MISSOULA — Montana junior Chloe Seelhoff, in her first year as a Grizzly after transferring from Washington, was named the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday by the league office.
Seelhoff scored both goals on Thursday as Montana knocked off regionally ranked Boise State 2-0 at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.
Seelhoff scored the Grizzlies’ final goal in their 4-0 home win over North Dakota in Montana’s previous match, giving Seelhoff the team’s last three goals.
It was a two-match tour de force for Seelhoff, who has been unleashed by Montana’s recent change in formation.
Through the Grizzlies’ first eight matches of the season, Seelhoff took 13 shots, putting only three of those on goal, none that scored. Against North Dakota and Boise State, she took eight shots, putting six on goal and scoring three times.
The change in formation was prompted by injuries to three starters, including two who were all-region a year ago.
“I remember coming back from the Wyoming trip and thinking that what we’re doing right now isn’t working for the squad we have left,” said seventh-year coach Chris Citowicki, who likes the foundation of his teams to be built upon a strong defense.
“We needed to take advantage of players like Chloe and Jen (Estes) and Skye (Thompson) and Kayla (Rendon Bushmaker) just in terms of giving them more proximity to the ball. That required me to change the way that I want this identity to look and saying, what else would suit this team better?
“I had to take a look in the mirror, take a step back and say, let’s try something different. It’s the perfect fit for a player such as Chloe, who loves to play close to people, to make sneaky runs behind, to show between the lines. She can be herself in this system. She’s been remarkable since we made the change.”
After playing to a pair of road draws at Air Force and Wyoming, Montana returned home to face a North Dakota team that had four wins and had limited then No. 5-ranked North Carolina to three goals two weeks prior.
The Grizzlies jumped on the Fighting Hawks early, going up 1-0 less than five minutes in, building a 2-0 halftime lead and adding two more goals in the second half, including Seelhoff’s first at Montana in the 90th minute.
Against a one-loss Boise State team last week, a squad ranked No. 3 in the Pacific Region, the Grizzlies struck early again, with Seelhoff scoring on a penalty kick 97 seconds into the match, giving her two goals in less than three minutes of game time going back to the end of the North Dakota match.
She added an insurance goal early in the second half though Montana didn’t need it, shutting out its opponent for the seventh time in 10 matches this season.
“It felt like we were trying to jam a square peg into a round hole. It wasn’t fitting,” said Citowicki, whose team opens its Big Sky Conference schedule on Sunday with a home match against Northern Arizona.
“It felt really risky because it goes against a lot of the things I believe in with a conservative defense, but we’ve gotten two shutouts as well. I’m actually enjoying it a lot. Maybe it’s a good evolution for me, too.”
