Griz get Hornets for Senior Day

The Montana soccer team will play its final regular-season home match on Sunday when it hosts Sacramento State at South Campus Stadium.

The Grizzlies (9-3-3, 3-1-2 BSC) and Hornets (6-9-1, 2-3-1 BSC) will kick off at noon on what will be Senior Day for 11 players.

Montana will conclude its regular-season schedule with a match at Portland State on Thursday, Oct. 23.

The six-team Big Sky Conference Championship will open on Wednesday, Nov. 5, in Missoula with quarterfinal matches. Semifinals will be on Friday, Nov. 7, the championship match on Sunday, Nov. 9.

Coverage: Sunday's match will stream on ESPN+ with Ace Sauerwein calling the action.

What's at stake (Montana): The Grizzlies sit atop the Big Sky standings but have already played six of their eight league matches, something only Sacramento State also has done.

Four teams have played five Big Sky matches, three have played only four to this point, meaning there are still a lot of points up for grabs.

The best Montana could do, with wins in its last two matches, is 17 points. Portland State could still reach 19 points, Weber State could get to 18 points, Idaho could get to 17 points.

The Grizzlies went unbeaten in league in 2023 and '24, going 13-0-3. Montana is trying to become the first program in league history to win three consecutive outright regular-season championships.

What's at stake (Sacramento State): The Hornets are tied for fourth but only have two more matches to gain points, playing at Montana on Sunday, then hosting Portland State on Sunday, Oct. 26.

Sacramento State has seven points. The last three seasons, with the same number of teams as the league has this year, the cut to make the tournament has been 10 (2022), eight (2023) and nine (2024).

Match notes:

* Sunday's game is a rematch of last year's Big Sky semifinal in Missoula, when the Hornets and Grizzlies played 110 minutes to a 0-0 draw before Sacramento State advanced with a shootout victory.

* The Hornets, the No. 5 seed, would play to a 0-0 draw in the title match against Idaho, then win its third shootout in five days to make their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2010.

* With a home sweep of Weber State and Idaho State last week, Montana moved up to 115 in the NCAA RPI, the top ranking in the Big Sky. Weber State is close behind at 117. No other team is in the top 200.

* The rest: Idaho (208), Idaho State (240), Eastern Washington (254), Northern Arizona (270), Sacramento State (273), Northern Colorado (283) and Portland State (288).

* Montana moved up a spot to No. 8 in this week's United Soccer Coaches West Region rankings. The Grizzlies have been ranked all but one week this season.

* Montana swept the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week awards on Tuesday, with Maycen Slater being named Offensive Player of the Week, Ashlyn Dvorak Defensive Player of the Week.

Slater scored three times as Montana swept Weber State and Idaho State. Dvorak didn't allow a goal in her 135 minutes in net.

It was Slater's first Player of the Week award, Dvorak's seventh of her career, matching Camellia Xu's program record.

* At 9-3-3, Montana is one win from reaching 10 victories for the third consecutive season, something the Grizzlies have not done since 1998-2000.

* Since losing its league opener at Northern Arizona, Montana is unbeaten in its last five (3-0-2), outscoring those opponents 8-1.

* Montana is 14-0-4 in the month of October the last three seasons and 30-4-11 in the month against league opponents under eighth-year coach Chris Citowicki.

* Montana is 22-1-3 in its last 26 matches at South Campus Stadium.

* Montana should have enough points to qualify for the six-team Big Sky tournament. The Grizzlies have not missed the postseason since 2013 and have played in all but five tournaments since the first in 1997.

* Players being recognized on Sunday: Bentler, Boone, Borseth, Ditta, Dvorak, Flynn, Henrikson, Parkhurst, Pascoe, Rendon-Bushmaker, Seelhoff.

At a glance (Montana): Needing points after a pair of draws at Eastern Washington and Idaho, the Grizzlies picked up six big ones last week with home wins over Weber State and Idaho State.

Facing then first-place Weber State on Thursday, Montana defeated the Wildcats 4-0, the Grizzlies' largest margin of victory in the series since 1997.

It was Montana's seventh consecutive win in Missoula over Weber State, the Grizzlies outscoring the Wildcats in those matches 14-2.

Slater scored late in the first half to give Montana a 1-0 lead at the break. Reagan Brisendine scored twice less than three minutes apart to make it 3-0, then Slater added a final goal in the 80th minute.

Dvorak went the distance in goal, making three saves for her 20th career shutout, moving her into third in program history behind Claire Howard (32) and Kailey Norman (24).

Caylee Kerr assisted on Slater's game-winner, her first collegiate point. Taija Anderson had her second collegiate assist, while Eliza Bentler and Chloe Seelhoff both added two assists.

It was the first collegiate match with multiple assists for both Bentler and Seelhoff, who moved into first in the Big Sky with six assists on the season.

Citowicki improved to 7-0-0 in his career against Idaho State with Montana's 1-0 victory over the then second-place Bengals on Sunday.

Slater scored the game-winner in the 59th minute, putting in the rebound from a Brisendine shot. Slater's four goals this season are the most for a true freshman since Alexa Coyle scored four in 2017.

Montana now has four players with four or more goals for only the second time since 2000. The Grizzlies had five players with four or more goals in 2023.

Bayliss Flynn, making her first appearance since Sept. 7 and first start since Aug. 21, played the opening 45 minutes in goal. Dvorak played the second half and picked up the win. She is 23-8-6 for her career.

Montana is now 34-8-11 since the start of the 2023 season, outscoring its opponents 89-28 and posting 34 shutouts.

At a glance (Sacramento State): The Hornets have the Big Sky's most perplexing body of work.

* They opened the season with wins over Pacific and Oregon, outscoring those two opponents 4-0.

* They then lost four straight, getting outscored 13-0.

* They have three wins in six road matches this season, two wins at home in eight matches.

* The Hornets have posted five shutouts, tied for third-most in the Big Sky, but have still given up a league-high 31 goals, their 1.94 goals-against average ranking 302nd nationally.

* After blitzing Eastern Washington 5-0 on Oct. 5, they went on the road last week and lost 3-0 at Idaho State and 6-0 at Weber State.

* In their last four matches, they've been shut out three times, those results sandwiched around a 5-0 win.

As she did last year, redshirt junior Izzy Palmatier has played a bulk of the minutes in goal.

Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Sierra Sonko, the MVP of last year's Big Sky tournament after playing zero minutes but defending the net for all three postseason shootouts, has not played this season.

Junior Lexi Schroeder has three goals and two assists this season, junior Tea Reyes has three goals and one assist.

Sacramento State is led by 19th-year head coach Randy Dedini.

Series history: Montana leads the series with Sacramento State 20-7-8 and has gone 9-2-4 against the Hornets in Missoula.

Montana has not lost to Sacramento State since 2013, going 10-0-4 against the Hornets since that game.

Sacramento State's last win in the series was a 3-0 victory in Missoula in 2013. Montana has gone 4-0-2 against the Hornets in Missoula since.

The teams played to a pair of 0-0 draws last season, first in Sacramento, then in November in Missoula in the Big Sky semifinals that ended Montana's season.

* Citowicki is 7-0-3 against Sacramento State.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Montana sits atop the Big Sky standings with 11 points, with Weber State, with nine, and Idaho, with eight, close behind and both teams having three matches left to the Grizzlies' two.

* Portland State, Idaho State and Sacramento State have seven points, the Vikings with four matches left, the Bengals three, the Hornets two.

* Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado, both with four matches left, and Eastern Washington, with three, are at the bottom of the standings with four points.

* Weber State plays its final three matches on the road, at Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado this week, then at Idaho State next week.

* Idaho plays at Portland State on Sunday, then gets Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona at home next week.

* Portland State's two Division I victories this season have come in league, over Weber State and Northern Arizona.

The Vikings get Eastern Washington and Idaho at home this week, Montana next Thursday before closing the season at Sacramento State.

* Thursday's schedule: EWU at PSU

* Friday's schedule: ISU at UNC, WSU at NAU

* Sunday's schedule: SAC at UM, WSU at UNC, ISU at NAU, UI at PSU

Upcoming: Montana closes its regular-season schedule at Portland State on Thursday, Oct. 23.

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Taija Anderson

Eliza Bentler

Reagan Brisendine

Ashlyn Dvorak

Bayliss Flynn

Caylee Kerr

Chloe Seelhoff

Maycen Slater

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