Griz open regular season hosting Southern Utah

The two-time defending Big Sky Conference champion Montana soccer team will open its regular-season schedule this week with a home game against Southern Utah.

The Grizzlies and Thunderbirds, who will be returning to the Big Sky as a member next summer, will kick-off at 5 p.m. at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.

Montana, which hosts the Rumble in the Rockies next week, will play its first three matches of the season at home and get seven of its nine non-conference matches in Missoula.

The Grizzlies were unbeaten (9-0-2) at home last season and averaged more than 700 fans for their home matches.

Coverage: Thursday's game will stream on ESPN+ with Andrew Houghton calling the action. All 17 of Montana's regular-season matches in 2025 will have video coverage.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies won back-to-back Big Sky regular-season titles in 2023 and '24, going unbeaten at 13-0-3, the first program in league history to go unbeaten in consecutive seasons.

Montana was picked first again in this year's preseason poll, picking up six of nine first-place votes.

The Grizzlies are trying to become the first program in league history to win three consecutive outright regular-season titles.

Montana returns eight starters from last year's team that went 12-2-5, including four players who were voted to the 12-player Preseason All-Big Sky team on Monday: Maddie Ditta, Chloe Seelhoff, Ally Henrikson and Bayliss Flynn.

Flynn, who led NCAA Division I in save percentage (.925) a year ago, was the Big Sky Goalkeeper of the Year in 2024 and first-team All-Big Sky.

Montana also has on its roster goalkeeper Ashlyn Dvorak, first-team All-Big Sky in 2023, who was the Grizzlies' starter last season before an injury shelved her for the final 14 matches.

Behind Dvorak, Montana allowed a Big Sky-record nine goals in 2023. The Grizzlies, with Dvorak and then Flynn in goal in 2024, allowed 10 last year, the second-best mark in Big Sky history.

Montana, one year after leading the nation in save percentage, led NCAA Division I last fall in shutout percentage, with a program-record 14 clean sheets in 19 matches (.737).

The Grizzlies also ranked second in save percentage (.888) last season and sixth in goals-against average (0.52).

Over the last two seasons, Montana allowed 19 goals in 38 matches with 25 shutouts.

Back for season No. 8 is coach Chris Citowicki, who last season became the second-winningest coach in program history, behind founder Betsy Duerksen.

Citowicki, a one-time Big Sky Coach of the Year, has a record at Montana of 68-35-27 and has gone 39-8-12 in regular-season league matches.

The Grizzlies lost their top scorer from a year ago. Jen Estes led Montana in both goals (7) and assists (4) on her way to Big Sky co-Offensive MVP, Newcomer of the Year and first-team all-league honors.

Seelhoff, second-team All-Big Sky in 2024, scored six goals last season and is the Big Sky's second-leading returning goal-scorer behind Big Sky Preseason MVP Chloe Pattison of Eastern Washington.

Ditta, first-team All-Big Sky last season, scored four goals as a junior and has eight for her career, all game-winners.

Montana went unbeaten at home last season (9-0-2) and is 14-0-2 in its last 16 matches at South Campus Stadium. The Grizzlies are 34-10-15 at home under Citowicki.

Montana made the NCAA tournament three times in Citowicki's first four years at Montana, in 2018 and in the 2021 spring and fall seasons.

The Grizzlies have had their season come to an end in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament in each of the last three seasons.

To approach the team's 13 wins of 2023 and 12 wins from last fall, Montana will need to navigate the most challenging non-conference schedule of the Citowicki era.

Of the Grizzlies' eight Division I non-conference opponents, six had better season-ending RPIs than Montana's 110.

Even the Big Sky schedule is in the rest of the league's favor. Three of Montana's first four Big Sky matches are against the teams picked second (Eastern Washington), third (Idaho) and fourth (Northern Arizona) in the preseason poll, all three of those matches coming on the road.

At a glance (Southern Utah): The Thunderbirds were a member of the Big Sky from 2012 to 2021 but were never a factor in soccer, not once making the league tournament in 10 seasons.

Southern Utah finished in the bottom three of the league standings in each of its final five fall seasons in the league.

Over the last three seasons, the Thunderbirds went 7-15-5 in the WAC and advanced to the league tournament just once, in 2023.

Southern Utah went 2-10-5 a year ago and winless in the WAC at 0-5-2. One of the team's two wins came over Sacramento State, which would go on to win the Big Sky tournament in November.

SUU was picked sixth out of six teams in this year's preseason WAC poll, with senior midfielder Aubrey Murray earning Preseason All-WAC honors.

Southern Utah was outscored 34-13 last season, 17-3 in league matches, and was shut out seven times in its final 11 matches.

The Thunderbirds return their top two goal scorers from last season -- Whitney Gardner and Sarah Assumma scored seven of the team's 13 goals -- but return less than two minutes of goalkeeping experience from 2024.

Redshirt senior Jazmyn Brass, a first-year transfer from Boise State, played in two matches in four seasons as a Bronco.

Sixth-year coach Kai Edwards has a record at Southern Utah of 21-43-15. The Thunderbirds have had just five wins the last two seasons.

Southern Utah played an exhibition match at BYU last Wednesday and fell 4-1, getting out-shot 31-8. Carly Radke scored SUU's lone goal in the 78th minute. Brass allowed four goals in 55-plus minutes.

Series history: Montana has never lost to Southern Utah in the teams' 10 all-time meetings, with the Grizzlies 6-0-4 against the Thunderbirds.

Montana is 3-0-1 against Southern Utah at home, the teams not meeting in Missoula since 2018.

The teams' last four match-ups have seen only four goals scored between the teams, the Grizzlies winning 1-0 in 2017 and '21, the teams playing to a 1-1 draw in 2018, a 0-0 tie in 2019.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* All nine league teams open their schedules on Thursday, with Montana (Southern Utah), Northern Arizona (Embry-Riddle), Idaho State (Utah Valley) and Idaho (UC Riverside) playing at home.

* Opening with Power 4 opponents are Portland State (at Iowa State) and Weber State (at Oregon).

* Idaho State hosts WAC favorite Utah Valley and Eastern Washington opens at Seattle, which is coming off a 10-3-6 season and will be in Missoula next week for the Rumble in the Rockies.

Up next: Montana will host the latest edition of the Rumble in the Rockies next week, with Seattle, Baylor and Denver traveling to Missoula.

Seattle was picked ninth in the 12-team WCC, Baylor was picked 10th in the 16-team Big 12, and Denver was picked third in the nine-team Summit League.

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Players Mentioned

Maddie Ditta

Ashlyn Dvorak

Jen Estes

Bayliss Flynn

Ally Henrikson

Chloe Seelhoff

University of Montana Athletics