos, who have a big-time matchup at Utah Valley on Friday night, are 5-0-0 and off to their best start in program history. They are sitting at No. 7 this week in the United Soccer Coaches Pacific Region poll.

Boise State opened its season with a 1-0 victory at Utah and most recently won 4-0 at Portland State on Sunday. In between were shutout victories over Dixie State, 4-0, Pacific, 1-0 in double overtime, and UC Davis, 1-0. The Broncos are one of just five teams in the nation without a goal allowed this fall.

Boise State went 5-4-1 in the spring while playing an all-Mountain West Conference schedule. Three of those four losses were 1-0 decisions. The Broncos were picked third in the league's preseason poll for this fall behind New Mexico and San Diego State.

Through five matches, Boise State has already had eight different goal-scorers, with junior forward Keile Hansen leading the way with three.

Series history (Montana-Texas Southern):

* Montana will be playing Texas Southern for the first time on Friday.

* Montana is 2-7-0 all-time against teams from Texas. Both wins came against Houston Baptist, in 2013 and '14.

* Friday's match will be the first for Montana against any of the teams that currently make up the SWAC.

Series history (Montana-Boise State):

* Montana leads the all-time series with Boise State 8-5-1 and is undefeated against the Broncos in the teams' last seven matchups (6-0-1).

* Boise State's last win in the series was a 2-1 victory in Missoula in 2008. Montana's last win in the series was the most recent matchup, 1-0 in Boise in 2017.

* Despite Montana's winning percentage in the series, Boise State has gone 3-2-1 against the Grizzlies in Missoula.

* Of the teams' 14 matchups, one has been played to a draw, 12 have been one-goal decisions. Only Boise State's 2-0 win in Missoula in 2007 was a multiple-goal differential in a tight series.

* Fourth-year Montana coach Chris Citowicki is going up against Boise State for the first time. ... Ninth-year Boise State coach Jim Thomas is 0-2-0 against Montana. The Grizzlies got the better of the Broncos in 2016, 1-0 in Missoula, and 2017, 1-0 in Boise, which is the last time the teams matched up.

Summary:

Montana will get the extremes this weekend, a match against an opponent the Grizzlies have never faced and one it has a long history with, one that is off to its best start in program history.

First will arrive the Tigers of Texas Southern on Friday afternoon, led by third-year coach Lindsay Vera, who was a decorated player at North Carolina State from 2005-08 and was previously the head coach at UNC Asheville.

Houston, the site of Texas Southern, is her hometown.

"Lindsay is in the build-up phase of her program, so I don't know what we're going to get. It's a team coming in that we've never played before," said UM coach Chris Citowicki.

"We'll prepare for them like we prep for everybody else. We'll put our best foot forward and see what happens."

Friday will also be the day of the Boise State-Utah Valley matchup in Orem, Utah. The Wolverines are 4-2-0, with wins over Arizona and Big Sky preseason favorite Northern Arizona, plus a 3-0 thumping of Weber State on the Wildcats' home field.

One of Utah Valley's losses came to No. 25 USC, the other in overtime on the road at Utah State, a team ranked ninth in the Pacific Region.

It will be a night match.

"They've got a hard game coming up, then they are traveling up here, which makes it more complicated," said Citowicki.

"I'm glad they're coming here. It's nice to get a home game on Friday, football on Saturday, then a home game on Sunday. There is a different energy to the whole thing."

Boise State went 18-5-0 in the fall of 2019, the final season of all-world forward Raimee Sherle, who finished her incredible career with 61 goals, 26 more than anyone else in program history.

Now the Broncos are off to a 5-0-0 start based largely on the play of their defense, and that's with senior Sydney Smith and sophomore Genevieve Crenshaw splitting the minutes in goal.

"They graduated a tremendous forward and everyone wondered what the next phase of Boise was going to be like," said Citowicki. "They are still good and solid defensively.

"They are playing well and getting good results. A lot of their results have been impressive."

In four matches against Division I opponents this fall, Montana has gotten outscored 8-2, which might be cause for concern for most coaches. For Citowicki it's more frustration, that the chances are being created, even if the finishing touch -- call it a Raimee -- isn't there. Yet.

"We're creating good opportunities against good teams, which makes me feel better," he said. "If the schedule wasn't as tough as it's been and we weren't scoring goals, that would be another thing.

"We've played difficult teams and we've created good opportunities. And in certain games we've scored as well."

If there was ever a time for Montana to break out, it's a weekend like the one upcoming. Home soccer on Friday, home football on Saturday night, home soccer on Sunday.

"This is what we missed not playing last fall," Citowicki said. "It's going to be a fun weekend to be at home, to combine all of it together. It's the perfect storm. It's everything you'd want."

Montana notes:

* Redshirt freshman Camellia Xu has started the last four matches in goal. In Sunday's 3-0 loss at Gonzaga, she faced 25 shots, 13 of which were on goal. Her 10 saves were the most for a Griz keeper since Kailey Norman made 11 in Montana's 4-3 double-overtime loss at Missouri in 2014.

* Freshman forward Skyleigh Thompson has started Montana's last two matches, at home against MSU Billings and Sunday at Gonzaga.

* The Grizzlies have lost just twice in their last 17 home matches, going 9-2-6 since the middle of September 2018. Eastern Washington knocked off Montana in overtime at Missoula County Stadium in the spring, Portland won 1-0 at South Campus Stadium last month.

* The team's leaders in shots taken through five matches: Taylor Stoeger and Ava Samuelson with nine, Jaden Griggs with eight.

* Gonzaga had 62 percent of the possession on Sunday, which is more than Montana, at 58 percent, possessed the ball against MSU Billings the Sunday prior in the Grizzlies' 4-0 victory.

Opponent notes:

* Creighton is now 4-1-1 after knocking off previously undefeated South Dakota State in Omaha on Sunday, 3-0. The Bluejays scored three second-half goals.

* Portland picked up win No. 2 of the season when it won 1-0 at Washington on Thursday.

* Cal Poly has won three of four, starting with its 2-1 home win over Montana. The Mustangs traveled to Colorado Springs last week and split with Air Force, a 2-1 loss, and Colorado College, a 2-1 win.

* Long Beach State will be another challenging opponent next Thursday on the road. The Beach are 4-2-0, with losses on the road at No. 4 UCLA, 1-0, and at 4-1-0 San Diego, 2-1. Next Thursday's match will be Long Beach State's home opener and will be available on ESPN+.

* Idaho leads the Big Sky with three wins and should pick up more before league play opens, with home matches still to come against Hawaii, Cal Baptist and St. Thomas.

* Weber State, with a road win at Kansas State and a home win over Dixit State on Sunday, is the only other Big Sky team with multiple wins.

* The other eight teams in the Big Sky have combined for six wins, just three of those coming against Division I opponents.

* Preseason Big Sky favorite Northern Arizona is now 0-5-0 after Friday's 3-0 home loss to Grand Canyon, which is a solid 5-1-0 and followed its win over the Lumberjacks with a neutral-site victory over UNLV.

* On Thursday, Sacramento State plays at Cal, which is unbeaten and ranked sixth in the Pacific Region, Northern Colorado hosts Missouri and Northern Arizona plays at Mountain West preseason favorite New Mexico.

* On Saturday, Northern Arizona plays at Denver, which is 4-0-0 and ranked fourth in the West Region.

Upcoming: Montana will wrap up its nonconference schedule with a match at Long Beach State on Thursday, Sept. 16, at 8 p.m. (MT).

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Players Mentioned

Jaden Griggs

Ava Samuelson

Taylor Stoeger

Skyleigh Thompson

Camellia Xu

University of Montana Athletics