Thursday, August 20
Seattle, Wash.
8 PM (MT)
Montana
at
Seattle
Photo by: John Sieber
Griz head west for challenging road trip
8/18/2026 3:46:00 PM | Soccer
The Montana soccer team will continue its non-conference schedule this week when it plays matches at Seattle and Washington, teams that combined to go 25-6-13 last season.
The Grizzlies (0-1-0) will face the Redhawks (0-1-1) at 8 p.m. (MT) on Thursday at SU's Championship Field in the second meeting in two seasons between the teams, the third overall.
On Sunday at 3 p.m. (MT) and just four miles away, Montana will take on Washington (1-0-0) at Husky Soccer Stadium. The teams met in November in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Washington plays at unbeaten San Diego State on Wednesday night.
The Huskies opened the season holding a No. 12 national ranking after advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament a season ago.
Montana kicked off its season on Thursday with a 1-0 home loss against Bucknell.
Coverage: Thursday's match at Seattle will stream on ESPN+. Sunday's match at Washington will stream on Big Ten Plus, which requires a subscription.
At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies opened the Stuart Gore era with a 1-0 home loss to Bucknell on Thursday, with the Bison scoring the game-winning goal in the 15th minute.
Montana, which was outshot 14-5, put its only two shots on goal, from Lucie Rokos and Ellen Hampton, in the 17th minute.
Junior goalkeeper Avery Heeb, in her first match as a Grizzly after previously playing at West Georgia and USC Upstate, made a pair of saves.
Montana brought on 17 newcomers in the offseason. Six of the team's 11 starters against Bucknell were playing their first match in a Grizzly uniform, four transfers and a pair of freshmen.
Six of the seven players who saw time off the bench were playing their first match in a Montana uniform.
Bucknell freshman Ingrid Murphy opened the scoring at 14:10 in what would be an evenly played first 45 minutes.
The Bison outshot the Grizzlies 9-1 in the second half, holding the home team without a shot from 39:27 until Grace Morton's attempt that hit off the top of the crossbar at 87:33.
Senior Lucie Rokos, transfers Megan Wilson-Sofield and Ellen Hampton, and freshman Josephine Frischknecht all played 90 minutes. Freshman Sofia Ballesteros played 55 minutes off the bench.
The match drew a crowd of 648, the third-largest for a home opener in program history.
Washington will be the highest-ranked opponent Montana has faced since going up against No. 1 Stanford in the opening round of the 2011 NCAA tournament. The Cardinal won that match 3-0.
The Grizzlies are 3-20 all-time against ranked opponents, their last win coming against No. 19 Washington State in the 2000 NCAA tournament.
Since that win, Montana is 0-12 against ranked opponents, allowing 45 goals while scoring two.
At a glance (Seattle): The Redhawks, still coached by former Montana assistant Julie Woodward, went 10-3-6 last season, their losses coming against Washington State, Pepperdine and Gonzaga.
That included an early-season 1-1 draw at Montana.
Seattle was picked fifth out of 10 teams in the West Coast Conference preseason poll, collecting one first-place vote.
The Redhawks are in their first season without midfielder Caroline Penner, whose 17 goals last season tied for eighth nationally. She finished with 37 goals for her career.
Seattle scored 48 goals last season to rank 22nd nationally. The Redhawks scored multiple goals in their final 15 matches, including six against Pacific and Oregon State.
Seattle ended the season with an RPI of 65.
Senior midfielder U'i Kaaihue, who recorded seven goals and five assists in 2025, is the team's leading returning scorer. She was voted to the 11-player Preseason All-WCC team.
Senior goalkeeper Kassidy Kirgan, from Missoula, has won 30 games as a Redhawk and has 17 career shutouts and a 1.15 career goals-against average.
The 2026 season is Woodward's 30th at Seattle, where she has a record of 366-167-72. She was an assistant coach at Montana from 1994 to '96 before taking over at her alma mater.
Seattle opened this season with a 4-0 loss against Kansas State on Thursday in Oahu, Hawaii. On Saturday, also in Oahu, the Redhawks played No. 23 Texas Tech to a 0-0 draw.
They are Seattle's first back-to-back matches without a goal scored since September 2023.
History: Montana and Seattle have played only two times previously. The Redhawks won 2-1 in overtime at home in 2011.
Last season in Missoula, Seattle went up 1-0 in the fourth minute on a Montana own goal. Maddie Ditta squared it on a successful penalty kick in the 53rd minute. The match finished 1-1.
At a glance (Washington): Picked ninth in last season's Big Ten preseason poll, the Huskies ended up going 8-1-2 in league to win the regular-season championship.
Washington knocked off Illinois and Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament and got past Michigan State in a shootout in the title match.
In the NCAA tournament, the Huskies defeated Montana 2-0, took down Arkansas 1-0 in overtime and advanced on the road at Virginia in the round of 16 in a tense 5-4 shootout.
Washington's season ended in the Elite Eight with a 3-0 loss at Duke.
The Huskies ended the season 15-3-7, made their 18th NCAA tournament and their third appearance in the Elite Eight, their first since 2010.
Washington has eight starters and 18 letter-winners back, including nine-goal scorer Alex Buck, who scored both of the Huskies' goals in their NCAA tournament win over Montana.
Also back is seven-goal scorer Jadyn Holdenried and goalkeeper Tanner Ijams, who had a 0.67 goals-against average in 2025 while posting 11 shutouts.
Washington was voted third in this year's Big Ten preseason poll behind Michigan State and UCLA.
Buck, Ijams and midfielder Lucy Newlin, who started all 25 matches a year ago, made the Big Ten's preseason Players to Watch list.
Washington opened its season on Wednesday with a 1-0 home win over a Portland team that was picked in a tie for second in the West Coast Conference poll.
The Huskies clamped down on the Pilots, out-shooting them 16-2 and allowing a single shot on goal. Washington scored the game-winning goal 59 seconds into the second half.
The Huskies are coached by Nicole Van Dyke, the 2025 Big Ten Coach of the Year. She was hired in January 2020 after previously serving as the head coach at Penn.
She has a record at Washington of 61-32-27.
History: Washington leads the series against Montana 8-1-0, with seven of those meetings coming between 1994 and 2001, when both programs were in their first decade of existence.
Montana would pick up its only victory against Washington in Seattle in 1997, a 3-2 win when Shannon Forslund broke a 2-2 tie in the 83rd minute.
The Grizzlies are 1-4-0 against the Huskies in Seattle. Over the teams' last five meetings, Washington has outscored Montana 12-0.
Upcoming: Montana will return to Missoula for home matches against Lethbridge and MSU Billings on Thursday, Aug. 27, and Sunday, Aug. 30. Those teams went a combined 3-28-1 last fall.
The Grizzlies (0-1-0) will face the Redhawks (0-1-1) at 8 p.m. (MT) on Thursday at SU's Championship Field in the second meeting in two seasons between the teams, the third overall.
On Sunday at 3 p.m. (MT) and just four miles away, Montana will take on Washington (1-0-0) at Husky Soccer Stadium. The teams met in November in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Washington plays at unbeaten San Diego State on Wednesday night.
The Huskies opened the season holding a No. 12 national ranking after advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament a season ago.
Montana kicked off its season on Thursday with a 1-0 home loss against Bucknell.
Coverage: Thursday's match at Seattle will stream on ESPN+. Sunday's match at Washington will stream on Big Ten Plus, which requires a subscription.
At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies opened the Stuart Gore era with a 1-0 home loss to Bucknell on Thursday, with the Bison scoring the game-winning goal in the 15th minute.
Montana, which was outshot 14-5, put its only two shots on goal, from Lucie Rokos and Ellen Hampton, in the 17th minute.
Junior goalkeeper Avery Heeb, in her first match as a Grizzly after previously playing at West Georgia and USC Upstate, made a pair of saves.
Montana brought on 17 newcomers in the offseason. Six of the team's 11 starters against Bucknell were playing their first match in a Grizzly uniform, four transfers and a pair of freshmen.
Six of the seven players who saw time off the bench were playing their first match in a Montana uniform.
Bucknell freshman Ingrid Murphy opened the scoring at 14:10 in what would be an evenly played first 45 minutes.
The Bison outshot the Grizzlies 9-1 in the second half, holding the home team without a shot from 39:27 until Grace Morton's attempt that hit off the top of the crossbar at 87:33.
Senior Lucie Rokos, transfers Megan Wilson-Sofield and Ellen Hampton, and freshman Josephine Frischknecht all played 90 minutes. Freshman Sofia Ballesteros played 55 minutes off the bench.
The match drew a crowd of 648, the third-largest for a home opener in program history.
Washington will be the highest-ranked opponent Montana has faced since going up against No. 1 Stanford in the opening round of the 2011 NCAA tournament. The Cardinal won that match 3-0.
The Grizzlies are 3-20 all-time against ranked opponents, their last win coming against No. 19 Washington State in the 2000 NCAA tournament.
Since that win, Montana is 0-12 against ranked opponents, allowing 45 goals while scoring two.
At a glance (Seattle): The Redhawks, still coached by former Montana assistant Julie Woodward, went 10-3-6 last season, their losses coming against Washington State, Pepperdine and Gonzaga.
That included an early-season 1-1 draw at Montana.
Seattle was picked fifth out of 10 teams in the West Coast Conference preseason poll, collecting one first-place vote.
The Redhawks are in their first season without midfielder Caroline Penner, whose 17 goals last season tied for eighth nationally. She finished with 37 goals for her career.
Seattle scored 48 goals last season to rank 22nd nationally. The Redhawks scored multiple goals in their final 15 matches, including six against Pacific and Oregon State.
Seattle ended the season with an RPI of 65.
Senior midfielder U'i Kaaihue, who recorded seven goals and five assists in 2025, is the team's leading returning scorer. She was voted to the 11-player Preseason All-WCC team.
Senior goalkeeper Kassidy Kirgan, from Missoula, has won 30 games as a Redhawk and has 17 career shutouts and a 1.15 career goals-against average.
The 2026 season is Woodward's 30th at Seattle, where she has a record of 366-167-72. She was an assistant coach at Montana from 1994 to '96 before taking over at her alma mater.
Seattle opened this season with a 4-0 loss against Kansas State on Thursday in Oahu, Hawaii. On Saturday, also in Oahu, the Redhawks played No. 23 Texas Tech to a 0-0 draw.
They are Seattle's first back-to-back matches without a goal scored since September 2023.
History: Montana and Seattle have played only two times previously. The Redhawks won 2-1 in overtime at home in 2011.
Last season in Missoula, Seattle went up 1-0 in the fourth minute on a Montana own goal. Maddie Ditta squared it on a successful penalty kick in the 53rd minute. The match finished 1-1.
At a glance (Washington): Picked ninth in last season's Big Ten preseason poll, the Huskies ended up going 8-1-2 in league to win the regular-season championship.
Washington knocked off Illinois and Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament and got past Michigan State in a shootout in the title match.
In the NCAA tournament, the Huskies defeated Montana 2-0, took down Arkansas 1-0 in overtime and advanced on the road at Virginia in the round of 16 in a tense 5-4 shootout.
Washington's season ended in the Elite Eight with a 3-0 loss at Duke.
The Huskies ended the season 15-3-7, made their 18th NCAA tournament and their third appearance in the Elite Eight, their first since 2010.
Washington has eight starters and 18 letter-winners back, including nine-goal scorer Alex Buck, who scored both of the Huskies' goals in their NCAA tournament win over Montana.
Also back is seven-goal scorer Jadyn Holdenried and goalkeeper Tanner Ijams, who had a 0.67 goals-against average in 2025 while posting 11 shutouts.
Washington was voted third in this year's Big Ten preseason poll behind Michigan State and UCLA.
Buck, Ijams and midfielder Lucy Newlin, who started all 25 matches a year ago, made the Big Ten's preseason Players to Watch list.
Washington opened its season on Wednesday with a 1-0 home win over a Portland team that was picked in a tie for second in the West Coast Conference poll.
The Huskies clamped down on the Pilots, out-shooting them 16-2 and allowing a single shot on goal. Washington scored the game-winning goal 59 seconds into the second half.
The Huskies are coached by Nicole Van Dyke, the 2025 Big Ten Coach of the Year. She was hired in January 2020 after previously serving as the head coach at Penn.
She has a record at Washington of 61-32-27.
History: Washington leads the series against Montana 8-1-0, with seven of those meetings coming between 1994 and 2001, when both programs were in their first decade of existence.
Montana would pick up its only victory against Washington in Seattle in 1997, a 3-2 win when Shannon Forslund broke a 2-2 tie in the 83rd minute.
The Grizzlies are 1-4-0 against the Huskies in Seattle. Over the teams' last five meetings, Washington has outscored Montana 12-0.
Upcoming: Montana will return to Missoula for home matches against Lethbridge and MSU Billings on Thursday, Aug. 27, and Sunday, Aug. 30. Those teams went a combined 3-28-1 last fall.
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