Griz get back to winning ways

Sunday, September 28

Missoula, Mont.

Noon

Montana

7-3-1, 1-1-0BSC

Northern Colorado

1-8-4, 0-2-0BSC

Northern Colorado

Montana

Photo by: Ella Palulis/University of Montana

9/28/2025 4:36:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana soccer team put a road trip to forget in the rearview mirror and got back to its winning ways with a 2-0 victory over Northern Colorado on Sunday afternoon at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.

The Grizzlies (7-3-1, 1-1-0 BSC) got goals from Reagan Brisendine and Eliza Bentler, and career shutout No. 18 from Ashlyn Dvorak to pick up their first Big Sky win after losing 2-1 at Northern Arizona on Friday morning.

That was a match that was supposed to be played on Thursday night in Flagstaff before getting postponed to Friday morning because of lightning delays.

Torrential rains caused delays at the Phoenix airport, with the road-weary team finally arriving home on Saturday afternoon, the final leg a bus trip from Spokane to Missoula.

Rather than tax his team further with an on-field session on Saturday evening to prep for the Bears, coach Chris Citowicki sent everyone home, told them to arrive on Sunday morning ready to play and crossed his fingers.

He had nothing to worry about. Montana out-shot Northern Colorado 16-6 for the match, 7-1 in the opening half, which set the tone.

"To get the result on no prep before, it's a good result," Citowicki said. "We didn't know what to expect out there besides seeing a little bit of film. Considering that, I thought we played well."

The Grizzlies were stifling on the defensive side of the field, holding the Bears (1-8-4, 0-2-0 BSC) to six shots, none of which was on goal. It was the first time in more than a year that Montana held a Division I opponent to zero shots on goal.

Four outside backs split the 90 minutes evenly, and Riley Carolan came off the bench to spell both Ally Henrikson and Makena Smith at center back.

"With the travel we did, we have tired legs, tired bodies. For us to put in the defensive effort while subbing as much as we did in those key positions, I thought that was really impressive," said Citowicki.

Brisendine scored the game-winner, her second goal in less than 40 minutes of match time after scoring in the second half at Northern Arizona, in the 25th minute.

Emma Widmor, from 30 yards out, found a cutting Chloe Seelhoff, who was streaking into the box. She had a UNC defender on her back, so she touched the ball to Brisendine, who calmly scored inside the left post from 15 yards out.

Brisendine's goal in Flagstaff was the first of her collegiate career. Just like that, she has two.

"I feel like after I got that first one, it took a bit of pressure off me," she said. "Now it's putting myself in better positions to score goals. It's something I've been working on with the coaches and it's showing."

The goal was another example of Brinendine's ability to seemingly play the game at a different speed than everything going on around her. Call it composure, call it something else, just know it's unique.

On her goal, she allowed the goalkeeper to reset herself toward the middle of the goal. Brisendine read that, then just rolled the ball inside the left post, knowing there was no need to rip it and risk sending it wide. She did all that in about 0.4 seconds.

"At the highest levels of the pro game, you want players who can slow the game down and see things at a different pace," said Citowicki. "That's exactly what she has. Other players have athleticism. Reagan does too but she also has this ability to let everybody breathe for a second.

"The only other player who has had it at that kind of level was Kathleen Aitchison. She would hit the pause button and the whole game would stop for a second. Then she'd restart it. Reagan does the same thing. It gives me chills. It's such a unique talent."

Brisendine was already among the team's leaders in assists, with three. Now she has goals in back-to-back matches at a time of the season when the more threats a team is developing, the better.

"Reagan hit a different level at NAU. We left saying, we lost a game but we found a Reagan. She was in the right spots at the right times to try to create chances," said Citowicki, whose team now has four multiple-goal scorers: Seelhoff (6), Maddie Ditta (5), Bentler (3) and Brisendine (2).

"It's gone from, let's hope Chloe and Ditta score today to having Reagan and Eliza. It's nice that threats are developing all over the place."

With Montana keeping Northern Colorado from mounting much of a goal-scoring threat, all the Grizzlies had to do was play out the minutes, then, at the end, ice the game in the corner.

Yet, in the final minute, when Dvorak sent a goal kick to midfield that a UNC player headed further in the same direction, Bentler pounced on the ball and went to goal, not the corner.

She took it up the left side, broke free from a Northern Colorado defender and scored between the legs of Bears goalkeeper Maddie Smith. The goal came with just 22 seconds left on the clock.

"What I loved is that there are seconds left on the clock and instead of taking the ball to the corner, it was, no, let's score another goal," said Citowicki.

"We're trying to change that and be the team that scores more than one goal per game, so Eliza finishing the game off in a positive way was my highlight."

Seelhoff took six shots, putting three of them on goal. Smith finished with six saves, with the Grizzlies putting eight of their 16 shots on goal.

It will be back on the road for Montana in the coming days, with matches on Thursday at Eastern Washington (5-4-3, 1-1-0 BSC) and on Sunday at Idaho (3-4-5, 0-1-1 BSC).