Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana
Rokos, Dowler embracing role as team captains
7/17/2026 4:01:00 PM | Soccer
Of all the good things Stuart Gore walked into when he was hired as Montana's soccer coach in February, not to be overlooked was his inheritance of two motivated players who were perfectly suited to serve as the Grizzlies' captains for the 2026 season.
Lucie Rokos and Caylee Dowler have both won multiple championships at Montana and neither one of them has any interest in seeing the Grizzlies take a step back, even after an eventful offseason that saw the team's former coach and a bulk of the potential returners depart the program.
Rokos, who redshirted as a true freshman in 2023 before playing 35 matches over the last two seasons, has a perfect record as a Grizzly: three seasons in the program, three regular-season Big Sky Conference championships, plus November's tournament title.
"We've won three championships in the three years I've been here and I'm going for more," said Rokos. "We know the core values and standards we have, and we know that they work. It's like a verified source.
"The habits we build in the early weeks of training, the way we play, the way we practice, how we hold ourselves in everything, in meetings, in lunch at The Lodge, when we're out in public, that's what builds champions because it's a mindset."
Rokos and Dowler are two of just eight returning players who were on the roster last season. There are 17 newcomers on this year's team, seven transfers and 10 true freshmen.
"It's getting everyone to buy into the culture and the standards and the core values that we embody," added Rokos. "(The newcomers) come from different teams that either didn't have standards and core values or had different ones.
"It's getting everyone to understand our core values and what they stand for. That's the basis and foundation of our entire team and what is going to help us win. They can believe in it because they've seen what can happen."
Dowler, then Caylee Kerr, redshirted as a true freshman in 2024 before making her on-field debut last season. She scored the game-winning goal in Montana's 1-0 home win over Sacramento State, then played her most minutes of the fall in the postseason.
"It's a challenge having so many new girls come in, but we're going to get to work and everybody is going to get on the same page really fast," Dowler said.
"I really trust Stu and (associate head coach J. Landham), who they chose to bring in. Everyone's been great so far. As long as everybody works hard and puts in the work every day and is coachable and plays the way Stu wants us to play, it's going to be great."
Rokos and Dowler were two of the handful of players who were still Grizzlies when the calendar flipped from 2025 to 2026, when the search to find Montana's next head coach commenced.
When they returned to campus in mid-January and joined Landham for training, along with three new transfers and an early-enrollee freshman, it felt nothing like it had just two months prior, when the team was fresh off the program's seventh trip to the NCAA tournament.
December changed all that.
"It was definitely pretty scary, not knowing who our coach was going to be and not even knowing if J. was going to stay," said Dowler. "I think everything happens for a reason, so I trusted in everything. I had a gut feeling good was going to come from this."
The returning players could have taken on a woe-is-us mentality, could have said, well, that was fun while it lasted. Instead they said, this is still the Montana soccer program. They owed it to everyone who has ever worn the Grizzly uniform to maintain the decades-old ethos.
"The one thing that is never going to change about Montana soccer is good players," said Rokos. "No matter who we had, we were going to train and we were going to get better. No matter what happened, we still had to be good at soccer.
"That was our guiding light amidst all the uncertainty, all the rumors we were hearing. This is the one thing we can control and it brings us a lot of joy. That brought us together as a team as a uniting factor.
"We knew we were building for something. We were going to get a coach at some point. We were just laying the foundation, just building toward something, even if we didn't know what that would be yet."
Finally, Gore was hired in February. He didn't recruit them and they didn't sign up to play for him but they were kindred spirits, coming together with something to prove, owners of huge chips on shoulders.
Gore wasn't going to let his brief tenure at Troy redefine what had previously been a championship resume and they weren't going to let what happened in December redefine what has long been a championship program. They were made for each other.
"We're a winning program, so I knew the school would bring in someone great because only a great coach would want to come into a winning program and only a confident coach would want to come in and start from scratch basically," said Dowler.
Gore arrived quietly, let Landham continue leading things before finally taking the reins.
"After a few weeks of practicing with him, it was insane how much we improved," said Dowler of Gore. "From the first day we met him, we knew he was going to be awesome. He's so honest and so real and to-the-point and easy to talk to that is was really calming."
Gore has been around the sport his entire life, growing up in Dunstable, England, in a country where the top-level soccer teams are followed like a religion.
He's been coaching collegiately in the U.S. since 2013, winning an NAIA national championship by 2016. In 13 years at five different schools, his teams have eight times finished first or second in their league, so he's learned firsthand the importance of a team having the right type of captains.
"(Being a captain) can be a difficult thing because they are the conduit between the coaching staff and the players," said Gore. "They have to decide: Can we handle this in the locker room? Does it need to go to the assistants? Does it need to go to the head coach?
"Some just want to be captain for the prestige, the coin flip, the arm band. They don't realize the challenges that can come with it. Sometimes the coaches need to hear how the players are feeling. Sometimes you have to do things that are going to annoy one of your teammates. It's a fine line.
"It why you can't have two cheerleaders. There is no truth-teller then."
Dowler, then, is Gore's exemplar, the yin to Rokos's yang.
"You won't find somebody more blunt and willing to tell you a spade is a spade. Sometimes as a coach, you need someone to check you into the boards," said Gore. "Caylee is the type of person who will say, after the last two days, everybody's heads are spinning. Can we start with something fun tomorrow?
"Caylee only knows how to speak her truth and that's what I think you need as a head coach. If things are not good enough with the team, she is going to tell you. She has massive expectations for herself and for those around her."
Rokos plays a shutdown outside back when she's on the field, a menace in cleats. Off of it, she is easy-going and gregarious, curious and welcoming, an ideal leader for a team with so many new faces.
"She has a great personality. To her, everybody comes first before Lucie. That's what stood out to me," said Gore. "The first time I spoke to her, she had a confidence to her and knew where she wanted the program to stay."
They both took the news that they'd be captains as you'd expect. "It's such an honor," said Dowler. "I'm excited more than anything. It's going to be a huge challenge but it is also going to be so rewarding because I know we're going to succeed."
Said Rokos: "I'm so grateful. It's something I've always wanted to do. I've wanted people to recognize those things in me, so I'm honored to have this position. I could not imagine a better team to be in this position with. I'm at a loss for words."
When Rokos was at a wedding over the summer, when people recognized her as a Grizzly soccer player, they approached her like they should be veiled. Sorry to hear about the program. What a tough break after having so much success the last two years. Keep your head up.
The tone was funeral, as if something was gone forever.
Rokos would bite her tongue, then let them in on a little secret. "I told them, get ready for a great season. Buckle up. We're going to end up on top somehow. It's going to make it that much better when we prove everyone wrong. I'm so excited. I literally can't contain my joy."
Spoken like a true captain.
Lucie Rokos and Caylee Dowler have both won multiple championships at Montana and neither one of them has any interest in seeing the Grizzlies take a step back, even after an eventful offseason that saw the team's former coach and a bulk of the potential returners depart the program.
Rokos, who redshirted as a true freshman in 2023 before playing 35 matches over the last two seasons, has a perfect record as a Grizzly: three seasons in the program, three regular-season Big Sky Conference championships, plus November's tournament title.
"We've won three championships in the three years I've been here and I'm going for more," said Rokos. "We know the core values and standards we have, and we know that they work. It's like a verified source.
"The habits we build in the early weeks of training, the way we play, the way we practice, how we hold ourselves in everything, in meetings, in lunch at The Lodge, when we're out in public, that's what builds champions because it's a mindset."
Rokos and Dowler are two of just eight returning players who were on the roster last season. There are 17 newcomers on this year's team, seven transfers and 10 true freshmen.
"It's getting everyone to buy into the culture and the standards and the core values that we embody," added Rokos. "(The newcomers) come from different teams that either didn't have standards and core values or had different ones.
"It's getting everyone to understand our core values and what they stand for. That's the basis and foundation of our entire team and what is going to help us win. They can believe in it because they've seen what can happen."
Dowler, then Caylee Kerr, redshirted as a true freshman in 2024 before making her on-field debut last season. She scored the game-winning goal in Montana's 1-0 home win over Sacramento State, then played her most minutes of the fall in the postseason.
"It's a challenge having so many new girls come in, but we're going to get to work and everybody is going to get on the same page really fast," Dowler said.
"I really trust Stu and (associate head coach J. Landham), who they chose to bring in. Everyone's been great so far. As long as everybody works hard and puts in the work every day and is coachable and plays the way Stu wants us to play, it's going to be great."
Rokos and Dowler were two of the handful of players who were still Grizzlies when the calendar flipped from 2025 to 2026, when the search to find Montana's next head coach commenced.
When they returned to campus in mid-January and joined Landham for training, along with three new transfers and an early-enrollee freshman, it felt nothing like it had just two months prior, when the team was fresh off the program's seventh trip to the NCAA tournament.
December changed all that.
"It was definitely pretty scary, not knowing who our coach was going to be and not even knowing if J. was going to stay," said Dowler. "I think everything happens for a reason, so I trusted in everything. I had a gut feeling good was going to come from this."
The returning players could have taken on a woe-is-us mentality, could have said, well, that was fun while it lasted. Instead they said, this is still the Montana soccer program. They owed it to everyone who has ever worn the Grizzly uniform to maintain the decades-old ethos.
"The one thing that is never going to change about Montana soccer is good players," said Rokos. "No matter who we had, we were going to train and we were going to get better. No matter what happened, we still had to be good at soccer.
"That was our guiding light amidst all the uncertainty, all the rumors we were hearing. This is the one thing we can control and it brings us a lot of joy. That brought us together as a team as a uniting factor.
"We knew we were building for something. We were going to get a coach at some point. We were just laying the foundation, just building toward something, even if we didn't know what that would be yet."
Finally, Gore was hired in February. He didn't recruit them and they didn't sign up to play for him but they were kindred spirits, coming together with something to prove, owners of huge chips on shoulders.
Gore wasn't going to let his brief tenure at Troy redefine what had previously been a championship resume and they weren't going to let what happened in December redefine what has long been a championship program. They were made for each other.
"We're a winning program, so I knew the school would bring in someone great because only a great coach would want to come into a winning program and only a confident coach would want to come in and start from scratch basically," said Dowler.
Gore arrived quietly, let Landham continue leading things before finally taking the reins.
"After a few weeks of practicing with him, it was insane how much we improved," said Dowler of Gore. "From the first day we met him, we knew he was going to be awesome. He's so honest and so real and to-the-point and easy to talk to that is was really calming."
Gore has been around the sport his entire life, growing up in Dunstable, England, in a country where the top-level soccer teams are followed like a religion.
He's been coaching collegiately in the U.S. since 2013, winning an NAIA national championship by 2016. In 13 years at five different schools, his teams have eight times finished first or second in their league, so he's learned firsthand the importance of a team having the right type of captains.
"(Being a captain) can be a difficult thing because they are the conduit between the coaching staff and the players," said Gore. "They have to decide: Can we handle this in the locker room? Does it need to go to the assistants? Does it need to go to the head coach?
"Some just want to be captain for the prestige, the coin flip, the arm band. They don't realize the challenges that can come with it. Sometimes the coaches need to hear how the players are feeling. Sometimes you have to do things that are going to annoy one of your teammates. It's a fine line.
"It why you can't have two cheerleaders. There is no truth-teller then."
Dowler, then, is Gore's exemplar, the yin to Rokos's yang.
"You won't find somebody more blunt and willing to tell you a spade is a spade. Sometimes as a coach, you need someone to check you into the boards," said Gore. "Caylee is the type of person who will say, after the last two days, everybody's heads are spinning. Can we start with something fun tomorrow?
"Caylee only knows how to speak her truth and that's what I think you need as a head coach. If things are not good enough with the team, she is going to tell you. She has massive expectations for herself and for those around her."
Rokos plays a shutdown outside back when she's on the field, a menace in cleats. Off of it, she is easy-going and gregarious, curious and welcoming, an ideal leader for a team with so many new faces.
"She has a great personality. To her, everybody comes first before Lucie. That's what stood out to me," said Gore. "The first time I spoke to her, she had a confidence to her and knew where she wanted the program to stay."
They both took the news that they'd be captains as you'd expect. "It's such an honor," said Dowler. "I'm excited more than anything. It's going to be a huge challenge but it is also going to be so rewarding because I know we're going to succeed."
Said Rokos: "I'm so grateful. It's something I've always wanted to do. I've wanted people to recognize those things in me, so I'm honored to have this position. I could not imagine a better team to be in this position with. I'm at a loss for words."
When Rokos was at a wedding over the summer, when people recognized her as a Grizzly soccer player, they approached her like they should be veiled. Sorry to hear about the program. What a tough break after having so much success the last two years. Keep your head up.
The tone was funeral, as if something was gone forever.
Rokos would bite her tongue, then let them in on a little secret. "I told them, get ready for a great season. Buckle up. We're going to end up on top somehow. It's going to make it that much better when we prove everyone wrong. I'm so excited. I literally can't contain my joy."
Spoken like a true captain.
Players Mentioned
M
/ Soccer
D
/ SoccerFriday, June 19
Thursday, June 04
Friday, May 01
Friday, May 01
