Soccer In Snow & Smoke

Whitefish achieved a rare double in Class A with both its boys and girls soccer teams taking home the state titles. In this episode, relive those seasons as Bulldogs boys coach John Lacey talks getting back to the top of the mountain (2:50), and girls coach Roland Benedict shares how his team was able to bounce back and break through after a title-game loss a year ago (22:39).

After a historic regular season, Montana Griz players Maddie Ditta and Charley Boone visited the ESPN MT studios to talk prepping for the conference tournament, the funniest player on the team and how the Griz put together their stellar defensive unit.

After a one-year sojourn at Villanova, goalkeeping coach J Landham is back on staff with the Montana Grizzlies. In a wide-ranging Soccer In Snow & Smoke, Landham talks about realizing the move that was best for his career wasn't best for him (1:30), using stats vs. the eye test (28:35), the new tactical trends he's seeing in the game (31:22), how Ashlyn Dvorak has filled Camellia Xu's shoes for the Griz (37:45) and much, much more!

Glen Wall, the guru of high school soccer stats in Montana, joined Andrew Houghton for an only slightly late preview of the 2023 Class AA soccer seasons. Glen and Andrew talked state-title contenders, stars who are gone and the players who might rise up in their absence to write the story of the 2023 season.

This summer on Nuanez Now, Colter Nuanez and Andrew Houghton caught up with both Montana Gatorade soccer players of the year - Bozeman Gallatin's Olivia Collins and Missoula Hellgate's Brady Reed - along with Missoula Sentinel goalkeeper Kassidy Kirgan. Now, you can listen to all three of those interviews in one place on Soccer In Snow & Smoke, featuring Olivia Collins on winning the first state title in Bozeman history and heading on to Boise State (3:17), Brady Reed on continuing Hellgate's dynasty and the opportunity that will force him to leave Montana (14:03), and Kassidy Kirgan on what it's like to both be a goalkeeper and have to take a penalty in a state semifinal shootout (26:44).

The Montana Grizzlies open their home schedule this weekend, including a huge game against Ohio State on Sunday. Griz head coach Chris Citowicki joins Soccer In Snow & Smoke for a World Cup wrap-up/Griz season preview, including thoughts on the ground shifting under the USWNT (8:17), why the NWSL doesn't bring World Cup stars over to the US (16:01), bouncing back from a disappointing season (20:42), a new Montana-made star at goalkeeper (25:32), what to watch for if you're going to the games this weekend (32:55) and much, much more.

Colin and Mike are two friends and former college teammates who have combined their passions to create The Footy Travelers, a podcast all about soccer and traveling the world. Live from Australia, they were kind enough to join me on Soccer In Snow & Smoke to talk all about their travel experiences at this year's Women's World Cup, an odyssey that includes tales of hiking and surfing, hunting wild pigs, sampling local cuisine, providing an alpine rescue and being in the stadium for the USWNT's shocking shootout loss to Sweden.

Meet Soccer In Snow & Smoke's New Zealand correspondents for the Women's World Cup! Live from Wellington, Missoula residents Caroline and Jeremy Lurgio tell us what it's like attending the games in person, how to put together a month-long trip to the other side of the world, and what they've seen from the group stage so far after catching one of the host nations, the USWNT and one of the games of the tournament.

Charlie VanDam and Gary Stein of Soccer Alliance Missoula visit the studio to chat about the Women's World Cup and let everybody know about Soccer Day, a free celebration of the game happening August 26 at Fort Missoula. Learn about the games, tournaments and plenty of other fun things happening on Soccer Day Missoula!

The Women's World Cup kicks off Thursday in Australia and New Zealand with 32 teams vying for the trophy. In this marathon preview pod, Chris Citowicki and Ashley Herndon of the Griz soccer coaching staff join Andrew Houghton to break down everything you need to know about the biggest tournament of the summer. Should the US women be the favorites as they shoot for their third consecutive title? Is this the year that traditional soccer powers rise up to challenge the USWNT? Who are the players to watch in every group? And much, much more!

Jordann Brown refereed her first soccer game when she was 8 years old, started reffing high school games as soon as she graduated from high school and now, at 30, might be the top ref in the state of Montana. In this episode of Soccer In Snow & Smoke, Jordann takes us inside the mind of a referee, sharing the official's unique, rarely-considered viewpoint of the game.

In her 10 years as head soccer coach at the University of Montana, Betsy Duerksen shaped a completely new program into the best team in the early years of Big Sky Conference women's soccer. In the second part of a two-part episode, Duerksen recalls those years at Montana, including the ways the Missoula community embraced a completely new program, the players who helped the Griz dominate the first years of the Big Sky Conference, and their historic NCAA Tournament win over Washington State in 2000.

When Betsy Duerksen took the women's soccer head coach at the University of Montana in 1994, the Grizzlies were just becoming a varsity team. But in 10 years under Duerksen, they went from a non-existent program to one of the first powers in Big Sky Conference women's soccer. In this first part of a two-part episode, Duerksen - a recently-announced member of this year's Grizzly Hall of Fame class - gives an update on where she is now and the path that took her from being an All-American midfielder at Boston College to the first-ever coach in Griz soccer history.

Former Montana defender Taylor Hansen spent the 2022 season with the San Diego Wave, playing alongside stars like Alex Morgan. Hansen stopped by the ESPN MT studios to talk about those experiences and update everybody on where she's going next.

J Landham is back, Camellia Xu is gone and four new transfers are here -- it's been a busy offseason for the Montana Grizzlies soccer program. Head coach Chris Citowicki joins Andrew Houghton in the studio for a spring update, including bulletins on players taking a step forward this winter, alumni playing professionally and much more.

If you've listened to Soccer In Snow & Smoke's episodes about high school soccer in Montana, you know his name -- Glen Wall, the operator of wallsoccer.net, which compiles scores, stats and standings from across the state. In this episode, Glen joins Andrew Houghton to talk about the labor of love that's seen him record info on every game in the Treasure State for the last 15 years, plus the biggest storylines from last year's high school season.