Two more Grizzlies sign professional contracts

The Montana soccer program is sending two more former players overseas to play professionally.

Mimi Eiden and Caitlin Rogers both have signed contracts and will be in Iceland by mid-February to play for Grindavik FC, a city located on the southwest coast of the island.

"Do you want to finish school and start working right away, or do you want to finish school, go live in Europe and play some more soccer? Talk about some wonderful experiences," said Montana coach Chris Citowicki.

"The timing has to be just right. You're done playing, you're still fit and off you go. For them to get these opportunities is amazing. I'm glad they're taking them."

Eiden and Rogers become the fourth and fifth players who have come through Citowicki's program to go on to sign professional contracts.

Janessa Fowler signed with Eastern Suburbs FC of Brisbane, Australia, in February 2020, an opportunity that was upended by the approaching pandemic.

Last summer Alexa Coyle signed with Hibernian of the Scottish Women's Premier League. A month later, Rita Lang signed with Estoril Praia in Portugal.

Now it's Eiden's and Rogers' turn.

"I think it kind of started snowballing with Janessa, but Lex always had it in the back of her mind as well," said Citowicki. "Rita always wanted to do it too.

"Lex making it to such a high level and everybody knowing about it, it really spurred everybody else on."

Eiden, who played three years at North Dakota before transferring to Montana, arrived in Missoula at the 2019-20 semester break.

She would have to wait until the spring of 2021 to play her final collegiate season. She had a goal and two assists in 11 matches as Montana went 9-2-0, won the Big Sky and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

But playing college soccer was only one of her dreams growing up. Another was to represent her birth country of Liberia in international competition.

She accomplished that goal last fall, when she and her teammates played a pair of matches against Senegal in a qualifier for the Africa Women Cup of Nations.

"It was really good to go back where I came from and see my mom and my siblings after 16 years. That was awesome," said Eiden, who was adopted at the age of 6 and raised in Forest Lake, Minn.

"It was really heartwarming to play with the girls I played with. They were really fun to be around and a huge inspiration."

Her third goal? That's now being realized as well.

"When I was younger, I wanted to play Division I soccer, then play for my country, then play for a professional club team. It's always been on my list," Eiden said.

"This is a really good opportunity. I love soccer, and as long as I'm still loving it, I'm going to chase it and keep playing. Whatever God gives you at the time, grab it and make the best you can with it."

Rogers joined the Grizzlies at the same time as Coyle and Lang, in the fall of 2017. She redshirted her first season and missed most of the 2021 spring season with a broken leg.

"I expected college to be it, honestly. I didn't really think about playing overseas or playing past college," said Rogers.

But those two seasons of missed playing opportunities during her collegiate career didn't sit well. When she saw former teammates extending their careers, Rogers decided she wasn't done either.

"Since Lex and Rita came in with my class, that made it seem more manageable since those are people I've been playing with the past four years," said Rogers, the Big Sky co-Defensive MVP as a sophomore, first-team all-league last fall as a shutdown center back.

"And of the five years I was here, I only played three, so I wasn't quite ready to be done and hang up my boots yet."

The former teammates both have different agents. Before she signed her contract, Rogers heard Eiden was looking at joining a team in Iceland as well. So she reached out to learn more.

Former teammates now on rival clubs? Nope.

"I asked who she would be playing for and to let her know I might be playing (in Iceland) as well," said Rogers. "When she said who she was going to sign with, I couldn't believe it.

"I'm excited to go to Iceland. I haven't been out of the U.S. before, so I feel like Iceland is going to be a good place to start. A majority of the country speaks English, so I think it will be an easier transition."

Their team's first preseason match is on Feb. 26. Their eight-month contracts will run through the end of the season in September.

Between winning Big Sky championships with regularity and sending players on to play professionally, Citowicki's program is starting to reflect that of founder Betsy Duerksen, whose teams won 117 matches as she coached the Grizzlies through their first decade (1994-2003).

What have long been considered the program's glory days, perhaps never to be repeated, are being revisited.

"I know Betsy was sending players on to play professionally, so it's nice to see that part of the program coming back again. It's nice to see that reboot happening. It feels like Grizzly soccer is turning over again," said Citowicki.

"We're getting good results on the field and moving players on afterwards, if that's what they want to do. I'm excited by the whole thing."

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Alexa Coyle

Rita Lang

Caitlin Rogers

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