MISSOULA — Montana playmaker Jen Estes, in her first year as a Grizzly, was named the Big Sky Conference offensive player of the week on Tuesday.
A transfer from Princeton, from which she graduated in the spring, Estes scored in both of Montana’s matches last week and is the team’s leading scorer through the season’s first six matches.
“That’s the reason she transferred here,” said coach Chris Citowicki. “She was a very high-level high-school player, a very good player at Princeton.
“She wanted to come in, build her confidence and all of a sudden start scoring goals for us. That’s exactly what she’s doing.”
Estes scored the equalizer on Thursday at Fresno State, tying the match at 1-1 in the 67th minute before the Bulldogs won it 2-1 on a late goal.
She netted the game-winner in Sunday’s 1-0 home win over IU Indianapolis, taking a lead pass up the left side from Maddie Ditta and scoring across the goal off her left foot.
“Now that she’s involved in our scoring, it’s just really hard to stop us when it comes to those moments,” said Citowicki, whose team is 4-2-0. “She is very good at creating but also deadly in the box.
“The good news for us is she is only going to get better because she’s growing in confidence. This award hopefully takes her to a completely different level.”
Before she scored her first goal as a Grizzly, Estes had an assist in Montana’s home wins over Oregon State and MSU Billings. She has an assist or a goal in four of Montana’s last five matches.
Her six points lead Montana in scoring. She had six goals and six assists across 49 matches in three seasons at Princeton.
“She is one of the most coachable players I’ve ever been around,” added Citowicki. “Any time we have given her a coaching point, it’s amazing how quickly she can pick up on what she has to do.
“She says, got it, I understand. The next game she has it fixed. That’s the way she is.”
Estes and Montana will play at Air Force on Thursday at 6 p.m., at Wyoming at noon on Sunday.
