MISSOULA — For the first time since 2004, the Montana Grizzlies beat one of the premier women's soccer programs in the Northwest as UM topped Washington State 1-0 on Sunday afternoon at South Campus Stadium.
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The game-winner came in the 47th minute from Eliza Bentler. After a foul close to the goal, Chloe Seelhoff put a cross into the box and Lydia Robertson fired a rocket that was saved, and Bentler was there to finish the job as she slid in and sent the ball into the back of the net for her second goal of the season.
The celebration was on after that, and the Grizzlies went into defensive mode to hold on down the stretch. Keeper Ashlyn Dvorak pitched another shutout in the win as she and the rest of the defense couldn't be cracked after Washington State ramped up the pressure. Dvorak finished the day with three saves.
"Giving them hugs is the first thing I'm going to do," said Bentler, who sprinted over to the bench to celebrate after the goal. "I love celebrating together with them and then running to our bench to celebrate together is something we've been doing recently because it's a team thing.
"We say we're all in this together, every single person whether they're on the bench or on the field. So celebrating together is really important to us and just making everyone feel like it was a team thing and we're all in this together."
The win was Montana's fifth in a row as the Grizzlies closed out non-conference play 6-2-1. Montana blanked Gonzaga 4-0 on Thursday in what was a big week for the program.
Since that win over the Cougars in 2004, UM has gone 0-12-1 against Washington State, including losses in the NCAA tournament in 2018 and 2021.
"They've always been, since I got to this school, just a benchmark. Washington State is tremendous, Gonzaga is tremendous. Can we keep up with them or how close can we get to them?" UM head coach Chris Citowicki said. "And it's just been years of getting beat down deservedly from their end and us trying to catch up and we're finally getting to a point that we can hang with everybody in the region."
Montana now turns to Big Sky Conference play beginning this next week as UM hits the road to take on Northern Arizona on Thursday before hosting Northern Colorado on Sunday.
