Griz play final Big Sky road matches - University of Montana Athletics

The Montana soccer team will play its final Big Sky Conference road matches of the season this week when it travels to face Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado.

The Grizzlies (3-9-0, 1-3-0 BSC) will open the road trip with a match against the Lumberjacks (7-4-3, 3-0-1 BSC) at 8 p.m. (MT) on Thursday at Lumberjack Stadium in Flagstaff.

Montana will face the Bears (5-5-4, 2-0-2 BSC) on Sunday at noon at Jackson Stadium in Greeley.

The Grizzlies will close out their regular-season schedule with home matches against Eastern Washington (Oct. 29), Idaho (Nov. 1) and Portland State (Nov. 5).

Coverage: Both matches this week will be streamed on ESPN+.

What's at stake: Postseason positioning as the fight to make the top six and earn a spot at the Big Sky Conference Championship continues.

Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado, a combined 5-0-3 in league, have put themselves in a strong position, the only Big Sky teams without a league loss to this point.

Montana, with three points through four matches, has some climbing to do to reach a postseason cut line that should be around 12, give or take.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies dropped a pair of matches at South Campus Stadium last week, falling 2-0 to Idaho State and 3-0 to Weber State.

Montana will be looking to break a streak of more than 274 scoreless minutes when it kicks off at NAU on Thursday night.

The Grizzlies have scored six goals on the season through 12 matches, four coming against non-Division I opponents Lethbridge and MSU Billings.

Montana's goals against Division I opponents have come against Wyoming and Southern Utah.

The Grizzlies' last goal was Megan Wilson-Sofield's game-winner at Southern Utah in the 86th minute on Oct. 1.

Wilson-Sofield and Elli Lewis, both first-year transfers, lead Montana in scoring with four points. Both have scored a pair of goals this fall.

Liv Thorne-Thomsen has a goal and the team's only assist this season. Freshman Grace Morton has the other goal.

Wilson-Sofield (26), Morton (25) and Lewis (17) have taken 68 of the team's 107 shots this season.

Junior Avery Heeb, another first-year transfer, has been the goalkeeper of record in 11 of Montana's 12 matches. She is 3-8-0 with a 2.04 goals-against average and .681 save percentage.

At a glance (Northern Arizona): The Lumberjacks were picked fourth in the preseason coaches' poll, with redshirt junior Micala Boex earning Preseason MVP honors.

Boex was the Big Sky co-Offensive MVP a season ago, after totaling eight goals and six assists, and a second-team all-league selection.

Boex has six goals and two assists through 14 matches this season. She takes more than five shots per match, highest in the Big Sky.

After going .500 in its non-conference schedule (4-4-2), Northern Arizona has raced out to an unbeaten start in league (3-0-1).

The Lumberjacks opened with home wins over Eastern Washington and Idaho, the latter a surprising 3-0 victory, then played to a 1-1 draw at Southern Utah last week before winning 2-0 at Utah Tech.

Junior Valerie Llamas scored all three of NAU's goals last week against the Thunderbirds and Trailblazers.

Redshirt junior Lexi Saveski has made 13 starts in goal and has seven shutouts, with a 0.64 goals-against average and .882 save percentage. She leads the Big Sky in both and is tied for first in shutouts.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series with Northern Arizona 19-9-5 and has gone 7-7-2 against the Lumberjacks in Flagstaff.

The Grizzlies played NAU in Flagstaff last season as well, falling 2-1 after the match was bumped from a Thursday night kickoff to a Friday morning start.

Avery Ott scored twice in the first half. Montana's only goal was by Reagan Brisendine in the 75th minute despite the Grizzlies out-shooting the Lumberjacks 20-8.

That was Montana's only loss in league during the 2023, '24 and '25 regular seasons.

Northern Arizona has won three of the last five match-ups overall against Montana and has won two straight against the Grizzlies in Flagstaff.

At a glance (Northern Colorado): The Bears won the league in 2021 with an 8-1-0 Big Sky record, then fell off, going 12-48-14 overall the next four seasons.

UNC, picked ninth out of 10 teams in this year's preseason poll, is experiencing a resurgence in 2026 under longtime coach Tim Barrera, who has been at UNC since 1999.

Northern Colorado's five wins are already more than any season since its championship fall of 2021 and the Bears are making a push to make their first postseason since 2021.

Northern Colorado entered league coming off 5-0 and 3-0 losses at San Diego State and Boise State, respectively, but has allowed only one goal through four league matches.

The Bears have 0-0 draws with Idaho and Utah Tech and a 1-0 win over Eastern Washington and 2-1 victory over Southern Utah.

UNC hosts Portland State at noon on Thursday before hosting Montana at noon on Sunday.

Northern Colorado is at .500 on the season despite getting out-scored this season 20-11.

Freshman Maddie Mori, who made her way to Greeley from New Westminster, British Columbia, leads the Bears in scoring with three goals and an assist.

Senior forward Lexi Tuite, who was voted to the Preseason All-Big Sky team in August, has two goals and two assists.

Senior goalkeeper Thordis Melsted, who went from Iceland to North Alabama to Northern Colorado, has five shutouts, a 1.37 goals-against average and .800 save percentage.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series against Northern Colorado 10-9-5 but has had trouble against the Bears in Greeley, going 3-6-3.

Over the previous four seasons, when Northern Colorado struggled, Montana went 4-0-0 against the Bears, out-scoring them 8-1.

Montana had just two wins against Northern Colorado in the seven seasons prior to that.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* If the cut line to make the Big Sky Championship is going to be 12, give or take, preseason favorite Weber State, at 4-1-1 and with 13 points, is in solid standing.

The Wildcats close the regular season with three straight matches at home, against Northern Colorado, Northern Arizona and Idaho State.

* Northern Arizona and Utah Tech (3-2-1 BSC) have both reached 10 points. Northern Colorado and Idaho State trail with eight points.

* Thursday's schedule: PSU at UNC, SUU at EWU, UM at NAU, UT at UI

* Non-Montana match to monitor: Utah Tech at Idaho. The Vandals were picked second in the preseason poll but have only five points through four matches.

In their last matches they were shut out at Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona, tying 0-0 and falling 3-0 in Flagstaff, the latter only their third loss of the season.

* Sunday's schedule: PSU at NAU, UM at UNC, SUU at UI, UT at EWU

Upcoming: Montana closes out the regular season with three consecutive home matches.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Reagan Brisendine

Avery Heeb

Elli Lewis

Grace Morton

Liv Thorne-Thomsen

Megan Wilson-Sofield

University of Montana Athletics