Griz rally, earn draw with Cowgirls

Thursday, August 25

Missoula, Mont.

2:30 PM

Montana

0-1-2

Wyoming

0-2-1

Wyoming

Montana

8/25/2022 8:55:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana's soccer match against Wyoming on Thursday afternoon at South Campus Stadium in Missoula was worth the wait. So was the Grizzlies' response to a two-goal, second-half deficit.

After a start that was delayed by 90 minutes because of lightning and after the Cowgirls built a 1-0 halftime lead and a 2-0 advantage 10 minutes into the second half, Montana stormed back to earn a hard-earned 2-2 draw, the teams' fifth straight matchup that has ended in a deadlock.

It was the first time Montana has rallied from a two-goal deficit to get a result since 2016.

The comeback started in the 68th minute when Molly Massman scored her first collegiate goal, heading in another in a string of beautiful corner kicks by Maysa Walters.

Montana evened the score in the 81st minute when Ava Samuelson played a ball across the goal that Delaney Lou Schorr headed and redirected over the goalkeeper, right to a hard-charging Skyleigh Thompson, who bodied the equalizer into the net.

The Grizzlies almost won it in the 89th minute when a shot by freshman Maddie Ditta was kept out of the corner of the goal by a diving Miyuki Schoyen.

All in all, it had the post-match feel of a win rather than a draw.

"In the end, it comes down to, can you put people in the right spots and can they do amazing things?" said coach Chris Citowicki. "I loved how hard they worked to come back into this. Just amazing."

After going two matches without a goal last week at the Rumble in the Rockies, Montana found itself in a 1-0 halftime deficit on Thursday when Wyoming opened the scoring in the final minute before the break.

Alyssa Glover played a cross from the end line over Griz goalkeeper Camellia Xu, and Faith Joiner was there to head it in.

That came after Xu, who would finish with seven saves, the fourth-most of her career, made two earlier big-time saves, when she punched shots into the crossbar.

Wyoming made it 2-0 in the 55th minute when a flip throw from the sideline by Alyssa Bedard skipped off the head of a Griz defender and right to Joiner, who scored.

If the comeback on the scoreboard began in the 68th minute, it began on the field right out of the halftime locker room, when Montana made a change to both its personnel and its formation.

"We needed two things to happen," said Citowicki. "One, you have to be comfortable enough putting people in different spots. We talked about it at halftime. We can't keep playing this way. They have a perfect press set up for how we want to play.

"If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep losing it. Do you mind switching formations? No? Then let's do it. So, we put people in different spots. We got people in spots where no one was on them. Now their individual talent can come through."

It wasn't just formation-based. It took some inspired back-line play as well, from the likes of Allie Larsen, who spent more time on the offensive end of the field than she normally would, and Ally Henrikson, who put herself in harm's way whenever the ball came near.

"Allie Larsen was a momentum swinger. How many times did we see her run from center back all the way down the field?" said Citowicki. "We needed that. We needed someone to say, we're not losing this game 2-0. She takes the game by the scruff of the neck, as does Ally Henrikson. She was spectacular.

"You could feel it building up before (our first goal)."

Montana doubled up Wyoming on shots in the second half and took six corner kicks over the final 45 minutes, as many as the Grizzlies created in two matches last week.

More often than not, it was Walters taking them and more often than not, she was dropping them right where she intended and where her teammates needed to create maximum havoc.

Her corner in the 68th minute, that Massman headed in, turned out to be the momentum-changer the Grizzlies needed.

"The corners from Maysa are unbelievable," said Citowicki. "She's our most consistent corner-kick taker, which is what you want. You don't just want the ball going in the box. How many times did her corner kicks flash right in front of their goalkeeper?"

The second goal was the result of Montana's second-half changes. Samuelson, who does her best work in space, where her creativity and on-ball skill can flourish, played the ball to the far post, where the 5-foot-10 Schorr rose up to head it back across the face of the goal.

There, as designed, was Thompson, who ran through the ball to send it into the goal.

"If you put Ava in a spot like that, where she can get a free cross, you know it's going to be good," said Citowicki. "You put D-Lou up front with Skye, knowing if a cross comes in, D-Lou is going to win it in the air, and Skye is there to tie it up. Perfect."

Ditta was mere inches away from not only scoring her first collegiate goal but also putting a bow on what would have been an incredible comeback, one that ended in a win instead of a draw.

It took Schoyen's best save of the match to keep it 2-2.

"We should have stolen it at the end. That was ours. That was an incredible save to keep Ditta out. Kudos to both goalkeepers. I thought they were both outstanding today," said Citowicki.

"I was pleased with about 40 minutes of (the match). I'm pleased with the initial part because we needed to see that, otherwise we would have thought we can keep doing what we're doing and get results. Today showed us it doesn't work against everyone. Can you come back from it? Yeah, we did."

The draw was Wyoming's first result of the season, after falling on the road at Northern Colorado and Oregon State last week.

"That was a team that came off a result they didn't like at Colorado and a result they didn't like at Oregon, and they did hours of film and said, this is our game to get back into things," said Citowicki.

"Here we go, we're going to take it to Montana. And we still managed to grind our way back into the game. That's character right there."

Montana will face its first road match of the season on Sunday, when the Grizzlies play at Portland (1-0-1) at 2 p.m. (MT). The Pilots play at Washington State on Thursday night.