Griz take thriller, advance to title match

Friday, November 7

Missoula, Mont.

2 PM

Montana

11-3-4

(5) Idaho

6-5-9

Idaho

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke / University of Montana

11/7/2025 8:21:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

She was watching, as Montana fell behind 1-0 just nine minutes in, looking on as the Grizzlies responded with a pair of goals to take the lead, giggling to herself as they took that one-goal advantage into the final minute of regulation, now just seconds from advancing to Sunday's championship match.

Then she laid the ultimate test on the Montana soccer team, Idaho scoring with just eight seconds left in regulation to tie it, to send it into overtime, the shocking turn of events the biggest hurdle the Grizzlies would have to overcome.

"We laid the groundwork for this before the game. We talked about Nike, the goddess of victory," said Montana coach Chris Citowicki. "She's going to give you the highest of highs. You'll never forget it for the rest of your life, but she wants to know how much you're will to give for it.

"Understand that there are going to be momentum swings, there are going to be times you want to blame your teammates, when you want to cry because you made a mistake. At any point, if you break, we lose the game. You just have to keep going."

Montana survived Idaho's momentum through the first 10-minute overtime period, then got through the second overtime. And that was enough because the Grizzlies have something no other team in the Big Sky has, their own goddess of victory. Her name is Ashlyn Dvorak.

Dvorak made a pair of saves in the shootout, while Reagan Brisendine, Maddie Ditta and Eliza Bentler all converted, giving Montana a 3-1 win and sending the Grizzlies to Sunday's title match, where the No. 1 seed will face No. 2 Weber State at 1 p.m.

"We all feel like there is nothing we can't do with Ashlyn in there," said Ditta, who will be playing in her first championship match on Sunday, Montana's first appearance since 2021. "She is so confident and we're so confident with her in that moment."

After Weber State fell behind No. 6 seed Northern Arizona 1-0 in the eighth minute in Friday's opening semifinal, the Wildcats scored a pair of goals in the second half, in the 57th and 69th minutes, to rally for a 2-1 victory.

Montana's match against No. 5 Idaho had the same vibe, the Vandals scoring in the ninth minute, the Grizzlies answering with a goal in the 24th minute by Bentler to send the teams to their locker rooms deadlocked at halftime.

Brisendine made it 2-1 in the 53rd minute and that lead held and held and held until the 90th minute, when a Montana foul with 12 seconds left in regulation gave Idaho a free kick from 50 yards out with the clock stopped.

Idaho sent 10 players forward and had goalkeeper Paula Flores take the free kick. Izzy Thoma got a foot on it and touched it to the top of the 18-yard box, where Sara Rodgers, who opened the scoring more than 80 minutes earlier, spun and placed one perfectly in the upper-right corner of the goal.

The goal came with just eight seconds left on the clock. Nike had come asking for more.

"When they came in the huddle after they scored, I said, here we go," said Citowicki. "How much of this can you take before we break and lose? We're not breaking today. They just continued going."

All the way to the championship match, Montana's 13th appearance, its fifth in eight seasons under Citowicki.

The Grizzlies had lost in the semifinals in both 2023 and '24 as the No. 1 seed without scoring a goal, so things felt a bit uncomfortable on Thursday when Idaho scored in the opening minutes, Montana's first goal allowed in more than a month, since Oct. 2.

It was part of an early Vandal onslaught, Idaho out-shooting Montana 9-3 in the first half and creating five corner kicks, a team designed to create havoc through set pieces.

The good news was that Idaho's goal came early, less than nine minutes in, giving Montana plenty of time to respond. And the Grizzlies did.

In the 22nd minute, Caylee Kerr took a sweet pass from Lydia Robertson in the right side of the box and crossed the ball to Brisendine, whose one-touch shot was saved by Flores. But the goalkeeper left the ball right on the doorstep and Bentler was there to kick it in to tie the match.

The match was tied 1-1 at the break.

It was the Robertson-Bentler-Brisendine connection that gave Montana its first lead, Robertson feeding Bentler 17 yards in front of goal and Bentler touching a pass to a streaking Brisendine, who knocked it in with her left foot in the 53rd minute.

The goals gave both Bentler and Brisendine three-point days.

"We've been waiting for a situation when we can have a big comeback and this was our day to prove we can be a comeback team," said Ditta.

With Montana now locking down Idaho better in the second half, the countdown was on to the finish line, 60 minutes in, 70 minutes, 80, 85, 89, then the seconds in the final minute counting down, 45, 30, 15, then a whistle, a clock stoppage, a long free kick, a goal that sucked the air out of the facility.

"It was heavy traffic in front of me. It was really well hit, a lot of speed on it," said Dvorak of the equalizer. "I was really hoping it was going to go wide because I wasn't prepared for it. I should have been more on my line."

Dvorak made a huge push save in the first overtime, punching a ball over the crossbar, when Idaho had the momentum from its late goal in regulation. But when the match made it through 110 minutes, it was all Dvorak.

"I was mentally preparing myself for penalty kicks and thinking, if we get there, we're still going to win. I told Chris yesterday, if we go to PKs, we're still winning," said Dvorak. "You can trust me that I'll pull through and make the big saves that I need to make."

The drama of a shootout is matched by the spectacle of it, the goalkeepers joining their shot-takers at midfield before making a ceremonial walk toward the goal.

Dvorak, 5-foot-8 in real life, seemed to grow by the step as she approached the end line, not shying away from the moment but embracing it, adding to it by urging the nearly 1,000 in attendance to join her, to come along for the ride.

"Goalkeepers have to have confidence. If you want to make big saves in big moments, you have to go into it thinking, I am the best. I am going to make these saves. I was built for this. I was built for greatness. This is my moment to take my team to the final match," said Dvorak.

"That's why I was trying to get our bench and whole crowd hyped up before, just make it as loud and as overpowering as possible to show we have strength in numbers."

She was up against it after Montana opened the shootout with a miss, but Dvorak saved Idaho's first two shots to give the Grizzlies the advantage. She even guessed right on the Vandals' third shot, but it was placed well enough to find the net.

In the fourth round of the shootout, Bentler made it 3-1, putting all the pressure on Idaho's Annika Farley, who had to score to keep her team alive, all while knowing Dvorak had already made two saves and that Farley had to probably be about perfect to beat her. All with the season on the line.

"The last one was never going in. You could tell," said Citowicki. "Ashlyn was already in their heads, she had the whole crowd into it. Imagine walking up with everyone cheering and Ashlyn looking right at you, knowing if your shot is not perfect, she's saving it."

Farley pushed it wide left, outside of the post. "The first two shots I saved led to the last shot going wide," said Dvorak. "Oh, this goalkeeper can actually make saves. That made her hit it outside the frame."

Montana lost in the semifinals on the same field last season in a shootout, a tie in the record book feeling like the worst loss ever. Friday's result will also go down as a tie, but it apparently appeased Nike and she blessed Montana into the championship game.

It will be a match-up on Sunday of the Big Sky's top two programs by any metric you want to use, record, RPI, eye test.

"I think it's a fair final, the two best teams going up against each other," said Citowicki. "When we played each other the first time, it was a heck of a match-up."

It came last month on the same South Campus Stadium field where they will go head-to-head on Sunday, where the Grizzlies are now 23-1-4 in their last 28 matches.

It ended with Montana winning 4-0 and left the Wildcats shell-shocked. But Weber State responded in a big way, defeating Sacramento State 6-0 in its next match, the Wildcats now 4-0-1 since that loss in Missoula, outscoring those opponents 13-2.

"I'm sure they learned their lessons from that," said Citowicki. "They responded nicely to the loss. We'll need to elevate certain things and see how well we can do. It's going to be a heck of a game."