Montana records second shutout of the weekend

Sunday, September 4

Missoula, Mont.

11:30 AM

Montana

2-2-2

CSU Bakersfield

1-4-0

CSU Bakersfield

Montana

9/4/2022 4:24:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana soccer team capped a successful weekend home stand with a 3-0 shutout of CSU Bakersfield on Sunday afternoon at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.

The Grizzlies (2-2-2) got a first-half goal from Delaney Lou Schorr and second-half goals from Eliza Bentler and Schorr again to pick up their second victory of the season.

Montana defeated MSU Billings 6-0 on Friday afternoon, outshooting the Yellowjackets 30-2.

"I honestly didn't know what to expect coming out of the last game. And watching (CSU Bakersfield), this is one of the more paranoid games I had with the results they've had," said coach Chris Citowicki.

The Roadrunners (1-4-0) opened the season with a win over UNLV and were in a one-goal game at halftime at Gonzaga on Thursday night before falling 3-0.

Montana outshot CSU Bakersfield 11-2 in the first half, 20-4 for the game, and generated a season-high 10 corner kicks.

"Seeing the tight results they've had and the quality of the individual players they have, for us to put on a performance like this, it surprised even me, to be honest," said Citowicki.

"So extremely, extremely impressed with how we played."

Schorr, who totaled one goal last season as a freshman, scored twice on Friday against MSU Billings.

She got the Grizzlies on the scoreboard in the 33rd minute on Sunday when she headed in a cross by freshman Kayla Rendon Bushmaker.

She made it 3-0 in the 87th minute, again with her head, when she knocked in a nice feed from McKenzie Kilpatrick, the second time in two matches those players connected.

"We have so many weapons we can attack with," said Citowicki. "It's nice to have that amount of variety.

"If you want to take away the right side, that's fine, we'll go down the left side. If you want to drop in and protect the box, we can put Delaney on and she can score goals with her head.

"We can attack from the outside with Kayla, we can attack through a gap with Skye (Thompson), we can put it up in the air and D-Lou is going to be there. I don't feel like we've had so many choices before."

In between Schorr's goals was Bentler's first of her career, which followed Rendon Bushmaker's, Ally Henrikson's and Riley O'Brien's first career goals on Friday.

Eight of Montana's nine goals on the weekend were scored by underclassmen.

Bentler's goal came after she almost scored in the 40th minute, sending the ball just right of goal. She entered the match in the 63rd minute and scored less than seven minutes later.

Maddie Ditta, another freshman, played the ball up the right side and fed Bentler just inside the 18-yard box. She touched it past a defender and scored inside the right post.

She might still be smiling.

"It's that youthful energy, and that's what they play with. Eliza could have had a hat trick today, and I don't think she even knows it. She's just running around, happy to be playing soccer," said Citowicki.

"It's such a cool thing to watch and then Delaney is just turning into something else in the air right now."

Camellia Xu picked up her second shutout of the weekend, giving her 14 for her career, but just like on Friday, she was never really tested.

MSU Billings took two shots, neither of which was on goal. CSU Bakersfield took four shots on Sunday and didn't put any of them on goal, leaving Xu with no saves made over 180 minutes.

Part of that is because she has shut-down center backs Allie Larsen and Charley Boone playing in front of her. Both played 90 minutes on Sunday.

"Allie Larsen got the shutout today," said Citowicki. "I love what's she's doing, what our backline is doing.

"Last year Cam had to make some spectacular saves to get a shutout. At some point she will have to, but for now, I love how well we're defending in front of her."

Next up for Montana will be three straight matches against teams from the Mountain West Conference: at Colorado State on Thursday, home for Fresno State on Sunday, at Boise State on Thursday, Sept. 15.

The Grizzlies will close out their nonconference schedule with a home match against North Dakota State on Sunday, Sept. 18.

"What a way to ramp up to conference play," said Citowicki. "We started off hard, then had a couple games that we were expected to win and did win, so that was nice.

"Now it picks up and off we go with conference play again."