MISSOULA — Montana's Ashlyn Dvorak and Montana State's Ben Perrin took home Big Sky Conference awards on Tuesday.
Dvorak, a freshman goalkeeper on the UM soccer team, was named the Big Sky's defensive player of the week for the third time this season. Perrin was named the league's men's cross country athlete of the week.
Dvorak helped the Grizzlies to a four-point week to open league play as UM played to a 1-1 draw at Eastern Washington and won 2-0 at Idaho. It was the first time the Vandals were shut out inside the Kibbie Dome in more than a year.
The Grizzlies (7-2-3 overall, 1-0-1 Big Sky Conference) allowed a no-fault goal to the Eagles in the 16th minute, then shut out Eastern Washington and Idaho over the next 164 minutes. Sunday’s shutout was the seventh of the season for Dvorak, the second-highest total in program history for a freshman goalkeeper. She is tied for sixth nationally in shutouts, ranks 11th in save percentage (.887) and is tied for 19th in goals-against average (0.50).
Montana will play its first home match since Sept. 14 on Thursday when the Grizzlies host Weber State (0-8-3, 0-2-2) at 3 p.m. at South Campus Stadium. Montana will finish off its brief home stand with a match at 1 p.m. on Sunday against Idaho State (3-10-1, 1-2-1 BSC).
Perrin, a redshirt junior from Kalispell, placed 11th individually at the prestigious Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational last Friday in South Bend, Indiana, leading the Bobcats to a ninth-place team finish in a stacked field of ranked opponents.
Perrin's 11th-place finish on Friday, along with Owen Smith's 15th-place finish on the men's side and Kyla Christopher-Moody's 21st-place finish on the women's side, highlighted strong individual performances for the Bobcats. Montana State's men fell to ninth in Monday's USTFCCA Week 3 Mountain Region Rankings, while the women held steady at No. 10.
MSU's cross country teams are next in action at Pre-Nationals, held in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Oct. 14, on the same course that will host the 2023 NCAA National Championships.
