MISSOULA — August is here and fall sports are beginning to ramp up at the University of Montana, starting with the Griz soccer team, a program coming in off of back-to-back Big Sky Conference regular-season championships.
The Grizzlies have won 25 games over the past two seasons in what's been a torrid run, and in 2025 they're looking to reload and run it back.
"Everyone's super excited," senior midfielder Maddie Ditta said. "The freshmen honestly came out great. It's amazing how everyone is prepared for this weekend, and just everyone's willing to learn and learning from each other and it's awesome."
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Montana said goodbye to a number of key contributors last season that had been around for several successful seasons as instant impact players from the jump. Program staples like Skyleigh Thompson, Delaney Lou Schorr, Charley Boone, Ava Samuelson, and last year's co-offensive MVP in Jen Estes have moved on.
This year there's still quite a few familiar faces back, but plenty of spots are open for the taking.
"That group was special," senior midfielder Chloe Seelhoff said. "And the thing is they challenged us younger girls last year to step into that talent that's going to be gone this year and we've done exactly that. We've put new people in new positions that have taken that head on and we're going to be just as good, if not better. So I'm super excited going into it."
Injuries took their toll last year, but thanks to their depth the Grizzlies showed from top to bottom, their roster is loaded with athletes ready to step up each season, which could be a preview for this fall.
"It's kind of like this innocence of they don't exactly know how hard this is going to be, but they're OK with that," Seelhoff said. "And they're just going to come and do whatever they can to be on the field. And we have a lot of them in our lineup and it's great because they can run forever and their mindset is, 'I just want to keep getting better,' and they listen to us and they respect us and they're just super adaptable."
Ditta returns as a two-time All-Big Sky selection, while Seelhoff, who transferred to UM from Washington last season, also garnered all-conference accolades a year ago. Sophomore midfielder Carly Whalen also is back after earning honorable mention honors from the Big Sky as a freshman.
Seniors Ally Henrikson, Eliza Bentler, Reeve Borseth, Mia Parkhurst and Kayla Rendon Bushmaker spearhead the veteran group with plenty of playing time and experience on championship teams, while sophomores Hayley Bass, Ashlyn Sandow, Lucie Rokos and Reagan Brisendine also played big minutes a year ago.
The Grizzlies also return arguably the top two goalkeepers in the Big Sky in junior Ashlyn Dvorak and sophomore Bayliss Flynn. Dvorak was a first-team All-Big Sky keeper in 2023 for Montana as a freshman, but an injury five games into the season in 2024 opened the door for Flynn, who took the opportunity and ran with it en route to also earning first-team all-conference honors as well as the goalkeeper of the year award from the Big Sky.
It'll be another loaded non-conference schedule as well, with the season opener against Southern Utah on Aug. 14, and matchups against Baylor, Seattle, Nevada, Boise State, Gonzaga, Washington State also on deck.
"It is quite possibly the most challenging schedule we've ever had for non conference since I've been here paired with potentially some of the most green players that we have coming onto the field to play. And so they're going to be tested in ways that nobody before them has been, but it's going to really allow us to prep nicely for Big Sky play," head coach Chris Citowicki said.
The Griz have fallen just short of returning to the NCAA tournament the past two campaigns with losses at the Big Sky Conference tournament.
This year they're looking to rectify that, as they're set to host the conference tournament again with their eyes on now finishing the job.
"I think just one thing at a time," Ditta said. "We have a lot of goals set and each game we can build towards that and we always have a focus of what we want to achieve. So as long as we're cohesive as a unit and wanting to work through those as a team and we'll be good to go."
"They don't want to go out on a whimper," Citowicki said. "They're here to fight for everything. And that itself just soaks through the rest of the team to these young, hungry players. And that's why we've got such a dynamic, energetic group right now."
