Griz begin title defense on Sunday

The Montana soccer team, which won last year's Big Sky Conference regular-season championship, will open its 2024 league schedule on Sunday when it hosts Northern Arizona at South Campus Stadium.

The Grizzlies (6-2-2) and Lumberjacks (0-4-4) will kick off at 1 p.m. at the venue where Montana is unbeaten this season (6-0-0), with six shutout victories.

Sunday's match is the only one of the week for both teams, who were picked first (Montana) and second (Northern Arizona) in this year's Big Sky Conference preseason coaches' poll.

Coverage: Sunday's match will stream on ESPN+ with Will Thomas making his season debut on the call.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies have played only two matches since Sept. 8, shutting out North Dakota on Sept. 12 and Boise State on Sept. 19, both at South Campus Stadium.

With a single match next week as well, at Northern Colorado on Sunday, Oct. 6, Montana will have played four matches over 31 days when two-match weeks return in mid-October.

The Grizzlies' lone match last week, a 2-0 home victory over Boise State, was the best win of the season and one of the most notable for seventh-year coach Chris Citowicki.

The Broncos entered the match 6-1-0, ranked third in the United Soccer Coaches Pacific Region poll and averaging more than 2.4 goals per game.

Despite employing a more aggressive formation that has the potential to leave it at a disadvantage on the defensive end, Montana limited Boise State to only four shots on goal out of its 19 for the match.

Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week Chloe Seelhoff scored both goals for Montana, opening the scoring just 97 seconds into the match when she stepped up and converted a penalty kick.

She made it 2-0 less than four minutes into the second half, taking a pass from Carly Whalen on the right side and powering a shot off the hands of Boise State's goalkeeper.

Seelhoff, who scored in the 90th minute in Montana's home win over North Dakota, has scored the Grizzlies' last three goals, which is not as unusual as might be expected.

Earlier this season, Jen Estes scored four consecutive Griz goals over four matches.

A transfer from Washington, Seelhoff took 13 shots through the opening eight matches of the season, putting three of those on goal, none that scored.

Against North Dakota and Boise State, with Montana using a new formation that highlights Seelhoff's talent in space and with the ball at her feet, she took eight shots, putting six on goal and scoring thrice.

Whalen assisted on Seelhoff's goal against North Dakota and her second-half goal against Boise State. Whalen is now tied for the team lead in assists with two.

Bayliss Flynn made three saves against the Broncos. She is 3-0-2 with four shutouts in five starts since replacing all-region goalkeeper Ashlyn Dvorak, who was injured in Montana's match at Fresno State.

Flynn, who now has enough appearances to qualify, is tied for ninth nationally in save percentage (.903) and is tied for 36th nationally in goals-against average (0.60). Her four shutouts are tied for 33rd.

With its victory over Boise State, Montana moved up to No. 6 in this week's West Region poll, up from No. 9.

Despite the loss, Boise State, which won 2-1 at Eastern Washington on Sunday, moved up from No. 3 to No. 2 in the Pacific Region poll.

Three of Montana's other nonconference opponents also are regionally ranked. Washington State is No. 4 in the West Region. Fresno State is No. 7 and Air Force is No. 8 in the Pacific Region.

At a glance (Northern Arizona): The Lumberjacks will enter Sunday's match with a record of 0-4-4. They are the only Big Sky team without a win this season.

NAU has scored only three goals through its first eight matches and has been shut out in its last four, going the last 446 minutes without a goal.

Northern Arizona opened the season with an encouraging 1-1 draw at Arizona State, one of four ties the Lumberjacks have through eight matches.

They have scored just one goal in their four losses, getting outscored 9-1, including a 1-0 loss at Air Force, NAU's one common opponent with Montana. The Grizzlies played the Falcons to a 0-0 draw.

Northern Arizona's three goals have come from three different players.

Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week Trinity Corcoran, who blanked New Mexico and Southern Utah at home last week, both 0-0 ties, has played all but 45 minutes in goal this season for the Lumberjacks.

Northern Arizona won the Big Sky regular-season and tournament titles in 2022 and advanced to face No. 1 UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

NAU went 11-6-3 last season, finishing fourth in the Big Sky with a 4-3-1 league record. Hosting the Big Sky tournament, the No. 4 Lumberjacks lost 1-0 to No. 2 Idaho in the championship match.

Alan Berrios, interim head coach for the back half of the 2022 championship season, is in his second season as head coach.

Series history: Montana leads the series 18-8-5 and has gone 9-2-3 against Northern Arizona in Missoula.

The Lumberjacks have won two of the teams' last three matchups, winning 2-1 in Missoula in 2022 and 1-0 in last year's Big Sky tournament semifinals in Flagstaff.

That victory came after Montana pulled off a 2-1 win in Flagstaff during the regular season.

The teams' last 14 matchups, dating back to 2010, have ended in a draw or in one-goal decisions.

Match notes:

* Big Sky RPIs: Montana (103), Idaho (181), Portland State (221), Eastern Washington (233), Northern Arizona (256), Weber State (259), Northern Colorado (275), Idaho State (280), Sacramento State (290).

* Griz coach Chris Citowicki won his 62nd match at Montana with the Grizzlies' win over Boise State. He is four wins from becoming the second-winningest coach in program history.

* Montana has gone 30-7-8 (.756) at South Campus Stadium since the start of the 2019 season. The Grizzlies are 142-67-31 (.656) all-time at home.

* In 15 home matches since the start of the 2023 season, Montana has allowed only five goals.

* Montana's six game-winning goals this season have come from six different players (Estes, Seelhoff, Whalen, Ditta, Schorr, Bentler).

* The Big Sky Conference schedule opened on Thursday night with Northern Colorado winning 3-1 at Weber State. The Bears led 2-0 at the half and went up 3-0 in the 61st minute.

* Friday schedule: PSU at EWU, SAC at UI

* Sunday schedule: NAU at UM, UNC at ISU, SAC at EWU, PSU at UI

Upcoming: Montana will have its fourth consecutive single-match week when the Grizzlies play at Northern Colorado on Sunday, Oct. 6.

Montana will close out the regular season with three two-match weeks before hosting the six-team Big Sky tournament from Nov. 6-10.

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Players Mentioned

Ashlyn Dvorak

Jen Estes

Bayliss Flynn

Chloe Seelhoff

Carly Whalen

University of Montana Athletics