Griz return home for pair of Big Sky matches

The Montana soccer team will continue its Big Sky Conference schedule this week with home matches against Weber State and Idaho State.

The Grizzlies (7-2-3, 1-0-1 BSC) will face the Wildcats (0-8-3, 0-2-2 BSC) on Thursday at 3 p.m. at South Campus Stadium, the Bengals (3-10-1, 1-2-1 BSC) at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Thursday's match will be the first at home for Montana since the Grizzlies defeated Miami (Ohio) 4-0 on Sept. 14.

This is league week two of four for Montana, which plays at Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado next week, then wraps up the regular season hosting Sacramento State and Portland State.

The six-team Big Sky Conference tournament will open on Wednesday, Nov. 1, with a pair of quarterfinal matches. The semifinals will be on Friday, Nov. 3, the championship match on Sunday, Nov. 5.

Coverage: Both of this week's matches will stream on ESPN+ with Ace Sauerwein calling the action.

At a glance (Montana): After a scheduled week off from matches, the Grizzlies returned to the field and earned four points on the Eastern Washington-Idaho road trip.

Montana rallied with a second-half goal to get a 1-1 draw at Eastern Washington on Thursday, then went up 2-0 early at Idaho on Sunday and held on for the 2-0 win.

Abby Gearhart scored her second goal as a Grizzly in the 56th minute at Cheney, redirecting a pass through the box from Charley Boone, who collected her first career assist.

It was the 16th collegiate goal for Gearhart, who scored 14 in four seasons at Bucknell.

On Sunday, it was Ava Samuelson twice connecting with Delaney Lou Schorr for header goals in the 15th and 17th minutes.

Ashlyn Dvorak matched a season high with seven saves to pick up her seventh shutout of the season.

Storylines:

* Montana remained No. 6 in this week's United Soccer Coaches West Region poll, coming in behind Santa Clara, Gonzaga, Portland, UC Irvine and Pepperdine. The Grizzlies have an RPI of 92. The next closest Big Sky team in the RPI is Idaho at 198. Four of the Big Sky's nine programs are in the 300s.

* Ashlyn Dvorak was named the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday for the third time this season after allowing one goal over 180 minutes at Eastern Washington and Idaho.

Dvorak is tied for sixth nationally in shutouts (7), ranks 11th in save percentage (.887) and is tied for 19th in goals-against average (0.50).

Dvorak's seven shutouts are tied for the second-most by a freshman in program history with Grace Harris (2006) and Claire Howard (2017). Camellia Xu owns the freshman record of 11, set in 2021.

* Sixth-year Montana coach Chris Citowicki picked up his 50th win at Montana on Sunday with his team's victory at Idaho. He ranks third in wins in program history behind Betsy Duerksen (117) and Mark Plakorus (65).

Sunday's win was the 97th of his head coaching career. Citowicki collected 47 victories at St. Catherine from 2011 to '16.

* Montana entered October with just two losses. It's the first time since 1996 and just the third time in program history that the Grizzlies entered October with only two losses. It also happened in 1995.

* Fifth-year senior Sydney Haustein played in her 80th career match on Sunday, started her 70th career match on Thursday. The Montana record for games played is 92, set by Taylor Hansen (2017-21). Haustein will move into second place by herself is she plays the final six regular-season matches.

Haustein needs four more starts to break into the top 10. Shannon Forslund (1997-2000) holds the program record of 83.

* Delaney Lou Schorr's goals on Sunday were No. 10 and 11 of her career. She is the 21st player in program history to reach 11 goals scored. She needs to reach 19 to break into the top 10 in program history. It was her third time scoring multiple goals in a match.

* Ava Samuelson's two assists on Sunday gave her five for the season, 11 for her career. She is tied for 13th in program history in career assists, two from breaking into the top 10.

* Montana has allowed just six goals through 12 matches. The Grizzlies are tied for sixth nationally in save percentage (.893), tied for 15th in goals-against average (0.50). It's the fewest goals allowed through 12 matches in program history.

At a glance (Weber State): The Wildcats, who have been outscored this season 32-9, enter Thursday's match seeking their first victory of the season.

Weber State opened its Big Sky schedule 0-2-2, playing to a 1-1 draw at Idaho and a 0-0 tie on Sunday at Northern Colorado.

The Wildcats have league losses at home to Eastern Washington, 2-1, and on the road last week at Northern Arizona, 4-1.

Sophomores Grace Kirby and Sayler Schlosser both have scored three goals, combining for six of Weber State's nine on the season.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series with Weber State 18-14-3 and has gone 12-3-1 against the Wildcats in Missoula.

Montana has won five straight over Weber State at South Campus Stadium. The Wildcats' last win in Missoula was a 4-0 victory in 2010.

Weber State won last year's regular-season matchup 2-0 in Ogden, snapping Montana's four-match winning streak in the series.

At a glance (Idaho State): The Bengals are 3-10-1 on the season, with two of those wins coming on the road, 3-0 at Wyoming and 3-2 at Southern Utah. ISU's other win was a 3-2 home victory over Eastern Washington.

Idaho State has allowed 41 goals this season. The Bengals rank 321st nationally out of 336 Division I teams at 2.93 allowed per match.

ISU has allowed 11 goals through four Big Sky matches but still has four points with a 1-2-1 record.

The Bengals opened league with a 3-2 home win over Eastern Washington, followed that up with a 4-0 home loss to Idaho, then went on the road last week and tied 1-1 at Northern Colorado and lost 4-1 at Northern Arizona.

Idaho State was less than two minutes from picking up Big Sky win No. 2 on Friday night at Northern Colorado but allowed the equalizer in the 89th minute.

Junior Kaylyn Buchanan has six goals this season to rank second in the Big Sky. Sophomore Saydree Bell has four goals.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series with Idaho State 16-8-4 and has gone 11-2-1 at home against the Bengals.

The Grizzlies have won the teams' last four matchups, six of the last seven and have gone 9-2-3 against ISU since 2010.

Idaho State's last win in Missoula was a 2-1 upset victory over the top-ranked Grizzlies in the 2014 Big Sky tournament semifinals. Montana has won three straight at home over Idaho State since then.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Portland State (2-0-1 BSC) and Northern Arizona (2-1-1 BSC) sit atop the Big Sky standings with seven points. The Vikings have allowed just one goal through their first three matches.

* Montana is one of five teams with four points, though the other four teams all have played at least one more match than the Grizzlies.

* Idaho, picked second in the preseason poll and coming off a home loss to Montana, plays at Portland State on Friday evening in a spotlight match.

Upcoming: Montana will face preseason favorite Northern Arizona under the lights next Thursday night in Flagstaff, then continue on to Greeley for a Sunday match at Northern Colorado.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Charley Boone

Ashlyn Dvorak

Abby Gearhart

Sydney Haustein

Ava Samuelson

Delaney Lou Schorr

Camellia Xu

University of Montana Athletics