Soccer program finalizes fall schedule

It's not often Montana gets to play Ohio State. But facing the Buckeyes in Missoula, on a Sunday evening in late August at South Campus Stadium, the day before fall-semester classes begin?

An Ohio State program that has played in 16 of the last 21 NCAA tournaments and last season advanced to the round of 32? Yes and please.

There have been two matches in program history that have drawn crowds larger than 1,000, the last coming more than two decades ago, in 1999. Ohio State has the feel of a potential record-breaker.

"It's a big deal," said coach Chris Citowicki, whose program also will face Oklahoma and Oregon State during the nonconference portion of its schedule.

"It would be fun to get one of the biggest crowds this program has ever had. I'm so excited to bring in a team of that caliber to play in Missoula."

Montana will play its home opener against MSU Billings on Thursday, Aug. 24, then host Ohio State on Sunday, Aug. 27.

The Grizzlies, after playing home exhibition matches against Air Force and Calgary, also will get Colorado State, Georgia Southern and Miami (Ohio) at South Campus Stadium.

Montana will play North Dakota, North Dakota State and Oregon State on the road, Utah Tech and Oklahoma in Spokane at Gonzaga's Labor Day weekend tournament.

"It's very well balanced, the kind of schedule you want," said Citowicki. "It's well spaced out with some really good teams."

After Sunday exhibitions against Air Force and Calgary on Aug. 6 and 13, Montana will head east for season-opening matches at North Dakota and North Dakota State.

Citowicki was an assistant at North Dakota in 2017 before getting hired by Montana in the spring of 2018.

"It's a better slate of exhibitions than we've had before. Both will be good opponents. It's a nice way to start with some heavier competition," said Citowicki.

Then it will be on to face the Dakotas. "Looking forward to heading back that way. Should be a good way to start the season."

Montana will get MSU Billings and Ohio State at home before traveling to Spokane for neutral-site matches against Utah Tech (formerly Dixie State) and Oklahoma.

Then it's three matches in eight days at South Campus Stadium against Colorado State, Georgia Southern and Miami (Ohio). "What a run of home games," said Citowicki.

Utah Tech went 10-6-2 last season, with 1-0 wins over Idaho State and Weber State. Oklahoma will be playing one of its first matches under new coach Matt Mott, hired away from Mississippi in April.

Georgia Southern won the Sun Belt regular-season title last fall, Miami (Ohio) went 9-5-6.

Montana will conclude its nonconference schedule with a match at Oregon State. The Grizzlies and Beavers have not met since 2007 and just once since 1998.

Montana, as this year's lone wolf in the nine-team Big Sky schedule, will play all its league matches on Thursday and Sunday.

The Grizzlies will open at Eastern Washington and Idaho, then host Weber State and Idaho State.

Montana went 7-7-6 last season and finished sixth in the Big Sky at 3-4-1.

The Grizzlies defeated No. 3 Portland State 3-0 in the Big Sky tournament quarterfinals before falling 1-0 to No. 2 Idaho in overtime in the semifinals.

Northern Arizona won both the regular-season and postseason championships last season and will host this year's tournament the first week of November.

Montana and Northern Arizona will square off in a Thursday night match in Flagstaff on Oct. 12, then the Grizzlies will continue on to Greeley to face perennial contender Northern Colorado on Sunday, Oct. 15.

"Probably the hardest road trip of the year because of the distances you have to travel and the level of opponents," said Citowicki.

"Conference will be what it always is, an absolute slugfest. We'll get through it to the best of our abilities and hopefully finish near the top."

Montana has advanced to the NCAA tournament three times under Citowicki, who will be entering his sixth season leading the Grizzlies in the fall.

University of Montana Athletics

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