3rd Glacier Park Soccer Showcase set to go

For the third straight year Montana women’s soccer is making the journey up to the Flathead Valley and the Grizzlies are bringing in an old “friend.”

The Grizzlies and Gonzaga met in 2024 for the inaugural event at Flip Darling Memorial Field at Columbia Falls High School; for 2026 Gonzaga returns, plus a third party has joined the fun in Calgary, Alberta-based Mount Royal. 

Montana and Gonzaga will both play exhibitions against the Cougars in the Showcase, which started with a youth soccer clinic on Thursday. 

Montana and Mount Royal play at 8 p.m. Friday. 

“Myself and a lot of others in the Flathead Valley have been working hard to grow the game for youth — to have these camps and clinics to sharpen their skills,” O’Brien Byrd, president of the Glacier Park College Soccer Showcase, told Hungry Horse News. “In Montana, soccer’s still a relatively new sport, and the one thing that was missing was high level soccer that the youth could witness. Our mission is to bring high level soccer here to inspire young athletes that one day they could dream big too.”  

On Saturday the Cougars and Bulldogs play at 7 p.m. 

“University of Montana calls it a home game — they love it,” said Byrd. 

Fans will get a first look at the Grizzlies, led by first-year head coach Stuart Gore, who comes in after Chris Citowicki left for Washington State. 

Gore coached at Troy the past three seasons. 

“It’s a very professional thing to do,” Gore said in a release from UM. “You see professional teams hitting their fan base in different locations like this. 

“For the non-Montanans, which is 99 percent of our team, it will be a chance to go up and see Columbia Falls and Glacier National Park. It’s going to be a neat event.” 

Gore is treating the exhibition as an important first look at his squad. Montana lost a bulk of its roster in the offseason when Citowicki left for Pullman — 10 of his UM players now dot the WSU roster, including Glacier High product Reagan Brisendine.  

When Gore arrived in Missoula in February, he couldn’t field a team. 

“We didn’t have any spring games because of the roster number, so players haven’t played a game since the (Washington NCAA tournament match in November),” he said. “Outside of the girls who played for their summer teams. 

“For me it’s getting 90 minutes under our legs against somebody else. When we play ourselves, both teams know what the other team is trying to do. It can be counterproductive. It will be nice to play a team that is trying to implement what they are trying to do. That will help the flow of the game a bit.” 

Montana was outscored by Gonzaga in Columbia Falls in 2024 and by Air Force last season and it didn’t matter in the big picture. Both Grizzly teams would go on to win Big Sky regular-season championships and 23 matches overall. 

Tickets are $10 per game with a $15 deal that gives access to both games. VIP options are available that allow for early entry into the games. All tickets are general admission and can be purchased at gpcss.org.