MISSOULA — Montana’s Jen Estes was named the Big Sky Conference offensive player of the week on Tuesday after a big performance by the Princeton transfer led the Grizzlies to an important 2-1 home win over Idaho on Thursday.
Montana followed that victory with a draw and a point in the Big Sky standings with a 1-1 tie with Eastern Washington on Sunday.
With two weeks of regular-season matches remaining, Montana (9-2-3, 3-0-1 BSC) and Idaho (9-4-2, 3-1-1 BSC) are tied atop the league standings with 10 points.
Estes opened the scoring in the ninth minute against Idaho on Thursday, executing a brilliant close-quarters move, spinning, cutting, shooting and scoring before anyone knew what was happening.
After the Vandals tied it less than a minute later off a corner kick, Estes struck again in the 15th minute, holding her onside position until just the right moment, then taking a pass from Chloe Seelhoff up the right side and scoring her team-leading sixth goal of the season.
“That’s a kid playing with so much confidence right now,” said coach Chris Citowicki.
Estes has the second-highest goal total in the Big Sky and has matched her scoring production at Princeton, when she had six goals and six assists in 49 matches over three seasons.
“She told me coming in that she loved her Princeton experience and if she was going to have a fifth year, she wanted to love playing the game,” added Citowicki. “This is the end of it and I’m going to have the best time of my life playing and I’m going to regain my confidence when it comes to goal-scoring.
“Her goal was to be the best version of herself, and I think she is doing that. She loves the game and loves the team.”
Her emergence has coincided with Montana’s unbeaten streak. Five of her six goals this season have come since the start of September, when the Grizzlies are 6-0-3 with 16 goals scored.
“She’s connecting everything,” said Citowicki. “The way Charley (Boone) organizes the back with her voice, Jen organizes the front. If Jen is not on the field talking, it’s three separate players playing alone instead of three players playing together.
“That’s why everything looks organized when she’s out there. She adds a completely different layer to it that I never realized was that powerful.”
Montana, which ends the regular season playing three of four matches on the road, will play at Sacramento State (4-6-4, 2-2-1 BSC) at 3 p.m. (MT) on Friday before hosting Portland State (3-6-4, 1-1-3 BSC) on Sunday at noon for Senior Day.
