Griz win shootout, claim Big Sky championship

Sunday, November 9

Missoula, Mont.

1 PM

Montana

11-3-5

(2) Weber State

12-6-2

Weber State

Montana

11/9/2025 7:41:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

For all the edge-of-your-seat, back-and-forth drama that Montana and Weber State produced on Sunday afternoon at South Campus Stadium in the title match of the Big Sky Conference Championship, 110 scoreless minutes' worth through regulation and overtime, Ashlyn Dvorak made sure the shootout that followed was over almost before it had a chance to get started.

The Big Sky Championship MVP stonewalled Weber State's first penalty kick, then surprised nearly everyone in the record, sellout crowd of more than 2,200 by stepping up and taking Montana's first penalty kick. She drilled it down the middle, right by Weber State's diving goalkeeper, and the Grizzlies were on their way to their eighth Big Sky tournament championship.

Montana won the shootout 4-2, the Grizzlies going a perfect 4-for-4 on their tries off the feet of Dvorak, a one-armed Chloe Seelhoff, Caylee Kerr and finally freshman Maycen Slater, who sent Montana to its seventh NCAA tournament, its fourth under eighth-year coach Chris Citowicki, whose team won a shootout in the semifinals as well, 3-1 over Idaho.

"We were so prepared for penalty kicks. There was so much less tension than the last time we did it. Having Ashlyn in goal gives you the upper-hand, then having this crowd and they have to take penalty kicks in that setting with those people behind the goal, it was awesome," said Citowicki, whose team was honored on the field at Saturday's football game, celebrating the Grizzlies' regular-season title.

The reaction from 25,000-plus gave Citowicki a hint of what might be coming on Sunday. It started at noon, when an initial rush of fans flooded the grandstand when the gates first opened to claim the best seats. That portion of the facility was full 20 minutes before kickoff, the rest of the fans spilling onto the sidelines and behind the south goal, easily breaking the previous record set against Ohio State in 2023.

The Buckeyes were a draw, but Sunday had something else that Missoula goes even more gaga for: a championship was on the line.

"Absolutely incredible, and I expect nothing less from Missoula," said Citowicki. "When we walked on the football field yesterday, the noise that came out of them, I thought, (South Campus Stadium) is going to blow up tomorrow. That's what happened today."

The official attendance of 2,227 was treated to a match worthy of its championship status, the Big Sky's top two teams going back and forth, a match filled more with near misses than goals, which only added to the suspense as the first half turned into the second half, which led to overtime No. 1, then overtime No. 2.

Weber State out-shot Montana 13-12, took six corner kicks to the Grizzlies' four, the numbers as close as the final seconds of the second overtime, when Tenzi Knowles' roller of a shot crossed the goal line one second after the buzzer had sounded, bringing back memories of Friday afternoon, when Idaho sent that match to overtime with a goal with eight seconds left in regulation.

"We had chances, they had chances," said Citowicki. "They had one that almost crossed the line at the end, (Maddie) Ditta hit the crossbar. Just a great game that went back and forth, which is what you'd want out of a final. As much as I hate it as a coach, from a neutral perspective, for it to be going back and forth, pretty entertaining."

It was Ditta who took five of Montana's 12 shots while playing all 110 minutes in one of the most inspiring individual performances the hallowed ground of South Campus Stadium has ever witnessed. The midfielder did a bit of everything, from the air to the ground, her post-match jersey dirty and clinging to her like a badge of honor.

"I knew this was my last game playing on this field, so I wanted to give it my all," Ditta said. "I always give it my all, but this was extra special to play for a championship. There was nothing more I could have left on that field."

Ditta joined the program after the Grizzlies had made the NCAA tournament in 2018, then again in the 2021 spring season, following that up with another appearance in the 2021 fall season. That's the program she joined for the 2022 season.

She helped Montana win three regular-season titles but postseason success had eluded the Grizzlies during her career. Until Sunday.

"I was crying after the match, just tears of joy," she said. "To get to this point that we've been trying to get to every single year that I've been here, to finally make it my senior year, it's everything I could have asked for."

Sunday had drama before the match even began, everyone who watched Friday's semifinal match left to wonder, Would Ricky be able to go? Ally Henrikson, the Big Sky Defensive MVP suffered a lower-body injury late in the match against the Vandals and hobbled off the field, not ideal when the championship-match opponent would be the Big Sky's highest-scoring team.

Weber State entered the match with 35 goals on the season in 19 matches, 13 coming in the Wildcats' previous five matches, including a pair in Friday's 2-1 semifinal victory over Northern Arizona.

Of course, that's been Montana's deal all year, right? Who's going to replace Reeve? Who's going to replace Kayla? Who's going to replace Georgia? Who's going to replace Carly? Who's going to replace Taylie? Who's going to replace Chloe? Now, with a title on the line, Montana had to replace Ricky?

Riley Carolan did and played the match of her life, also going 110 minutes at center back, joining Makena Smith in keeping the Wildcats off the scoreboard.

"A motto I've been rolling with all year is control what you can control. If I'm in the game, if I'm on the bench, I'm going to control what I can control. How can I help the team best? I just stay ready, stay prepared for my time," she said.

Carolan had previously made starts this season against Boise State and Nevada, and she also started against Weber State when the Wildcats visited Missoula during the regular season, so she knew what she was up against.

"I knew the threat they had attacking-wise," she said. "As a defensive line, we worked on our shape and put so much work into the back end of it that anyone on the back line, starter or not, knew what their role was. That really shined through today. I was so proud of the performance we put in as a whole."

Then, after 110 minutes of tenseness, Dvorak did her thing and turned the suspense into more of a countdown to a championship. "What she becomes in a shootout must be terrifying to go against," said Citowicki.

She earned her 23rd career shutout when the second overtime was over. A few minutes later, she did the same thing she did on Friday, not just walking to the end line but turning the crowd into a frenzied state. She is showman as much as she is a shot-stopper and it works.

"My confidence just rose so much from Friday from where it already was," said Dvorak, who made a pair of saves against Idaho. "(Weber State) already knew I was capable, so just a matter of proving that today."

The athletic goalkeeper was so on Weber State's first penalty kick that it almost looked like she was going to dive right past it, going to her left. She was so jazzed, so fueled by the standing-room only crowd behind the end line that she forgot she was going to be Montana's first shooter.

"To be honest, I forgot. The adrenaline of me making that initial save, my heart was just racing," she said.

When Dvorak stepped up to take Montana's first penalty kick, there appeared on Lauren Butorac's face a bit of what the? confusion, the Weber State goalkeeper now going head-to-head with the Grizzlies' goalkeeper in a role she wasn't expecting. "It might have thrown the keeper off a little bit," said Dvorak, who went right into the center of the net with her shot, past Butorac, who went right.

"I placed the ball with power down the middle because I knew she was going to dive to one side or the other," said Dvorak. "I knew I'd have a good chance of scoring if I went down the middle."

Once Montana had the one-up advantage, the Grizzlies rolled through their lineup, no one giving the crowd a charge like Seelhoff, who broke her collarbone on Oct. 12 against Idaho State but converted her PK anyway, her left arm wrapped tightly against her body. She danced back to her teammates at midfield with the same light feet she had used to score seven goals and add six assists this season.

Kerr followed. Good. And when Dvorak made another save, her fourth in two shootouts, Slater, the freshman, stepped up, the situation in front of her probably the one she practiced time and again growing up in British Columbia, a penalty kick, her penalty kick, with glory just a handful of yards away.

Good.

"I told Coach Chris I was super confident. We've been taking them all week, so I was ready," she said. "I had my eyes set on winning for my team. Everyone else did their part today."

And then they celebrated. For all the regular-season success Citowicki's teams have had over the years, winning Big Sky championships in 2019, the spring of 2020, 2023, 2024 and this year, postseason success had slipped away, in overtime, in a shootout. Now it was back, reflecting brightly off the medal that hung around Slater's neck afterwards in the setting sun.

For Ditta, it was chance to end her final season the right way. For Slater, at the other end of her collegiate career, the medal was just the start. She is one for one. "It needs a few friends," she said.