Griz pull out dramatic 2-1 win

Sunday, August 31

Missoula, Mont.

1 PM

Montana

2-2-1

Nevada

1-2-1

Nevada

Montana

Photo by: UM Photo/Coral Scoles-Coburn

8/31/2025 5:31:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Nevada thought it had Montana right where the Wolf Pack wanted the Grizzlies, in a tight match in the second half.

Two games ago, Nevada rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to win 2-1 at Northern Arizona.

On Thursday night, trailing 2-0 going into the final five minutes of regulation, the Wolf Pack scored in the 86th and 88th minutes to forge a 2-2 draw with Cal Poly.

After falling behind Montana 1-0 on Sunday at South Campus Stadium on a Chloe Seelhoff goal early in the second half, Nevada was up to its usual things, tying it at 1-1 on a penalty kick in the 66th minute.

The Wolf Pack had the Grizzlies right where they wanted them. Until Montana flipped the late-match script on Nevada.

Lucie Rokos netted a remarkable game-winning goal, scoring from 25 yards out in the 88th minute to help Montana win 2-1 and snap a two-match losing streak.

Reagan Brisendine got the ball in space on the right side and feathered a pass to Rokos well in front of goal, 10 players in the box between her and Nevada goalkeeper Mia Collins.

Rokos lofted the ball over the scrum of players in front of her but with enough pace that Collins couldn't stop it from going in, the Grizzlies stealing the honorific from the Cardiac Wolf Pack.

"Reagan gave me such a good set-up. The ball was the perfect weight. All I was thinking was, don't hit it over, but I had to get it over the back line," said Rokos, who scored her second career goal.

"I just struck the perfect balance of being able to hit it with power but not skying it. If I was closer to the goal, I would have gone for more power. This one was more finesse."

Both of Montana's goals on Sunday were things of beauty, with Seelhoff's, her fourth of the season, being a one-percenter, meaning maybe one percent of college players could pull it off. Maybe.

After a Nevada defender kicked a bouncing ball 30 feet in the air, Seelhoff got under it and, from 15 yards out, hit it on its way down. With her left foot. With gentle precision. It was next level.

"That's something that's learned throughout college soccer. You learn placement, placement, placement. You work so much on finishing. It's not about shooting," she said.

"A lot of freshmen and sophomores, me included, you just try to shoot it as hard as you can. You have to learn to place it."

Seelhoff's goal in the 50th minute finally opened the scoring for a Montana team that was so close on a number of chances in the first half, knocking on the door but not breaking it down.

It was a continuation of Thursday's second half at Boise State, where Montana fought back from a 2-0 halftime deficit, tilting the field enough that the Broncos felt like they escaped with a 2-1 win.

The Grizzlies fell behind Baylor 2-0 in the first half last Sunday at South Campus Stadium, fell behind Boise State 2-0 less than nine minutes in on Thursday on the road.

That's no way for a team with championship aspirations to open matches.

"Starting slow is a common theme among so many women's college soccer teams," said Seelhoff. "You don't realize that the other team is coming to play as well.

"Since Boise we've talked about relentless effort. Everybody has to put in their best effort. The first half was great, we just needed to put it away. The second half we got it done."

Not surprisingly, it was Seelhoff who got the second-half action rolling, scoring her 10th goal in just 24 matches as a Grizzly, becoming the 24th player in program history to reach that standard.

"Confidence oozing through her veins is the best way to describe her right now," said coach Chris Citowicki, who reached 70 wins on Sunday in his eighth season as Montana's coach.

"Teams are scouting her to try to stop her, but she has so much versatility. Put her in the middle, put her out wide, put her in the midfield, she'll just overwhelm you wherever she is."

Montana held Nevada to only two shots on goal through the match's opening 65 minutes, but the Wolf Pack still squared the match at 65:59 with a penalty kick goal.

Just like that, Nevada had Montana where it wanted the home team, thinking about the Wolf Pack's recent results and going, uh-oh.

"It was the ultimate test for the mentality we have to develop," said Citowicki. "I need consistency through the performance. That's the important thing.

"We weren't going to dominate them, but we were going to compete right until the end and we're going to try to find a way to win. It's the perfect ending to two days of hard work by this team."

It was just a few minutes before her goal that Rokos, an outside back, had one of the defensive plays of the game, making a slide tackle in space with Nevada in position to attack the goal in an odd-man rush.

Montana limited Nevada to nine shots in 90 minutes, just three on goal, with Ashlyn Dvorak and Bayliss Flynn, who split the first and second halves, both making a save.

"There is a blue-blood legacy in the back line of every Griz team who has played here," said Citowicki, who made his defenders a between-games highlight reel of the top back-line players from his tenure.

They internalized the message and embodied that level of play on Sunday. "That's exactly what was on display today."

Montana will host MSU Billings on Sunday, Sept. 7, at 1 p.m. at South Campus Stadium.