Montana closes regular season with home matches - University of Montana Athletics

The Montana soccer team will wrap up its regular-season schedule with three home matches over an eight-day stretch that it hopes will lead to a spot at the Big Sky Conference Championship.

Montana will host Eastern Washington on Thursday at 3 p.m., Idaho on Sunday at 1 p.m. and Portland State on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 1 p.m.

The top six teams in the final regular-season standings will be in Missoula in two weeks for the Big Sky Championship, to be held at South Campus Stadium on Nov. 11, 13 and 15.

Where they stand (Montana): The Grizzlies (3-10-1, 1-4-1 BSC) are in eighth place after picking up a point on the Northern Arizona-Northern Colorado road trip last week.

Whey they stand (Eastern Washington): The Eagles (6-6-3, 0-4-2 BSC) were 6-2-1 entering league play but are currently in last place, the only Big Sky team without a league win.

Where they stand (Idaho): Picked second in the preseason poll, the fifth-place Vandals (8-3-5, 2-1-3 BSC) have the fewest total losses of any league team but have won only two of their six Big Sky matches.

Where they stand (Portland State): The Vikings (3-12-0, 1-5-0 BSC), with three points, are sandwiched between eighth-place Montana and last-place Eastern Washington.

What's at stake: Montana is trying to qualify for its 13th consecutive Big Sky Conference Championship. The Grizzlies have not missed the league tournament since 2013.

At a minimum, the Grizzlies need five points from its final three matches while getting some help from the top teams in the league to keep the mid-pack static and allow Montana to climb the standings.

The most important team to Montana's hopes might be Idaho State, which has eight points and owns a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Grizzlies with their win in Missoula earlier this month.

The Bengals are one of the teams Montana needs to leapfrog and have a tough close, hosting Big Sky co-leaders Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado this week, then playing at Weber State next week.

Southern Utah also is ahead of Montana and has eight points but only has a single match remaining, at fourth-place Utah Tech next week.

Idaho has nine points and closes the season with three straight road games, against the bottom three teams in the current standings.

Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado are both 4-0-2 in league and hold a one-point lead over Weber State (4-1-1 BSC). The Wildcats host the Lumberjacks and Bears this week.

Utah Tech (3-2-3 BSC) is in fourth place and has only one match remaining, home next week against Southern Utah.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies picked up their fourth league point on Thursday night with a 1-1 draw at Northern Arizona.

Caylee Dowler gave Montana a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute, putting away a Grace Morton header that was saved but left on the goal line. It was Dowler's second career goal, Morton's first assist.

The Grizzlies held the one-goal lead through a barrage of NAU shots, the Lumberjacks eventually taking 34, tied for the second-most ever faced by a Montana team.

Avery Heeb made a dozen saves, tied for the eighth-most in program history, the most for a Montana goalkeeper since 2010, but Northern Arizona finally broke through on its 34th and final shot.

The Lumberjacks tied the match in the 89th minute to give both teams a point in the standings.

Three days later, Montana fell 3-0 to Northern Colorado in Greeley, the Bears building a 2-0 halftime lead, then going up 3-0 midway through the second half on a Montana own goal.

Montana's draw at Northern Arizona snapped a two-match losing streak for the Grizzlies in Flagstaff. The Bears ended a four-match losing streak to Montana with Sunday's win.

Montana is seeking its first home win of the season over a Division I opponent.

The Grizzlies have home wins over Lethbridge and MSU Billings, and lost to Bucknell, Wyoming, Idaho State and Weber State, getting out-scored in those matches 9-1.

At a glance (Eastern Washington): The Eagles were picked fifth in the preseason poll but got off to the Big Sky's hottest start, opening 5-0-0 against a somewhat soft schedule.

One win came against Mount Royal, three against UIC, Western Illinois and CSU Bakersfield, three teams with a current RPI in the 300s.

Eastern Washington had a pair of strong performances prior to starting league, playing to a 2-2 draw at Air Force, then defeating Oregon State 2-1 in Cheney.

The Eagles have played to draws with Idaho State (0-0) and Utah Tech (1-1). Three of their four losses have come in one-goal decisions against the top three teams in the league.

The other loss was a crazy 3-2 home loss to Southern Utah, a match Eastern Washington out-shot the Thunderbirds 28-7 and limited SUU to four shots on goal.

Down 2-0 deep into the second half, the Eagles tied it with goals in the 78th and 79th minutes before they conceded the game-winner in the 84th minute.

Sophomore forward Maya Bossenbrook, from Bozeman, has four goals this season, as does fifth-year midfielder Deanna Montero, who began her career at Washington, then played at Idaho as well.

Junior forward Mia Miconi, who previously played at Spokane Falls Community College, has three goals and three assists.

Sophomore Payton Hyde has played every minute in goal. She has a 1.13 goals-against average, a .835 save percentage and five shutouts.

Coach Missy Strasburg is in her sixth year with the Eagles.

Series history:

* Montana leads the all-time series 17-8-6 and owns a 6-3-4 record at home against Eastern Washington.

* The Grizzlies went 18-1-5 in league in their 2023, '24 and '25 championship seasons but did not defeat the Eagles during that dominant run. The teams played to 1-1 draws in each of those seasons.

* The teams' last four match-ups have ended in draws.

* The Eagles' last win against the Grizzlies came in the 2021 spring season at Missoula County Stadium, 3-2 in overtime.

* Montana's last win over Eastern Washington was a 2-0 road victory in the 2021 fall season in Cheney.

* The Grizzlies are on a six-match unbeaten streak (2-0-4) against the Eagles.

At a glance (Idaho): The Vandals are currently fifth in the Big Sky but have the Big Sky's best RPI of 125, 46 spots better than the league's next representative, Northern Colorado.

The Vandals opened the season with a splashy 3-0 win at Washington State over former Montana coach Chris Citowicki's Cougars, going up 3-0 in the opening 10 minutes and cruising from there.

Idaho had non-conference losses at Hawaii (2-0) and at San Francisco (1-0) and closed non-conference with a quality 1-1 home draw with Gonzaga.

The top two teams in the preseason poll opened league against each other in Moscow and Idaho took a 1-0 lead over Weber State deep into the match before the Wildcats tied it in the 86th minute.

After that 1-1 draw, the Vandals took it out on Idaho State in a 3-0 win before going on a one-point road trip to Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona.

Idaho managed just five shots in a 0-0 draw at Northern Colorado, then fell 3-0 at Northern Arizona despite out-shooting the Lumberjacks 22-15.

Last week, the Vandals played to a 0-0 home draw against Utah Tech before overwhelming Southern Utah at the Kibbie Dome 4-0.

Idaho has allowed more than one goal this season only two times and has posted 10 shutouts while out-scoring its opponents 19-9.

Six players have scored multiple goals this season, with sophomore forward Makenna Stuart leading the team with four goals and one assist.

Senior goalkeeper Paula Flores has a 0.57 goals-against average and nine shutouts.

Coach Jeremy Clevenger is in his ninth year leading the Vandals. He is a one-time Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year.

Series history:

* Montana leads the series with Idaho 14-9-3 and has a 5-2-2 record in Missoula against the Vandals.

* Since Clevenger arrived prior to the 2018 season, the Montana-Idaho match-ups have largely been close and low-scoring.

Clevenger is 2-6-3 against Montana, with five of those losses coming by a goal. His two wins over the Grizzlies were both by 1-0 scores, one in the semifinals of the 2022 Big Sky tournament in Greeley.

* The teams played to a pair of draws last season, 0-0 in Moscow and 2-2 in Missoula in the Big Sky semifinals.

Montana took a 2-1 lead into the final minute of regulation in the postseason match-up before the Vandals scored a stunning goal at 89:52. They almost won it in the opening minutes of overtime.

The match would go to a shootout that the Grizzlies would win 3-1.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Just two points separate the top four teams in the standings. Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado, both 4-0-2, have 14 points, Weber State 13 points, Utah Tech 12 points.

* Utah Tech has just one league match remaining while the three leaders all have three matches to go.

* Weber State, the preseason favorite, has the ideal close, with three matches at home including this week against co-leaders Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona.

* Thursday matches: EWU at UM, UI at PSU, NAU at ISU, UNC at WSU

* Sunday matches: UI at UM, EWU at PSU, UNC at ISU, NAU at WSU

Upcoming: Montana will end the regular season with a home match against Portland State on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 1 p.m. The match will be Senior Day.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Caylee Dowler

Avery Heeb

Grace Morton

University of Montana Athletics

Next Event

Related News

Players Mentioned

Caylee Dowler

Avery Heeb

Grace Morton

Related Videos