Griz back home for two matches

The Montana soccer team, still seeking its first victory of the season, will host a pair of games at South Campus Stadium this weekend against MSU Billings and CSU Bakersfield.

The Grizzlies (0-2-2) will face the Yellowjackets (0-2-0) on Friday at 4 p.m., the Roadrunners (1-2-0) at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.

After opening the season with a 0-1-1 record against Creighton and Pittsburgh at the Rumble in the Rockies, Montana went 0-1-1 again last week.

The Grizzlies rallied from a 2-0 deficit at home on Thursday to earn a 2-2 draw with Wyoming. Montana fell 2-0 at Portland on Sunday afternoon, its third time in four matches this season getting shut out.

After this weekend, the Grizzlies will have two more weeks of nonconference matches before opening Big Sky Conference play at Sacramento State on Friday, Sept. 23.

Montana will play at Colorado State and host Fresno State on Sept. 8 and 11, then play at Boise State and host North Dakota State on Sept. 15 and 18.

Boise State was picked third in the Mountain West Conference preseason coaches' poll, Fresno State fourth, Colorado State seventh.

Coverage: Both matches this weekend will stream on ESPN+. Jackson Wagner will call the action on Friday, Andrew Houghton on Sunday.

MSU Billings at a glance: The Yellowjackets opened their season last week with a pair of losses in Billings in the 7th annual Rimrock Classic.

MSUB lost 1-0 to Northern State on a goal in the 71st minute, 2-0 to Mary on goals in the 21st and 60th minutes.

The Yellowjackets went 7-9-3 last season and finished sixth out of eight teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, going 4-8-2 in league.

MSU Billings was picked sixth in this year's preseason poll.

Sophomore forward Liberty Palmer ranked second on the team in scoring in 2021, totaling five goals and one assist.

Juniors Tuva Sallvin and Clare Keenan split last season's 19 matches in goal. They both got a start last week.

CSU Bakersfield at a glance: The Roadrunners will open their road trip to the Northwest with a match at Gonzaga on Thursday before playing at Montana on Sunday.

CSUB enters the week 1-2-0 after opening the season with a neutral-site 2-1 win over UNLV in Albuquerque, then losing 4-2 at Mountain West favorite New Mexico and 2-1 at San Diego.

The Roadrunners went 3-14-2 a year ago, getting outscored 45-10. They won their final two regular-season matches to finish ninth out of 11 teams in the Big West Conference at 2-7-1.

CSU Bakersfield was picked 11th in this year's poll.

After picking up two exhibition wins, over The Master's University and Azusa Pacific, the Roadrunners opened the season with a surprising 2-1 win over UNLV, the team picked sixth in the Mountain West.

Regielly Halldorsdottir opened the scoring in the 53rd minute, then scored the game-winner in the 79th to break a 1-1 tie.

Facing Mountain West favorite New Mexico three days later, CSUB fell behind 3-0 by halftime and 4-0 early in the second half before scoring goals in the 68th and 81st minutes to make it 4-2.

The Roadrunners fell behind 2-0 at San Diego last Thursday before losing 2-1.

Four players have scored CSU Bakersfield's five goals this season, all of which have come in the second half. The team's goalkeepers have a goals-against average of 2.33.

Series history (Montana-MSU Billings): The Grizzlies, who own a 3-0-0 series lead, and the Yellowjackets have met three times previously during the regular season, all coming in Missoula.

Montana won 1-0 in double overtime in 2006, 3-0 in the spring season of 2021 at Missoula County Stadium and 4-0 last fall behind Jaden Griggs' hat trick, the first since 2011, the 17th in program history.

Series history (Montana-CSU Bakersfield): The Grizzlies and the Roadrunners are meeting for the first time.

Summary:

How tough was Montana's start to the season? Creighton is still unbeaten at 1-0-3 after playing to a 0-0 draw with Iowa State on Sunday, and Pittsburgh is rolling at 4-0-0. The Panthers outscored Massachusetts and Cleveland State 12-1 last week.

And now Portland has received a vote in the top-25 poll, a nod to its 2-0-2 start, which includes draws against Utah and Washington State of the Pac-12.

"Based on the schedule, it was going to be hard to win on the road at Portland, hard to beat Creighton, hard to beat Pittsburgh," said Griz coach Chris Citowicki.

"To be honest, it's exactly where I thought we'd be based on the opponents we were playing against, teams you schedule two years before, then watch and grow and keep getting better.

"Is it a good test for us? Yes. Are we playing well against teams that are maybe better than us? Yes. We've just got to fix some pieces here and there and everything should fall into place by the time conference play comes about."

Montana has been shut out in three of four matches to start the season but that's not unusual under Citowicki, whose teams have played their best soccer in October and November during his coaching tenure.

The Grizzlies scored two goals through their first seven matches in 2018, Citowicki's first season, and just one through five matches in 2019. The former resulted in a Big Sky tournament title and a trip to the NCAAs, the latter in a regular-season Big Sky championship.

It's part of the process.

"That's why we have people coming in for film today, why we're working on the things we're working on this week," Citowicki said. "You don't see those mistakes if you don't play hard teams early. You clean those things up, make sure they don't happen again.

"What's the point of winning games 5-0 at the start of the season? Then you get into difficult games and you're like, why are we losing? Because you haven't been exposed. You need to be exposed, and you only get exposed by teams who are better than you. That's why you play Pitt here."

When Montana faced Portland last fall in Missoula, a 1-0 win for the Pilots, the Grizzlies got outshot and put five shots on goal.

On Sunday, Montana took 11 shots in the first half, matching its total output from the 2021 matchup against Portland, and put eight of those on goal.

One of those shots was a penalty kick that Montana failed to score on in the 21st minute, a play that changed the mood of the game.

After the Portland save, one team was down, one team was up, a flip of how things had been playing out on the field.

"Portland is unbeaten on the year. For us to go over there and have that opportunity to go up 1-0, then have that slip away from us, that one still stings," said Citowicki.

"I don't remember having that many good opportunities against Portland (last season), yet we generated some good ones."

Montana now turns its focus to MSU Billings and CSU Bakersfield. The Grizzlies are 3-0-0 all-time against the Yellowjackets and will be playing the Roadrunners for the first time on Sunday.

"It's good to be back home after (our trip to Portland). It seemed like a long trip, even though it was just 36 hours," said Citowicki. "I think everybody is hungry to get back, especially after that game, for it to end the way it did, for us to be close, then let it go.

"All you want to do is get back to training, get back to work because you want to play again. You want to get that taste out of your mouth."

Montana notes:

* Molly Massman's goal against Wyoming that started Montana's comeback on Thursday was the first of her career.

* Skyleigh Thompson's goal that tied the match at 2-2 in the 81st minute was her first of the year, the fourth of her career.

* Maysa Walters picked up her first point as a Grizzly when Massman headed in Walters' corner kick.

* Ava Samuelson and Delaney Lou Schorr both collected assists on Thompson's goal. It was Samuelson's third career assist, Schorr's first.

* Montana came back from a multiple-goal deficit to earn at least a draw in a match for the first time since the Grizzlies rallied for a 3-2 overtime win at Eastern Washington in 2016.

* Montana's draw against Wyoming was the fifth straight time the teams have played to a tie, the sixth time overall in 14 matchups.

* Montana outshot Wyoming and Portland last week 32-22 and has outshot three of its four opponents this season.

* Riley O'Brien played in her first collegiate regular-season match against Wyoming, then got on the field again against Portland. Emma Pascoe made her collegiate debut against the Pilots.

* Ava Samuelson's four shots against Wyoming matched her career high. … Kathleen Aitchison took her first shots as a Grizzly against Portland, three of them to match Maddie Ditta for the team lead.

* Allie Larsen has played every minute this season.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Northern Colorado, the league's preseason favorite, remains unbeaten at 2-0-2 after beating North Dakota 4-0 and tying Valparaiso 1-1 in Greeley last week.

* The Bears get Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota State at home this week before a daunting stretch of games: at James Madison, at Virginia Tech, at Washington State.

* UNC has allowed just two goals through four matches while scoring eight.

* Idaho matched Northern Colorado's two wins on the season with a 1-0 home victory over Nevada last week.

* Eastern Washington was tied 1-1 at Washington State at halftime on Sunday before falling 3-1.

* Five of the Big Sky's eight teams are still seeking their first victory of the season.

Upcoming: Montana will play at Colorado State next Thursday, then return home to host Fresno State on Sunday, Sept. 11.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kathleen Aitchison

Maddie Ditta

Jaden Griggs

Allie Larsen

Molly Massman

Riley O'Brien

Emma Pascoe

Ava Samuelson

Delaney Lou Schorr

Skyleigh Thompson

Maysa Walters

University of Montana Athletics