HELENA, Mont. – The Carroll College men's soccer team flipped its record from the first year of the program to the second. In 2014 the Saints finished with 6-11-1, a year later they tallied an 11-6-2 record and earned fifth seed in the Cascade Conference Tournament.
 
The Saints enter the third year as a program and they look to continue the upward trend with every starter returning starting goalkeeper Conor Smith.
 
Carroll returns all of their offensive punch with the Cascade Conference's third-leading scorer Jose Porras returning for his sophomore year to lead the Carroll attack. Also returning are Saints' assist leader Alessio Georgiades, second-leading scorer Isaac Bostrom. The defense will be anchored by returners Jake Groh and James Lamont.
 
The Saints will look to replace Smith in goal but incoming freshman Peter Byrne, the 2015 Montana High School Gatorade Player of the Year, is recovering from an injury. With his participation in doubt, Mello will turn to walk-on Bernhardt Di Cino, who joined the team in the spring after enrolling at Carroll in the fall of 2015 with no intention of playing.
 
Di Cino impressed in the spring and in Wednesday's camp opening scrimmage. At 6-2, he brings size to the goalkeeper position, something that Smith at 5-11, didn't.
 
"Bernie was top notch in goal today," Mellos said after the scrimmage. "He played with us all spring and developed a rapport with the team. He is athletic and brings size to the position. We are disappointed that Peter Byrne won't be participating right away but we are excited about Bernie and his growth."
 
Di Cino and Byrne are two of 10 players that will debut in purple and gold this season. Rodrigo Portillo also joined the Saints in the spring so he has built a strong bond with his teammates but midfielders Javi Navas and Eric Hollenbaugh stuck out to Mello after the Day one scrimmage.
 
"Eric Hollenbaugh was a top-notch, conference MVP out of Spokane and he turned some heads today," Mello said. "Javi Navas, a member of the Guatemala junior team, showed well and did some great things. All-in-all I think we played well and I think we are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the Cascade."
 
Groh, a team captain and all conference defender echoed Mello's thoughts on the team.
 
"I'm confident about the possibilities this year, about where we can go," Groh said. "I think we can improve on where we were last year. I also feel we can improve move up the standings from where we were picked at fourth."
 
One thing that was obvious during Wednesday's scrimmage was the improvement in the conditioning from a season ago. After day one of the 2015 fall camp, head coach Doug Mello harped on his team for their lack of preparation but Wednesday, he was all praise.
 
"The guys wised up a little bit from last season," Mello said. "I could tell that they put in the work with conditioning this summer. We gave them things to work on this summer, conditioning being a big key to that and they followed through. We have a little bit to work on but we are in pretty good shape for the first day."
 
"I feel like a lot of guys did work this summer, that was the feeling I have after day one," Groh said. "There is a lot for room for improvement but it is a good starting point and I am excited to see where we go."
 
The Saints open the regular-season at home on Aug. 18 against the University of Lethbridge but they see their first opponent Sunday at 3 p.m. when they face Sheridan College, a junior college out of Wyoming, in an exhibition game.
 
"We jump right into the fire with our exhibition game Sunday against Sheridan but that will be good for us," Mello said. "We will know where we stand with positions and it will put us in a good place for the following weeks."
 
The exhibition game is free to attend and it immediately follows a Carroll women's soccer exhibition game against the University of Alberta.