MISSOULA — Earlier this week the Big Sky Conference announced that the spring soccer season schedule would be adopting the two-game series format that volleyball and basketball have used this season.
The conference will also be split into two divisions, the Northwest and Southeast. Montana will compete in the Northwest Division with Eastern Washington, Idaho, Portland State and Sacramento State. The Southeast Division will feature Idaho State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Southern Utah and Weber State. Each team will play the other four teams in its division in a two-game series at the same location, with each team having one weekend off.
Montana's home series will be against Portland State (March 26-28) and Eastern Washington (April 9-11). Their road series will be against Idaho (March 12-14) and Sacramento State (April 2-4).
The changed format will now include an end-of-season tournament.
The Big Sky Conference tournament will feature the top two teams in each division. The four teams will play in Ogden, Utah, with the championship match on Saturday, April 17. The tournament champion will advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Last year, Montana won the regular-season conference title with an unbeaten 6-0-3 record and was picked atop the 2020 preseason coaches’ poll that was announced in July.
