PORTLAND, Ore. — Maddie Ditta's penalty-kick goal in the 61st minute Thursday lifted Montana to a 1-0 victory over Portland State at Hillsboro Stadium and handed the Grizzlies their third consecutive Big Sky Conference regular-season soccer title.
It's the first time in league history that a team has won three championships in a row.
Ditta beat PSU keeper Natalie Cunningham to the low left of the net to give the Grizzlies the lead, taking advantage of a foul called on the Vikings' Josie DeLine. Later at the 87:04 mark, Montana goalie Ashlyn Dvorak made a save on a shot by Kalo Iongi to help preserve the shutout.
Final: Montana 1, Portland State 0
— Montana Griz Soccer 🐻⚽️ (@MontanaGrizSOC) October 23, 2025
Mission accomplished, history made pic.twitter.com/2E3jhDeFxr
“The messaging beforehand was, you’ve got to focus on the process of how we do business,” Montana coach Chris Citowicki stated in a press release. “If at any point your mind is, 'Oh, I can’t wait for us to score and celebrate afterwards,' no, that’s not going to work. It was a very mature and professional performance from us.
“We knew exactly how to defend in this game, how to keep them off the board. With the way they defend, it was going to be hard to break them down and find the moment but we found it.”
The Grizzlies won for the fourth straight time, extended their unbeaten streak to six games, and finished the regular season with a 11-3-3 overall record and a 5-1-2 mark in the Big Sky.
The penalty kick was awarded after Eliza Bentler was sandwiched by two defenders and taken down in the box in one of the rare moments that either team was able to get the ball into dangerous territory.
“We told them, if someone can get into the 18-yard box, their defenders will dive in. All you have to do is move the ball, get taken out and we’ll get a penalty kick,” Citowicki stated.
“Eliza was always going to be the kid who, if she got isolated 1-v-1 and tried to beat someone, they were going to take her down. It scripted itself out absolutely perfectly.”
Montana will have the No. 1 seed for the Big Sky tournament, which begins Nov. 5 at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.
Against Portland State the Grizzlies finished with 17 shots, six of which were on goal. Ally Henrikson attempted a team-high four shots. The Vikings had nine total shots, two on goal. It was Montana's 11th shutout of the season and the 22nd clean sheet of Dvorak's career.
The Grizzlies will host the Big Sky postseason tournament for the second year in a row and for the sixth time since it began in 1997. The tournament host has not won the championship since Northern Colorado in 2019.
