No. 4 Northern Arizona, playing on its home field in Flagstaff, knocked off No. 1 seed Montana 1-0 on Friday night in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Championship at Lumberjack Stadium.
Northern Arizona scored the game-winner midway through the opening half, the first goal allowed by the Grizzlies in nearly 370 minutes, dating back to Oct. 12.
Montana, which finished with 60 percent of the possession, would match a season high with 25 shots, putting 12 of them on goal, which does not include the two the Grizzlies put off the crossbar.
NAU goalkeeper Trinity Corcoran made 11 saves, her teammates collected the other, and the Lumberjacks advanced to face No. 2 Idaho in Sunday’s championship match.
It was Montana’s first loss since Sept. 10, a span of 54 days.
“Tonight’s one of those games where you say, it’s soccer,” said coach Chris Citowicki. “That’s it. I have no regrets. We did everything but score a goal.
“They cleared a couple off the line, we hit the crossbar. Their goalkeeper was phenomenal. It ultimately comes down to players doing special things and she had a very special game tonight.”
It marks the sixth consecutive time that a team that went unbeaten through its league schedule fell short of winning the Big Sky tournament title.
Northern Arizona scored the match’s lone goal on a string of passes up the field in the 22nd minute, the final one a sliding touch from Maddie Shafer to Allison Veloz, who did her own sliding redirect to sneak the ball past Griz goalkeeper Ashlyn Dvorak.
Montana, which put six shots on goal in the first half, found itself down at the break for the first time since September and for just the third time all season.
“We talked at halftime, if we’re going out, we’re going out our way,” said Citowicki. “I think we played exceptionally well, just didn’t get the job done at the end of the day.”
Abby Gearhart took seven shots, Eliza Bentler four, Ava Samuelson and Maddie Ditta three each as the Grizzlies were shut out for the first time since a 0-0 draw at Oregon State on Sept. 17.
Montana ends its season with a record of 13-3-3, which matches the most wins for the Grizzlies since 2000.
“Still super impressed with the season,” added Citowicki. “Love our seniors and everything they gave to the program.”
