Montana to open league at Northern Arizona

The Montana soccer team, on a five-match winning streak, will open its Big Sky Conference schedule this week with games against Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado.

The Grizzlies (6-2-1) will face the Lumberjacks (3-2-4) on Thursday at 9 p.m. (MT) at Lumberjack Stadium in Flagstaff.

Montana will then return home to host Northern Colorado (1-6-4) at noon on Sunday at South Campus Stadium, where the Grizzlies are 19-1-3 in their last 23 matches.

Montana will play three of its first four Big Sky matches on the road, with games at Eastern Washington and Idaho next week.

Coverage: Both matches this week will stream on ESPN+ with Ace Sauerwein on the call for Sunday's home match.

Storylines:

* The Big Sky Conference schedule opens across the league on Thursday with four matches. Montana was picked atop the preseason poll, followed by Eastern Washington and Idaho.

* Montana has won the last two regular-season championships, going unbeaten in both 2023 (7-0-1) and 2024 (6-0-2). The Grizzlies' last regular-season league loss: at Weber State on Oct. 23, 2022.

* Montana is trying to become the first team in league history to win three straight outright league championships.

* Weber State (119) has the Big Sky's top RPI, followed by Montana (129), Eastern Washington (222), Idaho State (225), Northern Arizona (238), Idaho (240), Sacramento State (271), Northern Colorado (274) and Portland State (312).

* Montana jumped from 9th to 5th in this week's United Soccer Coaches West Region poll after home wins last week over Gonzaga and Washington State.

* Ashlyn Dvorak was named the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday after shutting out Gonzaga and Washington State. It was her sixth time being recognized in her career.

* Dvorak is tied for 32nd nationally in goals-against average (0.57) and tied for 39th in save percentage (.852). She leads the Big Sky in both categories.

* Sunday's win over Washington State was the 20th victory of Dvorak's career (20-7-4), moving her into fifth in program history with Camellia Xu and Grace Harris.

* Dvorak's two shutouts last week gave her 17 for her career. She is three from moving into the top three in program history behind Claire Howard (32) and Kailey Norman (24).

* Thursday's match will be Montana's first at Flagstaff since losing 1-0 to the Lumberjacks in the Big Sky tournament semifinals in 2023, a result that snapped the Grizzlies' 10-match unbeaten streak.

* Montana takes a four-match shutout streak into league. The Grizzlies have not allowed a goal in 384 minutes, have not allowed a goal in run of play in 531 minutes, since Aug. 28.

* Montana leads the Big Sky in both goals scored (18) and goals allowed (6). The Grizzlies have scored 12 unanswered goals since a Nevada penalty kick on Aug. 31.

* Montana has gone 39-8-12 in regular-season league games under eighth-year coach Chris Citowicki, 46-11-13 against the Big Sky overall including the postseason.

* Montana has now had a winning streak of five or more matches in five of the last six seasons.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies are coming off one of the best two-match weeks in program history, with a 4-0 home win over Gonzaga, followed by a 1-0 home win over Washington State.

The win over the Bulldogs on Thursday was Montana's first over Gonzaga since 2014, its first victory at home over the Bulldogs since 2002.

The Grizzlies' 1-0 victory over Washington State on Sunday was their first against the Cougars in 14 meetings, their first since 2004.

In Thursday's win over Gonzaga, Chloe Seelhoff and Maddie Ditta scored in the first half to give the Grizzlies a 2-0 halftime lead.

Seelhoff's goal was her sixth of the season, keeping her tied atop the Big Sky with Eastern Washington's Delani Walker. Seelhoff leads the Big Sky in points with 15.

Seelhoff was assisted on the game-winning goal by Lucie Rokos, the redshirt sophomore's first career assist.

Ditta's goal, the 13th of her career, was assisted by Emma Widmor, the sophomore's first collegiate point.

Lydia Robertson scored her first goal as a Grizzly in the 70th minute to make it 3-0. Montana went up 4-0 in the 88th minute on an own goal, the second own goal at South Campus Stadium this season.

Eliza Bentler scored the game-winner in Sunday's 1-0 win over Washington State, her ninth career goal, less than two minutes into the second half.

It came with a double assist, with Seelhoff taking a free kick that Robertson one-timed on goal. Her shot was saved but Bentler was there to toe-tap it in.

Washington State had outscored Montana 20-2 in the teams' previous five match-ups.

Dvorak made nine saves in the two wins, including a season-high six against Gonzaga.

At a glance (Northern Arizona): The Lumberjacks are 3-2-4, their only losses coming in one-goal decisions against Nevada (2-1) and Grand Canyon (1-0).

NAU has three draws against teams who are currently regionally ranked, 1-1 against South Dakota State in Hawaii, 0-0 at UC Irvine and 2-2 at Utah Tech. Grand Canyon is also regionally ranked.

The team's three wins have come against Embry-Riddle (3-1), at Hawaii (4-2) and at Southern Utah (2-0). NAU is 0-2-0 at home against Division I opponents, falling to Nevada and Grand Canyon in Flagstaff.

After winning regular-season and tournament titles in 2022, Northern Arizona finished fourth in the regular-season standings the last two seasons. NAU tied for fourth in this year's preseason poll.

Forward Micala Boex, who made the 12-player preseason All-Big Sky team, leads NAU with five goals and four assists.

Freshman goalkeeper Reece Reichwald has gotten a bulk of the minutes in goal. She is 2-1-4 with a 0.94 goals-against average and a 0.829 save percentage.

Series history: Montana has gone 19-8-5 all-time against Northern Arizona, including 7-6-2 against the Lumberjacks in Flagstaff. The teams have split their last four match-ups, each team winning twice.

The Grizzlies won last year's match-up in Missoula 2-0, getting first-half goals from Maddie Ditta and Chloe Seelhoff. Bayliss Flynn made two saves to earn the shutout.

Montana coach Chris Citowicki has gone 5-2-1 against Northern Arizona.

At a glance (Northern Colorado): The Bears, who host Sacramento State on Thursday night, are 1-6-4. Their lone win came against Oral Roberts 1-0 in Omaha on Aug. 16.

UNC has scored six goals in its last three matches and has been shut out only twice this season, but the Bears have allowed 20 goals, most in the Big Sky.

Northern Colorado is 0-4-0 against teams currently holding a regional ranking, falling in one-goal decisions against Wyoming, Colorado State and Colorado College, and losing 6-3 at South Dakota State.

Junior forward Lexi Tuite leads Northern Colorado and is tied for fifth in the Big Sky with four goals.

Graduate students Kaya Lindberg and Maddie Smith have both played 495 minutes in goal this season, equally splitting the available minutes.

Since winning the league in 2021, Northern Colorado has gone 10-44-12.

Series history: Montana and Northern Colorado have split their 23 all-time match-ups, both teams sitting 9-9-5. It's the only Big Sky opponent the Grizzlies do not have a winning record against.

Montana has never held a winning record against Northern Colorado in their series history but has pulled even, winning the last three match-ups by a combined score of 6-1.

Of the teams' 23 all-time meetings, 20 have been either one-goal decisions or draws.

Montana is 4-2-2 at home against Northern Colorado, the last meeting in Missoula a 2-1 Montana win in 2022 behind goals by Eliza Bentler and Delaney Lou Schorr.

Coach Chris Citowicki has gone 5-3-1 against Northern Colorado, the teams three times meeting in the Big Sky tournament during that time.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Montana had the Big Sky's best non-conference winning percentage but Weber State matched the Grizzlies' six wins and have the league's top RPI.

* The Wildcats own a 3-2 road win at Oregon State, a 3-1 home win over Summit League favorite North Dakota State and won 2-0 at Boise State.

* Five of the Big Sky's nine teams came through non-conference with a record of .500 or better: Montana, Weber State, Northern Arizona, Eastern Washington and Idaho.

* Portland State is the lone Big Sky team without a Division I win this season, the 1-5-2 Vikings picking up a 2-1 victory over Western Oregon.

* Thursday's schedule: Montana at Northern Arizona, Sacramento State at Northern Colorado, Idaho at Idaho State, Eastern Washington at Weber State

* Match to monitor: Eastern Washington at Weber State. The Wildcats, who won two matches in 2024, are surging under first-year coach Kyle Christensen. The Eagles, meanwhile, have lost only once in their last seven matches.

* Sunday's schedule: Northern Colorado at Montana, Idaho at Weber State, Idaho State at Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona at Sacramento State

Upcoming: Road matches at Eastern Washington and Idaho.

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Players Mentioned

Eliza Bentler

Maddie Ditta

Ashlyn Dvorak

Bayliss Flynn

Lydia Robertson

Lucie Rokos

Delaney Lou Schorr

Chloe Seelhoff

Emma Widmor

University of Montana Athletics