Ok, I’ve said it plenty of times by now: but I really struggled to keep up daily writing routines when I was teaching full time. That’s what happens to me when I spend most of the day supporting 70 other people’s writing, and the rest of it trying to be a parent.

So rather than write one post covering six months of eleven teams in action, I’m going to break it up with posts as best as I can, I’ll fill you in on how the games have gone, who has excelled and any other news and stories worth knowing.

Match Results: 0 W – 0 D – 0 L; 0 GF / 0 GA

Okay, I’m taking a bit of a cheap route to start out, especially as the Griz have yet to play a match. But they will kick off their season this week, and as the reigning Sippy Cup Winners, they have a lot to play for.

Other Stories:

While they weren’t playing any matches, the Griz continued training all spring and summer…oh and they continued going to classes and pursuing their academic goals with aplomb. The team once again bosted a 3.7 graded point average and several student athletes with a 4.0 (or perfect GPA). Sydney Haustein led the charge in the classroom and was named the Montana scholar athlete of the year before graduating alongside Kathleen Aitchinson, Charley Boone, Molly Quarrey, and Maysa Walker.

The coming season is a big one for the Griz as they will be celebrating the program’s 30 year anniversary come October. It’ll be a great opportunity to celebrate the long legacy of Montana’s premier soccer side, and they’ll follow it up by hosting the Big Sky Conference Soccer tournament and hopefully cinching another trip to the NCAA tournament.

The journey there starts with another non-conference gauntlet with the team facing former Pac-10 teams Oregon State and Washington State plus Rocky Mountain rivals Air Force, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Boise State. The Griz do start out as a pre-season favorite (per a poll of college coaches) and bring back All-American Forward (and Flathead high grad) Skyleigh Thompson for her Senior season.

Star Players:

Obviously Thompson stands out as a rising star to watch, but she’ll be following team captains Charley Boone (yeah for Graduate studies!) and Ally Henrikson. Plus, we’re obviously holding out hope for Minnesota’s own Bayliss Flynn.