Grizzlies take unbeaten start to Pullman

The Montana soccer team, coming off a pair of wins at the Rumble in the Rockies, will face its toughest test of the young season on Thursday night when it travels to Pullman to face Washington State.

The Grizzlies (2-0-0) and Cougars (0-1-0) will kick off at 8 p.m. (MT) at WSU's Lower Soccer Field.

Montana will then return home to host MSU Billings on Sunday at 1 p.m. at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.

Coverage: Both matches this week will be available on ESPN+. Thursday's match at Washington State will be called by Trevor Williams. Sunday's home match against the Yellowjackets will be called by Jackson Wagner.

Montana storylines:

1. The Grizzlies opened their season with a pair of wins for the third time in the last five seasons when they won both of their matches at the Rumble in the Rockies in Missoula.

After having its season opener postponed from Thursday night to Friday morning, Montana showed no ill-effects from the unexpected change, topping Colorado College 1-0.

As she did in 2023, Delaney Lou Schorr, the reigning Big Sky Conference Golden Boot winner, scored in the Grizzlies' season opener, finishing a pass from Kayla Rendon Bushmaker.

Ashlyn Dvorak, the 2023 Big Sky Freshman of the Year, made four saves to collect the shutout.

Two days later, in front of the second-largest crowd in program history, Montana blitzed Oregon State 3-0, out-shooting the Beavers 18-6 and holding OSU to a single shot on goal to send the crowd of 1,190 home happy.

Maddie Ditta and Bella O'Brien both scored first-half goals, with Riley O'Brien adding Montana's final goal in the 78th minute. Dvorak collected her second shutout of the season.

In Sunday's early match, Iowa defeated Colorado College 4-1, scoring the match's final four goals.

Iowa led Oregon State 2-0 early in the second half on Thursday when the match was suspended because of weather. The teams could not reach a resolution on finalizing the match, which led to it being abandoned.

Iowa's and Oregon State's final scores on Sunday were their only official results from their trip to Missoula.

2. Montana started strong in the first United Soccer Coaches West Region poll of the season, coming in at No. 2 behind only Santa Clara. Portland, UC Irvine and Gonzaga rounded out the top five.

Santa Clara, which won national championships in 2001 and in the 2021 spring season, opened the season with a 4-0 win at San Jose State and a 2-1 home win over California.

3. Ashlyn Dvorak was named the Big Sky Conference co-Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday after posting a pair of shutouts at the Rumble in the Rockies.

Dvorak, a four-time Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week last season, made five saves as Montana blanked Colorado College and Oregon State.

Dvorak, a redshirt sophomore, is now 15-3-3 as a starter with a 0.43 goals-against average. In 21 starts she has recorded 13 shutouts while allowing nine goals.

4. Update for those who held tickets for Thursday's season opener against Colorado College, a game that was postponed because of weather and played on Friday morning:

Whether the ticket-holder attended Friday's rescheduled game or not, they can redeem their ticket for another regular-season match of their choice. This can be done at the Adams Center ticket office or at South Campus Stadium on game day.

If it was purchased in person, the physical ticket will be required for proof of sale. If the ticket was purchased online, the account can be pulled up and updated to the new game of choice.

At a glance (Washington State): The Cougars are in their first season competing in the West Coast Conference after the dissolution of the Pac-12.

The Cougars, who played in the national semifinals in 2019, were picked second in the WCC preseason poll behind Santa Clara.

Washington State opened its season with a 1-0 loss at Purdue on Thursday, being held by the Boilermakers to seven shots, three on goal. Purdue scored the game-winning goal in the 76th minute.

The Cougars are coached by Todd Shulenberger (98-55-23), who begins his 10th season in Pullman and is now the longest-tenured coach in program history.

Senior forward Grayson Lynch and sophomore midfielder Reagan Kotschau both were named to the WCC Preseason Team.

Washington State went 9-6-4 a year ago. After opening the season 7-1-0, the Cougars went 2-5-4 in the strong Pac-12 to miss the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season and for just the fifth time since 2008.

Washington State is 178-88-35 (.650) all-time in home matches.

Series history: Washington State leads the all-time series against Montana 15-6-2. The Grizzlies have not defeated the Cougars since 2004 and have not won in Pullman since 2000 in the NCAA tournament.

Washington State is 11-0-1 against Montana in the teams' last 12 meetings, outscoring the Grizzlies 29-6. Montana is 2-11-1 against Washington State in Pullman.

Montana coach Chris Citowicki is 0-4-0 against Washington State coach Todd Shulenberger. Two of those matchups have come in the NCAA tournament, in 2018 and '21.

The Cougars have outscored the Grizzlies in those four matches 17-2.

At a glance (MSU Billings): The Yellowjackets will make their season debut at home against Rocky Mountain on Wednesday in an exhibition match.

Sunday's match against Montana also will be an exhibition match for MSUB.

MSU Billings went 5-9-3 a year ago, finishing sixth out of eight teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 4-8-2 league record.

The Yellowjackets are coached by Abiye Jack. After serving as the program's interim head coach in 2023, Jack was named the permanent head coach in March.

Series history: Montana is 5-0-0 against MSU Billings, without a goal allowed.

The teams played in 2006, a 1-0 Montana win in double overtime, then resumed playing in 2021. Over the last four seasons, the Grizzlies have won by scores of 3-0, 4-0, 6-0 and 4-0.

In last year's 4-0 Montana victory, the Grizzlies got goals from Sydney Haustein, Eliza Bentler, Riley O'Brien and Abby Gearhart.

Montana notes:

* The Grizzlies are off to a 2-0-0 start for the seventh time in program history. Three of those have come under coach Chris Citowicki.

* Montana's two wins at the Rumble in the Rockies leave Citowicki with a record at the school of 58-33-22. He is eight wins from becoming the second-winningest coach in program history.

1. Betsy Duerksen (10 seasons, 117-69-7)
2. Mark Plakorus (7 seasons, 65-56-24)
3. Chris Citowicki (7th season, 58-33-22)

* Montana's win on Sunday was its first over Oregon State since 1997. The Grizzlies had scored just one goal against the Beavers over the teams' previous three matchups.

* Sunday's crowd of 1,190 was the second-largest for Montana at South Campus Stadium in program history and only the fourth of 1,000 or more.

* For the second consecutive season, Delaney Lou Schorr scored in the opener to give Montana a 1-0 victory. Last season it was a 1-0 win at North Dakota. This year it was a 1-0 victory over Colorado College.

* Schorr upped her career total to 14 goals, nine of which have been game-winners. Seven of her last nine goals have been game-winners.

* Kayla Rendon Bushmaker entered the season with two career assists through two seasons as a Grizzly. The junior doubled that with two assists at the Rumble in the Rockies.

Rendon Bushmaker assisted on Schorr's game-winner in Friday's 1-0 victory over Colorado College and on Bella O'Brien's first-half goal against Oregon State that made it 2-0.

* Montana is 10-1-2 over its last 13 matches dating back to last season. The Grizzlies have allowed four goals in those 13 matches.

* Montana has not allowed multiple goals in a match since playing to a 2-2 draw with Ohio State last August.

* Maddie Ditta, second-team All-Big Sky last season, scored the game-winner on Sunday against Oregon State, putting in a rebound in the third minute.

* Princeton transfer Jen Estes took the initial shot that Ditta scored on, giving Estes the assist and her first point as a Grizzly.

* Bella O'Brien's first-half goal against Oregon State that made it 2-0 was the fourth of her career on just 11 shots.

* O'Brien's 12th career shot, in the second half, hit the crossbar and the loose ball was then scored on a header by Riley O'Brien. It was Bella O'Brien's second career assist, Riley O'Brien's fourth career goal.

* Montana out-shot Colorado College and Oregon State 30-11, putting 15 shots on goal to those teams' five.

* Charley Boone and Reeve Borseth, at center back, played every minute against the Tigers and the Beavers.

* Princeton transfer Jen Estes and Washington transfer Chloe Seelhoff both made their first starts as a Grizzly against Oregon State.

Upcoming: Another road-home week when Montana plays at Fresno State on Thursday, Aug. 29, and at home against IUPUI on Sunday, Sept. 1.

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Players Mentioned

Eliza Bentler

Charley Boone

Reeve Borseth

Maddie Ditta

Ashlyn Dvorak

Jen Estes

Abby Gearhart

Sydney Haustein

Bella O'Brien

Riley O'Brien

Kayla Rendon Bushmaker

Delaney Lou Schorr

Chloe Seelhoff

University of Montana Athletics