Montana wins ninth Big Sky championship

Thursday, October 19

Missoula, Mont.

3 PM

Montana

12-2-3, 6-0-1BSC

Sacramento State

4-8-5, 2-3-3BSC

Sacramento State

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Mo

10/19/2023 7:36:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The seeds for the Montana soccer program's ninth Big Sky Conference championship, which was won on Thursday at South Campus Stadium, were planted nearly a year ago, as the team returned to Missoula after a season that did not live up to anyone's expectations.

The Grizzlies went 7-7-6, finished under .500 in league and needed help on the final day of the regular season just to earn the sixth and final spot to the Big Sky tournament.

It was there, in Greeley, Colo., that Montana would lose 1-0 to Idaho for the second time in just over a month, which added to 2-0 and 2-1 losses to Weber State and Northern Arizona, the other teams that made up the semifinal field.

After winning a regular-season or tournament championship every season from 2018 to '21, Montana came home from Greeley empty-handed for the fall. It was a rude awakening.

"Last season showed us what not to do," said senior center back Charley Boone on Thursday, not long after she and her teammates dominated Sacramento State in a 2-0 victory that led to a raucous on-field trophy celebration. "But it did show us how to make a stronger team."

That version of the Grizzlies has been on display all season, a team that improved to 12-2-3 on Thursday, ran its unbeaten streak to nine matches and won a Big Sky title with one match still to be played on Sunday against Portland State.

It was a program last fall doing the hard work of admitting there was a problem and saying, yeah, that's not happening again. Then getting to work. The result is a team that is setting records by the match.

"We had to rebuild a lot of things behind the scenes," said sixth-year coach Chris Citowicki, whose teams have now won six Big Sky titles, three regular season, three tournament. "We were not satisfied with the performance of last year. The question was, could we respond?"

Did they ever. Montana defeated Oklahoma, played to draws with Ohio State and Oregon State and hasn't lost a match since Sept. 10, despite addressing last year's drop-off by adding 11 newcomers, from freshmen to upperclassmen found in the transfer portal.

"All the players who came in fit the culture perfectly and added so much to it," Citowicki added. "Those who returned have been absolutely amazing. The leadership we've had out of the senior class has been second to none.

"We've got a team that is one of the most fun I've had coaching. Every team I've coached, I've enjoyed coming to practice. There is something about this team that's just different. They are special."

Thursday's matchup against Sacramento State came with few surprises. Everyone knew what was at stake, how Montana needed to get a win to avoid a showdown on Sunday against second-place Portland State, when the pressure would have been squarely on the home team to get it done.

The Grizzlies didn't shy away from it, they embraced it, from Ashlyn Dvorak's leaping save in the 12th minute that kept the Hornets off the scoreboard to Skyleigh Thompson's goal in the 16th minute to Eliza Bentler's in the 65th that iced it.

Montana outshot Sacramento State on the afternoon 23-6. The moment was not too big, not for this team.

"That was the test for this group. Can we handle a moment like this when you have to win? We treated this as the final chance even though we knew we had another one Sunday. It was business," said Citowicki, whose team attracted a crowd of 697 to a Thursday-afternoon match.

"The conversation before the game was, it's not about the trophy, it's not about the crowd, it's just, do your job. If you do it right, we're 90 minutes away from a trophy, but don't think about that until the end. They did a great job of that."

Dvorak's save, which truly changed the trajectory of the match, got things started. Less than five minutes later, Thompson struck to make it 1-0, her team-leading sixth goal of the season and third in the last three matches.

Abby Gearhart, on the left side, crossed a ball that Sacramento State goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier could not handle. It went through her hands and right to Thompson just outside the far post. Thompson took one touch to get off the end line and shot the ball into traffic. When it landed, it was in the goal.

It would be the game-winner as Montana posted its 10th shutout of the season, two off the program record.

"Coming into the game, yes, there was a lot of pressure, but we addressed that pressure and had this overall message of, get it done, be professional, play our style," said Boone. "I feel like we did exactly that. We had Sunday to play, but let's get it done today."

It was 1-0 at the half and had that one-goal tenseness from Thompson's goal until Bentler finally relieved some of that stress in the 65th minute.

Delaney Lou Schorr crossed a ball from the right side that hit off the far post and went directly to Bentler, who scored her fourth goal of the season.

"It was really big," said Boone of the goal that made it 2-0 and took some of the pressure off Montana's two standout center backs, Boone and Reeve Borseth.

"Reeve and I just took a breath. You could see the little celebrations throughout the team, just how much it meant to get that second goal and relax a little bit the rest of the game."

Bentler's goal gives Montana five players who have scored four or more this season, the kind of balanced offensive attack not seen since the 2000 Grizzly team, which had six.

Montana's 32 goals this season, with more games to play, matches the high for the program since that 2000 team, which won a game in the NCAA tournament. These Grizzlies, with just eight goals allowed this season, also dropped their goals-against average down to 0.47 with Thursday's shutout.

If Thursday had its focus, of winning the championship today, Sunday will provide a new one, of coming down from the high of the post-match celebration and continuing the run of good results that have been building since early September.

While Portland State can no longer win or play for a share of a Big Sky title, the Vikings can still win their way to a second-place finish and a bye at next month's Big Sky tournament. And you know they would love to knock the Grizzlies off their high.

And that's sports, always more work to be done, more pursuers to fend off, especially for she who wears the crown, the one the Grizzlies spent a year reclaiming.