Griz to enjoy home-heavy fall schedule

The Montana soccer team will play at home early and often in the fall when the defending Big Sky Conference champions try to add to the two-year run of success the Grizzlies had in 2023 and '24, when they went 25-5-8.

Counting a preseason exhibition match against Calgary, Montana will play a dozen times at South Campus Stadium, where the Grizzlies went 9-0-2 last season.

That does not include the non-Montana matches at the latest Rumble in the Rockies, which will bring Seattle, Baylor and Denver to Missoula, or the Big Sky Conference Championship, which will be contested at South Campus Stadium for the second straight November.

"We want to be visible. We want people to be able to watch us play, so this is a once-in-a-blue-moon schedule. It's pretty amazing. We got very lucky with this one," said eighth-year coach Chris Citowicki, the second-winningest coach in program history behind Betsy Duerksen.

"It's one of the best schedules I've ever put together. What more could you want? Come on out and watch."

While it's not a home match or even a regular-season game, one of the early highlights will be a match-up against Air Force on a Sunday evening in Columbia Falls in early August.

The Grizzlies faced Gonzaga last year in Columbia Falls, an event that more than lived up to the pre-match expectations. Food trucks, hundreds of fans lined up before the gates even opened, a full stadium at kickoff and soccer under the lights.

"It was such a good experience last year that we just had to do it again," said Citowicki.

"It's building into more than just an exhibition game for us. It's more of a preseason getaway, where we go up there and train, do clinics with the community, play, then spend time exploring the area before coming back. It's becoming something pretty special."

Montana will make its home debut with an exhibition match against Calgary, then open the regular season three days later with a – you guessed it – home match against Southern Utah.

That will lead into the latest edition of the Rumble in the Rockies, which will bring Baylor and Denver to town, along with Seattle.

The Redhawks have been coached by Julie Woodward since 1997, hired by the school after working as Duerksen's assistant at Montana from 1994-96, the first three years of the Griz program.

Woodward has a record at Seattle of 356-163-65.

Woodward was in Missoula in October 2023 for Duerksen's induction into the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame. It's where she bumped into Citowicki and one thing led to another.

"I was making my way around the alumni tables. The next thing you know, we get to talking and I said, we need to get you back here," Citowicki recalled. "The idea was born that night. I'm excited to have her come back."

Baylor will give Montana a Power 4 home match for the third time in four seasons, after Pittsburgh visited in 2022 for the first Rumble in the Rockies and Ohio State traveled to Missoula in 2023, a match that drew a program-record crowd of 1,973.

Denver has won 10 or more matches 16 of the last 19 seasons. "You want to bring in high-level teams for the Rumble in the Rockies. We were able to do that again," said Citowicki.

Montana will play nine non-conference matches before the start of Big Sky play in late September, seven of those at home. After the Rumble in the Rockies, Montana will host Nevada, MSU Billings, Gonzaga and Washington State.

The Grizzlies' two road matches – at Boise State and at UC Davis – will be off-the-charts challenging.

The Broncos went 16-4-2 a year ago, 10-0-0 at home, and won the Mountain West regular-season title with an 8-1-2 league record. One of Boise State's four losses last fall was a 2-0 setback at Montana.

This year's match-up will be the home opener for Boise State, which is getting a new playing surface this summer, an upgrade that follows the installation of lights.

Montana and Boise State will kick off at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 28.

"Those have been fun games to watch and coach in, and stressful at the same time," said Citowicki, who is 2-0-1 against the Broncos. "It's going to be a newly resurfaced field and they have lights now. That's going to be a game."

UC Davis went 13-5-2 last season to finish second in the Big West behind Hawaii. "We're on the road a really limited amount of time. When we are, it's good teams we're playing."

The non-conference portion of Montana's schedule concludes with more high-level home matches, with Gonzaga and Washington State visiting Missoula on Thursday and Sunday, Sept. 18 and 21.

Gonzaga, which hasn't won fewer than 10 matches in a non-COVID season since 2016, is coached by former Montana assistant Katie Benz. The Grizzlies have not defeated the Bulldogs since 2014 and have not hosted Gonzaga since 2016.

Washington State has had only two losing seasons since 2003 and has advanced to the NCAA tournament 11 times since 2008, to the national semifinals in 2019. The Grizzlies have not hosted the Cougars since 2017 and have not defeated Washington State since 2004.

Montana will open league at Northern Arizona on Thursday, Sept. 25, and close Big Sky play at Portland State on Thursday, Oct. 23. Montana will get home matches against Northern Colorado, Weber State, Idaho State and Sacramento State.

Montana will host the Big Sky Conference Championship at South Campus Stadium in early November for the second straight year, for the sixth time overall.

The Grizzlies went 12-2-5 last season and won the league at 6-0-2 to repeat as regular-season champions after going 7-0-1 in 2023. It marked the first time in league history a program has won back-to-back titles with unbeaten records.

Montana's season came to an end in the Big Sky semifinals, falling in a shootout against eventual tournament champion Sacramento State after the teams played to a 0-0 double-overtime draw.

Sunday, Aug. 3 – vs. Air Force at Columbia Falls (exh), 7 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 11 – Calgary (exh), 1 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 14 – Southern Utah, 5 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 21 – Seattle, 6 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 24 – Baylor, 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 28 – at Boise State, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 31 – Nevada, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 7 – MSU Billings, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 14 – at UC Davis, TBA
Thursday, Sept. 18 – Gonzaga, 4 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 21 – Washington State, 11 a.m.
Thursday, Sept. 25 – at Northern Arizona, TBA
Sunday, Sept. 28 – Northern Colorado, 1 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 2 – at Eastern Washington, TBA
Sunday, Oct. 5 – at Idaho, TBA
Thursday, Oct. 9 – Weber State, 3 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 12 – Idaho State, noon
Sunday, Oct. 19 – Sacramento State, noon
Thursday, Oct. 23 – at Portland State, TBA

Wednesday, Nov. 5 – Big Sky Conference quarterfinals at Missoula
Friday, Nov. 7 – Big Sky Conference semifinals at Missoula
Sunday, Nov. 9 – Big Sky Conference championship at Missoula

University of Montana Athletics

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