Montana to play for Big Sky title

The Montana soccer team, alone in first place as the Big Sky Conference schedule winds down this week, will close out the regular season with a high-stakes match against Portland State on Thursday afternoon.

The Grizzlies (10-3-3, 4-1-2 BSC) and Vikings (3-7-4, 2-2-2 BSC) will kick off at 2 p.m. (MT) at Hillsboro Stadium in Hillsboro, Ore.

What's at stake (Montana): With a win, the Grizzlies would clinch a third consecutive outright Big Sky championship, something no program has done in league history.

Montana has won 10 regular-season Big Sky championships in its history, winning the 2023 and '24 titles with a combined league record of 13-0-3.

With a tie or a loss, the Grizzlies would have to scoreboard-watch as the rest of the Big Sky teams wrap up their schedules on Friday and Sunday.

Montana could finish with anything from the No. 1 to No. 4 seed, depending on this week's results, at next month's Big Sky Championship, to be held in Missoula.

What's at stake (Portland State): The Vikings are tied for fourth in the standings but in a mix of six teams holding between seven and nine points entering the final week of matches.

The top six teams after Sunday's matches have wrapped up will make the championship field.

Portland State has the mathematical advantage of having two games remaining. The Vikings play at Sacramento State on Sunday.

Coverage: Thursday's match will stream on ESPN+ with Chris Clayton calling the action.

Montana notes:

* With their 1-0 home win over Sacramento State on Sunday, the Grizzlies reached 10 wins for the third consecutive season, a first for the program since 1998-2000.

* Montana is up to a 105 RPI this week, best in the Big Sky. Portland State, which has only two Division I wins this season, has the Big Sky's lowest RPI of 283.

* The Grizzlies, who opened league with a 2-1 loss at Northern Arizona, extended their unbeaten streak to six with Sunday's win over the Hornets. Montana is 17-1-5 in league matches since 2023.

* During its six-match unbeaten streak, Montana has outscored its opponents 9-1. The Grizzlies have a 28-9 goal differential for the season.

* After allowing goals in four of its first five matches, Montana has allowed three over its last 11 games with nine shutouts.

* The Grizzlies have 10 shutouts this season, after posting 11 in 2023 and a program-record 14 in 2024. It's the first time in program history with three consecutive seasons with 10 or more shutouts.

* Montana has 79 shutouts in 146 matches under eighth-year coach Chris Citowicki, a .541 shutout percentage.

* Two of Montana's three losses this season have come against Baylor and Boise State. The Bears are No. 4 nationally in the RPI. The Broncos, at 6-0-2 in league, are running away with the Mountain West.

* Montana's 1-0 win over Sacramento State on Sunday improved the Grizzlies to 23-1-3 in their last 27 matches at South Campus Stadium, where next month's Big Sky Championship will be held.

* Montana is 15-0-4 in the month of October the last three seasons and 31-4-11 in the month against Big Sky opponents under eighth-year coach Chris Citowicki.

* Montana won seven Big Sky titles in Citowicki's first seven seasons at Montana, regular season in 2019, '20, '23 and '24, tournament in 2018, '20 and '21.

* Montana has not missed a Big Sky tournament since 2013 and has played in all but five since the first one was held in 1997.

* Members of Montana's outgoing senior class scored 12 of this season's first 15 goals. Underclassmen have scored the team's most recent six goals and eight of the last 10.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies ran their unbeaten streak to six with a 1-0 home-field victory over Sacramento State on Sunday.

Redshirt freshman Caylee Kerr scored the game-winning goal in the 62nd minute, the first goal of her collegiate career. She was set up on a through ball by Lydia Robertson, her second assist of the season.

Kerr's goal gave Montana nine different goal scorers this season.

Ashlyn Dvorak matched a season high with six saves to record her 21st career shutout. She ranks third in program history in that category behind Claire Howard (32) and Kailey Norman (24).

Montana ranks in the top 20 nationally in goals against average (.562, t-9th), save percentage (.852, t-20th) and shutout percentage (.625, t-8th).

Dvorak ranks 10th nationally in goals-against average (.519), 14th in save percentage (.860) and is tied for 29th with seven shutouts.

Montana extended its unbeaten streak against Sacramento State on Sunday to 15. The Hornets have scored just one goal against the Grizzlies in the team's last 10 match-ups.

At a glance (Portland State): The Vikings have two Division I wins this season, both coming in league matches, a surprising 1-0 victory at Weber State and a 1-0 home win over Northern Arizona.

PSU's only other win was a 2-1 home victory over Western Oregon, through Portland State did play to a 2-2 draw at Iowa State to open the season and a 1-1 home draw against a strong Portland team.

The Vikings have scored four goals in six Big Sky matches while also only allowing four, all six of its league results being 1-0 or 1-1 finals. Only Montana, with three, has allowed fewer goals in league.

Hosting Eastern Washington and Idaho last week, the Vikings fell 1-0 to the Eagles on a goal in the 87th minute and played to a 1-1 draw with the Vandals, scoring the equalizer in the 62nd minute.

Portland State's 12 goals this season, or 0.86 per match, rank 302nd nationally.

Senior forward Ocean Rideout leads the Vikings with three goals. Last year's Big Sky Freshman of the Year Aliayha Saldana has two goals.

Redshirt junior Natalie Cunningham (1.30 goals-against average, .783 save percentage) has played every minute in goal in PSU's six Big Sky matches.

Maureen Whitney is in her first year as head coach after serving as co-head coach a season ago with Katie Burton. She spent seven seasons before that as Burton's assistant or associate head coach.

Series history: Montana leads the series against Portland State 18-13-4 and is .500 playing on the Vikings' home field, the teams both 6-6-1.

In the teams' last four match-ups on PSU's home field, four total goals have been scored, with Montana holding two 1-0 wins, Portland State two 1-0 wins.

The Grizzlies have not scored multiple goals on the road against the Vikings since 2004. In its last 10 matches at Portland State, Montana has scored six goals.

Montana's last match at Portland State in 2022 was more of the same. The Grizzlies took 18 shots but lost 1-0.

Montana is 7-1-2 against Portland State in the teams' last 10 match-ups, the Grizzlies winning 1-0 in Missoula the last two seasons. Citowicki has a 7-1-1 record against the Vikings.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Montana (4-1-2 BSC) and Weber State (4-2-1 BSC), with 14 and 13 points, respectively, have separated themselves from the pack.

* Only three points separate third-place Idaho (2-1-3 BSC) from last-place Northern Arizona (1-2-3 BSC), meaning there is a lot of potential movement and displacement in the standings over the final week.

* Montana, Weber State, Idaho State and Sacramento State all have only one match remaining. The other five teams have a pair of matches yet to be played.

* Thursday's schedule: UM at PSU

* Friday's schedule: NAU at EWU, UNC at UI

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

Upcoming: The Big Sky Conference Championship in Missoula, with quarterfinals on Wednesday, Nov. 5, semifinals on Friday, Nov. 7, and the championship match on Sunday, Nov. 9.

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Players Mentioned

Ashlyn Dvorak

Caylee Kerr

Lydia Robertson

University of Montana Athletics