North Dakota State scored twice in the first half and twice in the second half to hand Montana a 4-0 loss in the Grizzlies’ season opener at South Campus Stadium Friday evening. The loss was the second straight for Montana (3-2-0) after opening the season with three straight wins. North Dakota State, an NCAA tournament team out of the Summit League last season, won its third straight match to improve to 4-1-0. The Bison only out-shot the Grizzlies 10 to 7, but they scored on four of their shots. Katie Tallas and Morgan DeMike put NDSU up 2-0 before the match was 15 minutes old. Tallas’s goal at the 4:40 mark, her second of the season, came on a chip shot over Griz keeper Kristen Hoon’s head, and DeMike one-timed a crossing pass at 14:10 for her team-leading third goal of the season. Montana out-shot North Dakota State in the first half, but the Grizzlies could not solve Kalani Bertsch, who improved to 4-1-0. Sophomore Kendra McMillen took over for Hoon in goal in the second half and gave her teammates an opportunity to cut the lead to one through the half’s opening 16 minutes, but Katie Luce scored unassisted at 61:26 to put the match out of reach. Michelle Gaffaney scored her first goal of the season at 86:31, one-timing a corner kick past McMillen, for the match’s final goal. “North Dakota State is a very good team, and they played very well today,” UM coach Mark Plakorus said. “They put a lot of pressure on us, and we didn’t deal with it as well as we could have. “It was certainly not our best game, but part of that was how well North Dakota State played.” Junior Ashley Tombelaine and sophomore Mary Makris both took two shots for Montana. Hoon was credited with the loss to drop to 2-2-0 on the season. In Friday’s early match, Utah Valley defeated Idaho, 1-0, on a goal by Haley Curtis in the 19th minute. The Montana Cup continues Sunday, with North Dakota State facing Idaho (2-3-2) at 10:30 a.m. and Montana hosting Utah Valley (2-4-0) at 1 p.m.