No rest for the unbeaten

The Montana soccer team, unbeaten through three weekends of matches at 5-0-1, will open a three-game home stand this week with matches against Colorado State and Georgia Southern.

The Grizzlies, atop the Big Sky Conference, will host the Mountain West Conference-leading Rams (3-0-1) on Thursday at 5 p.m., the streaking Eagles (4-1-0) on Sunday at 1 p.m. at South Campus Stadium.

Georgia Southern, which hosts Georgia on Thursday, has won three straight matches including a road victory at Miami.

The home stand will conclude on Thursday, Sept. 14, with a home match against Miami (Ohio).

Montana will play at Oregon State on Sunday, Sept. 17, its final nonconference match, then open its Big Sky schedule at Eastern Washington on Thursday, Sept. 28.

Coverage: All three matches of Montana's home stand can be watched on ESPN+ with Ace Sauerwein, the voice of Grizzly Soccer, calling the action.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies are unbeaten through six matches for the first time in a non-COVID season in program history.

Montana extended its unbeaten streak to six last week on the road at Spokane, defeating Utah Tech and Oklahoma at the Gonzaga Pacific Northwest Tournament.

The Grizzlies defeated the Trailblazers 4-0 on Thursday. Up 1-0 at the half, Montana scored three goals on 10 shots in the second half to pull away.

Scoring for Montana were Maddie Ditta, Ava Samuelson, Sydney Haustein and Kathleen Aitchison. It was the first of the season for Ditta and Samuelson, the first of her collegiate career for Aitchison.

On Sunday against Oklahoma, Aitchison struck again, in the 39th minute, and Montana would hold that lead through the final whistle for a 1-0 victory over the Sooners.

It was the first Power 5 victory for sixth-year coach Chris Citowicki, the first for Montana since winning at Purdue in 2016.

The Grizzlies have outscored their opponents through six matches 15-3 and have allowed just 19 shots on goal, an average of just over three per match.

Montana's goals have come from 11 different players. Aitchison, Haustein and Eliza Bentler have each scored twice, eight players have scored once each.

Dvorak named Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week: Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Ashlyn Dvorak was named the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday.

Dvorak was in goal for all 180 minutes of Montana's shutouts of Utah Tech and Oklahoma in Spokane, making six saves.

She becomes the fourth Grizzly to earn Big Sky Player of the Week honors this season, joining Molly Quarry (Defensive), Delaney Lou Schorr (Offensive) and Maysa Walters (Offensive).

Four named all-tournament: Four Grizzlies were named to the Gonzaga Pacific Northwest All-Tournament Team following last week's action.

Getting recognized were Kathleen Aitchison, Ashlyn Dvorak, Ava Samuelson and Maysa Walters.

Aitchison scored in both matches, Dvorak had two shutouts, Samuelson had one goal and two assists and Walters was on the field for 142 minutes, 90 of those in Sunday's win over Oklahoma.

Montana rises in the rankings: The Grizzlies opened at No. 9 in the United Soccer Coaches West Region Poll after sweeping North Dakota and North Dakota State on the road to start the season.

They moved up to No. 8 last week after facing MSU Billings and Ohio State at home and are No. 7 this week after two wins in Spokane.

At a glance (Colorado State): The Rams, like the Grizzlies, will go into Thursday's match unbeaten at 3-0-1 with just one goal allowed through four matches.

After opening with a 1-1 draw at Denver, Colorado State has won three straight by shutout, over Louisiana Tech (3-0), California Baptist (1-0) and UMKC (1-0).

Junior goalkeeper Shayna Ross has played every minute in goal and has a 0.25 goals-against average, which is tied for 16th nationally.

Leading scorer Olivia Fout, who has scored three goals on eight shots this season, is in her first year as a Ram after transferring from Auburn.

Colorado State, which didn't field its first soccer team until 2013, went 4-7-8 a year ago, 1-4-6 in Mountain West matches and was winless (0-4-6) over its final 10 matches.

The Rams were picked seventh out of 12 teams in this year's Mountain West preseason poll.

Series history: Montana has gone 1-0-1 against Colorado State, winning 2-0 in Missoula in 2014 and playing to a 0-0 draw last fall in Fort Collins.

At a glance (Georgia Southern): The Eagles, of the Sun Belt Conference, are 4-1-0 going into Thursday's home match against Georgia, which sits two spots out of the top 25.

Since losing 2-1 at Furman in its second match of the season, Georgia Southern has rolled to three straight wins, over North Florida, Miami and College of Charleston.

Freshman goalkeeper Quinn Wilson is 4-1-0 with a 1.02 goals-against average. Junior Smith Cathey has scored three goals, senior Simone Timm has two goals and two assists.

Fourth-year coach Chris Adams, who spent 18 seasons at Division II North Georgia before moving downstate to Statesboro, led the Eagles to an 11-7-4 record in 2021, 8-4-5 last season.

It marked the first time in more than two decades that Georgia Southern posted back-to-back winning seasons.

The Eagles went 7-1-2 in Sun Belt matches last season to win the league but lost 1-0 to No. 8 Georgia State in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt tournament.

Georgia Southern, with two first-place votes, was picked fourth out of 14 teams in the Sun Belt preseason poll behind James Madison, South Alabama and Old Dominion.

Two-time first-team All-Sun Belt forward Elis Nemstov, who hasn't played this season, and defender Sade Heinrichs were two of 13 players to make the Preseason All-Sun Belt Team.

Series history: Montana is 1-0-0 against Georgia Southern. The Grizzlies won 2-1 in Pullman, Wash., in 2017 behind goals from Alexa Coyle and Janessa Fowler.

Montana notes:

* Montana coach Chris Citowicki picked up career win No. 95 on Sunday against Oklahoma, Montana win No. 48 and Power 5 win No. 1.

* The Grizzlies will be above .500 entering league for the first time since 2017.

* Montana has scored the opening goal in all six of its matches this fall, the first time that's happened in a non-COVID season in program history.

* It was goal No. 1 of the season, goal No. 2 of their careers for both Maddie Ditta and Ava Samuelson on Thursday against Utah Tech.

* Sydney Haustein's goal against the Trailblazers was the eighth of her career. Twenty players in program history have reached 10 for their careers.

* Kathleen Aitchison had goals in back-to-back matches last week. That happened earlier this season as well when Eliza Bentler scored against North Dakota State and MSU Billings.

* Montana has not allowed a second-half goal this season.

* Haustein and Aitchison have both scored twice this season on just four shots.

* Samuelson, with three, is tied for the Big Sky Conference lead in assists.

* Ashlyn Dvorak leads the Big Sky in shutouts (4), goals-against average (0.50) and save percentage (.842).

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Montana (5-0-1), Idaho (3-1-1) and Northern Arizona (2-2-2) all are .500 or better through three weekends of matches.

* Montana (No. 7) and Idaho (No. 10) are both ranked in the West Region by the United Soccer Coaches.

* Weber State (0-5-0), Idaho State (0-6-0) and Northern Colorado (0-6-0) are all seeking their first win or draw of the season.

* League play opens on Wednesday, Sept. 20, when Weber State plays at Idaho.

Upcoming: Montana will wrap up its nonconference schedule next week with a home match against Miami (Ohio) and a road match at Oregon State.

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Players Mentioned

Kathleen Aitchison

Eliza Bentler

Maddie Ditta

Ashlyn Dvorak

Sydney Haustein

Molly Quarry

Ava Samuelson

Delaney Lou Schorr

Maysa Walters

University of Montana Athletics