Griz head to Colorado for two matches

The Montana soccer team will take a two-match winning streak on the road this week for matches at Air Force and Denver.

The Grizzlies (2-3-0) will play the Falcons (4-1-0) on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Cadet Soccer Stadium on the grounds of the U.S. Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs.

Montana will then head north to face the Pioneers (0-3-2) on Sunday at 1 p.m. at University of Denver Soccer Stadium.

The Grizzlies enter the week on a two-match winning streak, after defeating Lethbridge 2-0 on Thursday and MSU Billings 2-1 on Sunday, both wins coming at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.

Thursday's win was the first for first-year coach Stuart Gore at Montana.

Sunday's victory over the Yellowjackets was the 300th win in program history in the 33rd year the Grizzlies have been competing.

Coverage: Thursday's match can be seen on the new MW+ (watch.themw.com). Sunday's match will stream on ESPN+.

Montana notes:

* After opening the season 0-3-0 without a goal scored, the Grizzlies picked up a pair of wins last week, scoring a pair of goals in both victories.

* In Thursday's 2-0 home win over Lethbridge, Liv Thorne-Thomsen scored in the 31st minute, Elli Lewis just one minute into the second half as the Grizzlies posted their first shutout of the season.

* Thorne-Thomsen's goal was the first of her collegiate career and turned out to be the game-winner.

* Lewis scored 24 goals in two seasons at Northwest College in Wyoming. Her second-half goal on Thursday was her first as a Grizzly.

* Montana outshot Lethbridge 12-3 in the second half, 18-5 for the match, and produced eight corner kicks to the Pronghorns' one.

* Avery Heeb went 90 minutes in goal, making three saves for her first shutout as a Grizzly, the second of her collegiate career after posting one last season at USC Upstate.

* The match was Montana's first regular-season game against a Canadian school, though the Grizzlies have played Canadian schools in preseason exhibition matches, including this season (Mount Royal).

* Montana made it two straight wins with a 2-1 victory over MSU Billings on Sunday, scoring twice in a well-played first half.

* Megan Wilson-Sofield scored her first goal as a Grizzly, her first collegiate goal since scoring twice for Arizona State in 2024, on a penalty kick in the 16th minute.

* Lewis scored her second goal in two matches in the 37th minute on a breakaway. She became the first Grizzly to score in back-to-back games since Maycen Slater last season.

* The Yellowjackets made it a 2-1 game in the 55th minute when MSU Billings scored its first-ever goal against Montana in what is now an eight-match series history.

* MSUB would out-shoot Montana 4-3 in the second half, though the Grizzlies had a 10-7 advantage for the match and created four corner kicks to the Yellowjackets' none.

* Heeb again went the distance in goal, making two saves while lowering her goals-against average to 1.59.

* Wilson-Sofield has taken 16 of Montana's 42 shots this season. The team's next highest total is four.

* The Grizzlies' two wins last week improved Montana to 20-2-5 at home since the start of the 2024 season.

At a glance (Air Force):

* The Falcons are off to one of the best starts in program history at 4-1-0, out-scoring their opponents 13-4.

* Air Force made an early statement in its season opener, defeating Patriot League favorite Army by a score of 4-1.

* Two more one-sided wins followed, 3-1 at home over a solid Creighton team and 4-0 on the road at Navy.

* Air Force dropped its first match of the season on Thursday, 2-1 at Texas A&M. The Falcons picked up win No. 4 with a 1-0 victory at North Texas on Sunday.

* Air Force went 8-7-4 last season under now fifth-year coach Laura Busby, only the program's second winning record since 1999.

* The Falcons went 6-2-2 in Mountain West matches to finish second behind Boise State, their season ending with a 1-0 overtime loss to Utah State in the Mountain West tournament.

* Busby was voted the Mountain West Coach of the Year, the first-ever Air Force women's soccer coach to collect that honor.

* Air Force topped last month's Mountain West preseason poll, collecting seven of 11 first-place votes to out-point Wyoming, which plays at Montana next Friday.

* Junior Annika Jost, who totaled 10 goals and four assists last season to earn Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year honors, has three goals and two assists through five matches.

* Junior Maddy Walsh also has scored three goals this season, while a pair of sophomore goalkeepers, Trishelle Lopez and Sydney Nelms, have both made multiple starts in goal.

* Busby is only the third coach for a program that began playing in 1992. She previously was an assistant at LSU.

Series history:

* Montana is 5-1-2 all-time against Air Force, 3-1-1 against the Falcons on their home field. Air Force has scored three goals in eight all-time match-ups against the Grizzlies.

* Air Force's lone win the series was a 1-0 home victory in 2012.

* In the teams' most recent match-up, Montana escaped with a 0-0 draw at Air Force in 2024 despite getting out-shot 28-4. Bayliss Flynn made nine saves in her second-ever start.

At a glance (Denver):

* Sunday's match will be the Pioneers' only game of the week after playing to a 1-1 draw at Northern Colorado on Sunday.

* Denver is seeking its first win but has played five competitive matches, opening with one-goal losses on the road at Colorado State (1-0), DePaul (2-1) and Northwestern (1-0).

* Denver played Colorado College to a 0-0 draw in its home opener before tying the Bears in Greeley on Sunday.

* Denver went 9-5-4 last season, its ninth consecutive winning season.

* The Pioneers will be playing their first season in the West Coast Conference this fall after spending two-plus decades dominating the Sun Belt Conference, the WAC and the Summit League.

* Denver went 91-16-6 in the Sun Belt (2000 to '11), 6-0-2 in the WAC (2012) and 86-16-10 in the Summit League (2013 to '25). The Pioneers have nine times made the NCAA tournament.

* Julianne Sitch is in her fourth year as head coach. She was hired after leading the University of Chicago men's team to the 2022 NCAA Division III national championship.

* Sitch was a standout player at DePaul (2003-06), where she set program records for goals (32), assists (26) and points (90).

* Denver was picked seventh out of 10 teams in the preseason West Coast Conference poll.

* The Pioneers lost their three first-team All-Summit League selections from last season, one to graduation, two to transfer (Texas, Colorado).

* Senior Kera Nguyen and sophomore Olivia Kroska have scored Denver's two goals this season.

* After sitting last year behind goalkeeper Alina Santos, sophomore Lucy Garnsey has played every minute in goal this season.

Series history:

* Montana is 1-1-0 against Denver, with both previous matches taking place at DU. The Grizzlies lost 2-0 in 2008 against a team that would go 19-3-2 and won 1-0 in 2016.

Upcoming: Montana will host Wyoming (3-2-0) at 5 p.m. at South Campus Stadium on Friday, Sept. 11, in the Grizzlies' lone home match in the month of September and only home match before Oct. 15.

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Players Mentioned

Bayliss Flynn

Avery Heeb

Elli Lewis

Maycen Slater

Liv Thorne-Thomsen

Megan Wilson-Sofield

University of Montana Athletics