Griz win, complete historic regular season

Sunday, October 22

Missoula, Mont.

Noon

Montana

13-2-3, 7-0-1BSC

Portland State

7-7-2, 4-2-2BSC

Portland State

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Mo

10/22/2023 4:38:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana soccer team completed an unbeaten Big Sky Conference schedule and capped a historic regular season with a 1-0 victory over Portland State on Sunday afternoon on Senior Day at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.

Delaney Lou Schorr's goal in the 51st minute and Ashlyn Dvorak's 11th shutout of the season gave the Grizzlies a dominant 7-0-1 run through league, the 10th time in Big Sky history a team has gone unbeaten. Five of those have now come from Griz teams over the years.

The victory gave Montana a 13-2-3 regular season, the best in program history. In Big Sky history, only Weber State, at 17-3-0 in 1998, had a better regular-season winning percentage and only Sacramento State, at 11-1-6 in 2019, had fewer losses.

"Really remarkable performance all season long," said coach Chris Citowicki, whose team hasn't lost since Sept. 10 and will take a seven-match winning streak into the Big Sky tournament next month in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Montana wrapped up the regular-season title, its ninth overall, on Thursday with a 2-0 home win over Sacramento State. Any concerns that there would be a letdown on Sunday against the Vikings were unfounded.

"There is a type of culture that comes into play when you go from winning and such a high high, then coming back to practice and saying, okay, it still matters," said junior Ava Samuelson. "As a team we said, this still matters. We're a team that has a culture where we don't lose and we keep going."

Montana possessed the ball well in the first half and took nine of the match's first 11 shots, but the score was still 0-0 at the break. The Grizzlies put just three shots on goal in the first half.

"The message at halftime was we just need to be more cutthroat when it comes to scoring goals," said Citowicki. "I think we were playing well and controlling the game, we just weren't as dangerous trying to score."

Both teams had plenty at stake over the final 45 minutes. Montana wanted to go undefeated through league and stay on a roll that is now more than a month and a half in length.

Portland State, which entered the day in second place behind Montana, needed a win to ensure a bye to the semifinals at the Big Sky tournament.

It was Montana that got to the lead first, when a ball played through the box found the feet of Skyleigh Thompson on the left side of goal.

Thompson had scored in each of the Grizzlies' last three matches. This time she played facilitator, lofting the ball to the opposite side of goal, where the long legs of Schorr were waiting.

The 5-foot-11 forward was behind a Portland State defender, but she used her length to get an outstretched foot on the ball and give Montana a 1-0 lead.

"In my head, I was like, I need to get my foot at the end of this ball, and I did," she said. "It was a big team effort. We all worked so hard. I knew it was coming. I just had to get a little tap in."

It was Schorr's fifth goal of the season, Thompson's fourth assist and Montana's 33rd goal of the season, the most for the Grizzlies since 2000.

Montana had allowed only eight goals all season entering the match, and that miniscule goals-against average was tested by the Vikings after they fell behind.

Portland State took 11 shots in the second half, seven of them on goal. Dvorak saved them all and had a season-high nine for the match.

"That was the challenge. Can we treat the second half like a playoff game? They are going to be desperate to get a result and we want to win this game to be undefeated," said Citowicki.

"After we scored, you got exactly what you'd see out of playoffs, a team that is going to morph formations and start keeping players high instead of dropping them back into defense. It gave us what we needed going into the next phase."

Dvorak's 11th shutout matches Camellia Xu's program record from 2021.

"Every game she has to make one good save," added Citowicki. "Today she had to make multiple good saves. She was really stretched, not just catching crosses but stretched making saves. It was very impressive, but that's what you get with Ashlyn."

Montana's next match won't be until Friday, Nov. 3, when the Grizzlies play a semifinal game in Flagstaff, Ariz., at the Big Sky tournament.

The last five teams to go unbeaten in league? None of them doubled up their regular-season title with a tournament championship. Indeed, heavy is the head that wears the crown.

"The playoffs are a different beast," said Citowicki. "Your shoulders immediately tense when you start thinking of playoffs because you lose and you're done."

Of course, this is no ordinary team. It's extraordinary, which it's been proving since coming through with a road win at North Dakota way back in the season opener. They proved it against Power 5 opponents and against almost every other team that's taken the field against the Grizzlies this fall.

"Even in preseason, we were put in games where there was a lot of pressure on us and we had to perform," said Samuelson. "We did a really good job with it and are prepped for it now.

"Going into the tournament, if we're all in the right mind space, we'll perform the way we want to."