Montana sweeps Player of the Week honors

Two days after finishing off a key two-match home sweep of Weber State and Idaho State, the Montana soccer team has swept the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week awards.

Freshman Maycen Slater, who scored three goals in the Grizzlies' wins over Weber State and Idaho State, was named the Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career.

Redshirt junior goalkeeper Ashlyn Dvorak, who shut out the Wildcats and Bengals over her 135 minutes in goal, was named the Defensive Player of the Week for the seventh time in her career.

Montana has had four players named Big Sky Player of the Week this season, with Chloe Seelhoff and Maddie Ditta also being recognized.

Both matches last week featured the first- and second-place teams in the tight Big Sky standings.

Thursday's 4-0 win over Weber State vaulted the Grizzlies past the Wildcats and into first place. Sunday's 1-0 victory over second-place Idaho State kept Montana atop the standings.

The Grizzlies are 9-3-3 overall and one victory away from their third-consecutive 10-win season, something Montana has not accomplished since 1998-2000.

Montana is pursuing what would be its third consecutive outright regular-season Big Sky title, something no program has pulled off in the 29-year history of soccer in the league.

Slater scored the game-winning goal in both matches last week, putting Montana up 1-0 late in the first half on Thursday in what had been a tense, back-and-forth contest.

After Reagan Brisendine scored twice just 136 seconds apart in the second half to give the Grizzlies a comfortable lead, Slater closed it out with a goal in the 80th minute.

Slater's first goal came off a deflected shot from Caylee Kerr, the freshman in front of goal, controlling a loose ball and striking it with the outside of her right foot for the match's opening score.

Her second goal of the match came with Slater being in the right place at the right time, a skill as valuable as finishing off opportunities that arise because of it.

With Eliza Bentler streaking up the right side and then crossing the ball across the top of the six-yard box, Slater made a quick but patient run and timed it perfectly, striking in the match's final goal.

It was Montana's largest margin of victory over Weber State since 1997.

Not done yet, Slater scored the match's only goal on Sunday, again being in the right place at the right time to pounce on Brisendine's shot that went off the right post and back into the field of play.

Slater's four goals this season are the most for a true freshman since Alexa Coyle scored four in 2017.

Weber State took 15 shots on Thursday, had five corner kicks and played ball after ball into the box from the wings but was unable to get anything past Dvorak, who had three saves and 10 times as many key defensive plays that didn't show up in the box score.

Montana joined Oregon and Nebraska as opponents who shut out Weber State this season, a team that had scored 11 times in six matches before traveling to Missoula.

Three days later, on Sunday, the Wildcats blitzed Sacramento State 6-0.

Dvorak watched the first half of Sunday's match against Idaho State from the sideline, as Bayliss Flynn made her third start of the season.

The match was scoreless at the half when Dvorak entered. She made a pair of saves in the second half and collected the win, the 23rd of her career.

Thursday's shutout was the 20th of Dvorak's career, moving her into third place in the Montana history book behind only Claire Howard (32) and Kailey Norman (24).

Dvorak has a 0.56 goals-against average this season and a .841 save percentage. She leads the Big Sky in both categories. She ranks 19th nationally in the former.

Montana (9-3-3, 3-1-2 BSC) hosts Sacramento State (6-9-1, 2-3-1 BSC) on Sunday at noon in the Grizzlies' only match of the week.

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Eliza Bentler

Reagan Brisendine

Maddie Ditta

Ashlyn Dvorak

Bayliss Flynn

Caylee Kerr

Chloe Seelhoff

Maycen Slater

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