Column: Senior season a test for Thompson

What was supposed to happen, coming off a scintillating 2023 season, was that Skyleigh Thompson would again be a force for the Montana Grizzlies soccer team her senior year this fall.

She was, sort of: One of the fastest players in the Big Sky Conference drew the kind of defensive attention you’d expect for the league’s reigning Offensive Player of the Year. 

“The biggest thing with her,” Montana coach Chris Citowicki said Wednesday, “was when she would run with the ball, they’d have to send one or two defenders with her to stop her.” 

In 2023 the Flathead High School grad was unstoppable: six goals, four assists, a team-high 16 points as the Grizzlies went 13-3-3. 

The wins kept coming in 2024 – the Grizzlies went 12-2-5 – but the Thompson goals stopped. Playing through a sore ankle, Thompson did not have a point. What she did eventually get, thanks to an attempt to block a shot against Sacramento State, was a knee injury. 

“The girl kicked through my foot and that resulted in a pretty severe MCL strain,” Thompson, who missed UM’s final four matches, said. “It was pretty frustrating for me, not being able to play.” 

Nobody would imagine their final collegiate season going quite that way, least of all Thompson. But the three-time Academic All-Big Sky pick (and counting) remains positive.  

“Gosh, I don’t know,” she said, looking back. “I think this season, the focus quickly became to enjoy where I was at and take in the moment and the people round me. Sometimes it’s easy to forget you do a sport because you enjoy it and the people you’re around.  

“Still, it’s crazy how quickly it flies by.” 

Citowicki, whose club lost in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament to that same Sac State team, noted the amazing jump Thompson made from her sophomore to junior seasons. Always a prolific shooter, she became a force in front of the goal. 

“Her conversion was tremendous,” he said. “She was so confident and so dangerous. Then she was getting all the pressure, all of a sudden.” 

Jen Estes, the senior transfer from Princeton, became the offensive star this fall with seven goals. Chloe Seelhoff added six. Thompson kept drawing defenders. 

“Ultimately that became my role,” she said. “I’m thankful people thought I was a threat enough to do that for me. You’re creating space and opportunities elsewhere on the field. There’s pros and cons to it, but ... It’s a compliment in a way, right? 

Thompson will earn her finance degree in December, and will weigh some options. Citowicki mentioned playing professionally, but Thompson fears she needs surgery on the ankle that has bothered her since spring season.  

“I’ve been kind of toying with playing professionally,” she said. “I don’t know if its something I want to do right out of the gate. I’m thinking about financial advising as a career.  Let’s not put too much pressure on it, right? I’m young (she’s 22). There’s opportunities in a lot of places.” 

Later Wednesday, she said, she and some teammates were going to play soccer at an indoor space they’d rented. She can run straight ahead on that knee, no problem.  

“It will be fun,” she said. “It’s the first time we’re getting together since our season ended. “We’re joking around like it’s going to be fun – and by the end of it someone’s going to be p---ed off.” 

“Such a good person to be around and such a good player,” Citowicki said. “I feel extremely sad about the way things ended. But you know that is sports, sometimes. 

“Talk about being a model professional and still being about the team. Not being about herself and bringing the team down. Especially at the end.” 

“My role became to hype people up,” Thompson said. “It wasn’t the way I imagined the end of my senior year going, but it is what it is.” 

The phone call was ending; there was some pickup soccer to be played. 

“I’m thinking I might be goalkeeper today,” she said. 

Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or at fneighbor@dailyinterlake.com.