The University of Montana women’s soccer team, currently 4-12-1 and 2-3-1 in the Big Sky, play BSC No. 3, Eastern Washington Friday at home in Missoula at 4 p.m. After Sunday’s 1-0 win over Northern Colorado, the Grizzlies find themselves in a precarious sixth place in the Big Sky, with the potential to hurdle EWU and Idaho State, qualifying for the conference tournament, given specific scenarios around the Big Sky.
The Opponent: Eastern Washington, 6-8-2 overall and 3-2-1 BSC, will begin play in Missoula Saturday after a two loss streak on the road last weekend. The Eagles began conference play with two strong wins against Idaho State and Weber State, but have faltered in recent Big Sky showings, dropping games to No. 2 Northern Arizona and No. 8 Northern Colorado. The team now holds tight to 10 points in the Big Sky, meaning a win Friday would guarantee a tournament spot and could potentially win the honor of hosting the conference championship.
Though Eastern Washington will be looking to again lead the Big Sky following Friday’s match, the Eagles are 7-4-1 against the Grizzlies throughout history, and have only notched a single win in Missoula’s South Campus Stadium. Last season, the Grizzlies suffered a 2-3 overtime loss to Eastern Washington in Cheney. Friday, the Grizzlies will have extra motivation of their own.
The Players: The Eagles have been led thus far this season by junior Brittany Sparks, who has scored nearly half of the Eagle goals this season (11 of 24). Sparks will be matching up with a Griz defense led by three-time all conference honorable mention honoree Abby Grafft, who’s free kick Sunday was the imposing factor that forced a game-winning Montana goal.
Frankie Brady will lead a well-balanced Montana offense. The Grizzly sophomore put away the first goal in last Friday’s matchup with Northern Arizona, her third of the season.
Sixth and rising: A certain relief spread over Griz soccer fans Friday, as the results of various Big Sky matchups were posted, leaving a conference scenario that can still permit a tournament presence for Montana. Though the situation in the Big Sky is complicated, the Grizzlies will certainly know game-time that a win over Eastern Washington could tie the Grizzlies with the Eagles overall in fourth place, with the head-to-head victory qualifying the Missoula squad for the Big Sky tournament.
A second condition: Yet another vital aspect of a Montana tournament reality is that Weber State, the team from which the Grizzlies took their first conference win this season, will need to rebound from a tough BYU match Wednesday and top Idaho State, the team that topped the Grizzlies in the two schools’ conference opener and could likewise spoil Grizzly post-season dreams until next year.
The Grizzly coaching staff is abuzz this week, preparing the team for what is to come. UM coach Neil Sedgwick said, “With Eastern Washington and us, we have everything to play for. Regardless we always face a competitive game with them. We went into overtime last year, with them winning. They have that never-say-die attitude about their team in any situation. That is what we will be facing Friday afternoon.”
The sixth-season Montana veteran then assesses the opposition, saying, “Dynamically speaking, EWU is a fast team, and appear to be putting in quite the counter-attack this season. Based upon the stats that we have seen so far, we expect that they may be putting more numbers into their attack than they have in the past. They have more shots than they typically had, and are overall a much better soccer playing team than they were in past years.”
Grizzlies secure on “D”: If the Eagles were meeting an early season Grizzly squad, one might expect a mismatch between a seasoned and improved Eagle offense and the young Grizzly defenders, but Sedgwick commends the force which protects Montana keepers Grace Harris and Alex Fisher, saying, “It’s been a complete change for those athletes. They came from teams that played man-to-man, and from youth soccer programs that played free sweepers. At the beginning of our season, they were brought into a system that was much more zonal, with integrated personnel responsibilities. There were aspects of the two, which, in the beginning were difficult to understand. Now, as a group they have incorporated it all, fully understanding their responsibilities and responding as a team. It really shows a great deal of maturity on their behalf as well as a lot of growth.”
Weber at Idaho State: In response to the Halloween match-up upon which the most desirable Montana future pivots, Sedgwick offered the following: “As we found out earlier this season, Idaho State is very good at home, and they do have the same investment in this weekend as our team. Weber is so well coached, though. Tim Crompton does such a good job with these scenarios, that they will be ready for that challenge. The Wildcats may be out of tournament contention, but they will be ready, we’ve come to see that is just how Weber State operates, and we have that going for us as well this weekend.”
In the tumultuous Big Sky, leader Portland State is the only team that has clinched a tournament berth. Five more teams play this weekend for the three remaining spots, while four play for the chance to host. Find a more integrative picture of Big Sky soccer standings at: http://www.bigskyconf.com/News/wsoc/2009/10/27/WSOC-09PSSenarios.asp?path=wsoc.
Live stats for Friday’s game with Eastern Washington can be found at: http://www.montanagrizzlies.com/griztracker/so/2009/06ewu/xlive.htm.