The Montana Grizzlies (2-2-0) had no answers for what continued to be a dominant Washington State defense (2-0-1) on Sunday.

Not only did the Cougars post another shutout win, but they now find themselves atop the nation in an important defensive category. The team has not been scored on in 652 consecutive minutes, the longest current streak in the nation. The Cougar’s sixth straight clean sheet makes for the longest shutout streak in school history.

The Cougars were in control from the start. After a quick two goals, the Cougs shut the door in the second half, defeating the Montana Grizzlies 2-0.

In the 16^th minute of the match, junior Cara Wegner took a corner that would begin the scoring for the Cougs. The lofted ball found sophomore Kailiana Johnson’s head and ended up in the back of the net. Cougs were up 1-0.

“We talk about it all the time. It is important for us to execute those moments (set pieces) in the game,” Nugent said. “We know that later in the season these quality opportunities are far and few between, so to see us get something from it is special.”

In the 30^th minute, Johnson took the set piece from outside the box. She tried to wrap her shot around the wall of Montana defenders but the ball was deflected to a wide-open Jordan Branch. The freshman defender then scored her first goal of the year. The ball was fired from well outside the box and snuck in the top corner past the sprawled out Montana goalkeeper, sophomore Kailey Norman.

“I was thinking we need to get the ball back in the box so we can score,” Branch said. “(Johnson) had a great shot but it was blocked, I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Pullman is becoming a house of horrors for opposing teams. When holding a lead at halftime, the Cougs are unbeaten in their last 81 matches.

A big part of that is the Cougars’ senior goalkeeper Gurveen Clair, who posted another shutout and another notch in the record books. WSU has already been known as a great defensive team in the Pac-12, but that recognition is growing nationally.

“It is always awesome to get the shutouts, but that is a credit to the defensive effort of the entire team,” Clair said in an interview with Pac-12 Networks. “It is never just the goalkeeper. We do well at playing as a team, and we pride ourselves in it. We hope to continue this streak in Hawaii.”

The Washington State Cougars have a pair of matches this upcoming weekend in the Outrigger Resorts Soccer Classic. The Cougs take on the Waves of Pepperdine Friday, then face the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii Sunday in Waipahu, Hawaii.