MOSCOW, Idaho - The Vandals open play at the Big Sky Championship Friday against Montana at 10 a.m. Pacific in Greeley, Colorado. The Vandals enter the tournament at the second seed and received a first round bye to the semis where they meet the Grizzlies. Montana, the No. 6 seed, topped Portland State 3-0 in the first round to earn the opportunity to face Idaho. 

ABOUT IDAHO: Idaho enters the tournament as the only team to earn double-digit wins on the year. The Vandals went 5-1-2 in non-conference play before going 6-2 in Big Sky action to earn the second seed. The Idaho defense has been key so far this year. The Vandals set the Idaho record for shutouts in a season and tied the Big Sky record. Kira Witte has been stellar in her freshman year with 11 shutouts. Maddy Lasher and Savannah Foster lead Idaho with four goals and Alyssa Peters has a team-high five assists. 

MONTANA: Montana barely made the field, but immediately made their presence known by topping Portland State 3-0 in the opening game. The Grizzlies have won four of the last five Big Sky Tournament Championships and head coach Chris Citowicki is 7-1 in Big Sky tournament games in his five years at Montana. The Griz jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half and added another goal in the first few minutes of the second half. Montana goalkeeper Camellia Xu put up a gem, notching seven saves on the game for her eighth shutout of the season. 

THE OTHER SEMIFINAL: Top seed Northern Arizona faces fifth seed Weber State at 1 p.m. Pacific. NAU dropped their Big Sky opener before rattling off seven wins to close out Big Sky play. Weber State entered as the fifth seed and fell behind 1-0 to Sacramento State in the 43rd minute of the opening round before equalizing in the 68th. The game wen through two overtimes without a score and WSU won PKs 4-2 to advance. The winners of the two games 

OUTSTANDING GOALKEEPING: Kira Witte sits in second place in all of Division I with 11 shutouts this season. Witte, had 10-match shutout streak during the season which set the Idaho and Big Sky shutout streak record. She set the single-season Idaho shutout record already and has climbed to a tie for third on the career shutout mark in just 13 career games. She is also tied for the Big Sky Conference single-season shutout record. She had a career-best 12 saves against Weber State. 

DEFENSE: While Witte has been stellar in her first 16 games as a Vandal, the Idaho back line and midfielders have also been outstanding. Idaho has allowed the fewest goals in the season of any Big Sky team, but the Vandals are just seventh for saves, meaning that the defense has limited scoring chances of other teams. 

BIG SKY ALL-CONFERENCE: Kira Witte led the way for the Vandals, she earned Goalkeeper of the Year and Newcomer of the Year as well as earned first-team honors. Witte was joined on the first team by defender Cassidy Elicker and midfielder Savannah Foster. Defender Alyssa Peters and midfielders Margo Schoesler and Jayd Sprague were named to the second team. Defender Rebekah Reyes and forward Maddy Lasher received honorable mention honors.

BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY: The Vandals are 1-4-1 in Big Sky Championship play since returning to the Big Sky in 2014. The Vandals advanced to the 2014 championship and the game ended in  a shootout where Northern Colorado advanced 3-0.