MISSOULA — Expectations were through the roof for the Montana Grizzlies soccer team thanks to their success a year ago.
Safe to say, with nonconference now ending, they're living up to it so far as Montana is 6-2-2 to end the non-league slate, and now the Griz turn their attention to Big Sky Conference play.
The preseason favorites to win the Big Sky, Montana has had its ebbs and flows this season, but has weathered a number of adversities.
Namely, the injury bug.
"It's a testament to everybody that's on this team," UM head coach Chris Citowicki said. "I remember at Air Force telling them that a lot of people think, because we're losing key players, that we're not going to be good, but they've forgotten what makes us special, and what makes us special is the depth.
"Every time one steps out and another one steps in, and that's what we're seeing right now, just brilliant performances from young players, from people who haven't seen the field for a while."
A few weeks back at Wyoming, the Grizzlies lost last year's Big Sky Golden Boot winner Delaney Lou Schorr for the rest of the year, plus goalkeeper and last year's conference freshman of the year Ashlyn Dvorak has also been out indefinitely after only playing in five games, among many others who have been lost or missed time, which includes seniors Mia Parkhurst and Bella O'Brien.
Still, the Grizzlies, have adapted.
"I think in the beginning of season for all teams, there's a lot of building and learning from each other," senior defender Ava Samuelson said. "And I think we did a really beautiful job at kind of taking on other people's skills and bringing them into our team, and having other players or new players learn our culture. And I think we kind of all just did it really beautifully and with kind of like a flow. And I think it ended really well."
The plethora of injuries was an early and unseen blow, and after being thrown those difficult challenges, the team altered its style of play because of the injuries, and has thrived from it.
At keeper, Bayliss Flynn has shined.
Transfers Jen Estes and Chloe Seelhoff have stepped up as experienced leaders, while other young talents have been called upon to fill roles, alongside program staples like Skyleigh Thompson, Charley Boone, Maddie Ditta, Reeve Borseth and Samuelson.
"It really showed us our strengths and also where, like, our weaknesses lied," Boone said. "I mean, we had to go through a formation change due to injuries, and we were able to adapt. But this nonconference schedule definitely tested us more than any past ones, but I think it prepared us in the best way possible."
With wins over Oregon State, North Dakota and Boise State, the Grizzlies have been everything as advertised in 2024. The Griz are 6-0 at home and haven't allowed a single goal in Missoula. They've out-scored opponents 17-8, and hold ties with Air Force and Wyoming and their lone two losses came to Washington State and Fresno State, all of which came before their new formation strategy that has completely blitzed teams the past few weeks.
Now its on to Big Sky play starting Sunday against Northern Arizona, as they gear up for a run toward November's conference tournament in Missoula.
"Early on, we got hit with Wazzu, 3-0, and that really shook us up a bit," Ditta said. "So we were able to fix our mentality with confidence, and I think we're way more confident now going into conference, which is honestly great. It means everything to have a high, confident head going in."
"We come out, we train hard. We've been really focusing on keeping the training environment super high and not being too hard on each other, but just keeping each other to a standard where that's not gonna fly in a game, so don't do it at practice," added Seelhoff, who was recently named the Big Sky player of the week. "Kind of that, and we just build each other up.
"We're so excited. So bringing that energy all week to lead into our first conference game will be huge."
