Big Sky champs set fall schedule

The Montana soccer program, under first-year coach Stuart Gore, has finalized its fall schedule as the Grizzlies attempt to win their fourth consecutive Big Sky Conference championship.

Montana will play an exhibition match in Columbia Falls for the third straight August, open its regular-season schedule with a home match against Bucknell and get five Big Sky home matches.

The Grizzlies will host the six-team Big Sky Championship in mid-November.

Montana made history last season by winning its third consecutive outright regular-season title, the first Big Sky program to achieve that feat.

The Grizzlies went 18-1-5 in Big Sky matches the last three years and last season hosted and won the league tournament, defeating Weber State in a shootout in front of a record crowd of 2,227.

Montana has a new coach and more newcomers than returners, but Gore knows the situation into which he stepped in February when he was named the fifth coach in program history.

"The thing we can't hide from is we're the regular-season and tournament champions and everybody's going to be chasing us," said Gore.

"Everybody is going to circle us on their schedule. We can't run away from that. We have to own that."

Montana faced Gonzaga in Columbia Falls prior to the 2024 season and played Air Force last August in a match that was scheduled for Sunday night but got bumped to Monday morning because of weather.

This August, Mount Royal will travel to Columbia Falls from Calgary and play Montana on a Friday night in what's been a festive atmosphere the first two years the city has hosted an exhibition match.

"(Associate head coach J. Landham) speaks highly of it," said Gore. "From all the pictures I've seen from other years, it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.

"For the girls, it's a little bit of an escape from the daily grind of preseason. We'll turn it into a team-bonding weekend."

Montana will open its schedule at home against Bucknell on Thursday evening, Aug. 13. It will be the third straight season the Grizzlies open their season at home.

Montana defeated Colorado College 1-0 in 2024, Southern Utah 3-0 last season in its opener at South Campus Stadium, where the Grizzlies are 42-8-13 the last seven seasons.

"It will be the first game since the last game (at South Campus Stadium), which had more than 2,000 people at it. Hopefully that momentum will run a little bit," said Gore.

Gore has a unique connection with Bucknell, where Jen Dervarics is in the Hall of Fame after being named the Patriot League Offensive MVP as a junior and senior. She had 36 career goals, 19 assists.

She was Gore's assistant coach at his first college coaching job at Northwestern Ohio and is now that school's Director of Athletics.

"The Patriot League has really stepped up the last five, six years. It's going to be a tough match but it's best to start that way," said Gore.

Of Montana's seven other non-conference matches, five of them will be on the road and all of those will be games that will have the Grizzlies as underdog.

Montana ended its 2025 season at Washington in the NCAA tournament and will return to Seattle for its first road matches of 2026, facing Seattle and the Huskies.

The Redhawks played to a 1-1 draw in Missoula last season with the Grizzlies. Montana fell 2-0 to Washington in the NCAA tournament, with the Huskies making it to the national quarterfinals.

Montana will take a road trip to Colorado to face Air Force and Denver. The Falcons finished second in the Mountain West, the Pioneers tied for first in the Summit League.

Montana's final match before opening its Big Sky schedule will be at Gonzaga, a team the Grizzlies defeated 4-0 in Missoula last season. The Bulldogs responded by closing the season 6-3-2.

Montana will host MSU Billings on Sunday, Aug. 30, then get Wyoming at home on Friday, Sept. 11.

"There is not really an easy game," said Gore, who was in an even more challenging position when he was hired by Northwestern State in 2021, a job he accepted in mid-June.

His first team did not win a non-conference match, going 0-3-2. The Demons then went 10-2-0 in league to win the Southland Conference. Two more wins landed Northwestern State in the NCAA tournament.

"I've seen it. I've lived it," he said. "It's just getting yourself prepared for October 1."

That's the date Montana opens its nine-match Big Sky schedule, starting league with a road trip to play Big Sky newcomers Southern Utah and Utah Tech.

The Grizzlies' other road trip is to Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado. Montana gets Idaho State and Weber State, Eastern Washington and Idaho, and Portland State at home.

The Big Sky Championship will be held at South Campus Stadium on Wednesday, Nov. 11 (quarterfinals), Friday, Nov. 13 (semifinals), and Sunday, Nov. 15 (championship).

Montana currently has a roster of 22, with a handful of additional players likely committing next month when the NCAA transfer portal opens.

The Grizzlies will go into next season with only six players on the team who have played in a match for Montana.

"I think every coach in the country feels their most confident at this time of year," said Gore. "Then in the first few weeks of preseason, you're either feeling better or worse.

"For us, it will come down to the new players coming in and how quickly they can pick up things and assimilate with the team and build a rapport and level of confidence with each other."

University of Montana Athletics

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