HELENA, Mont. – To say that the Carroll College men's soccer team has been inconsistent would be an understatement. They have impressive wins over MSU-Billings and The Master's but three losses against teams that are perceived as weaker than the two teams the Saints beat.
 
The Saints must figure out their issues in a hurry as they take on two tough teams to open Cascade Conference play in Northwest Christian and Corban.
 
The feather in the cap of head coach Doug Mello is that his team is finally, for the most part, healthy and Mello hopes they can find a rotation that works.
 
"We've moved around the lineup and put some people in positions to be successful," Mello said. "We're finally healthy and we have everyone at our disposal. I am excited to get everyone onto the pitch and into our system. We have a tough weekend to start conference play and we need to start strong to set the tone for the rest of the season."
 
Rodrigo Portillo and Isaac Bostrom lead the Saints with three goals apiece, despite Bostrom missing two games.
 
Carroll begins the weekend with a tough Northwest Christian team that began the season 4-0 before falling to Pacific Lutheran 2-1 on Tuesday.  
 
The Beacons are led by Raul Segoviano who has four goals and an assist on the season.
 
"Northwest Christian is 4-1 and they are enjoying some early success," Mello said. "They have scored quite a bit early in the season and we will need to put up some goals. I hope the guys come in guns blazing and we start conference play on a high note."
 
 Saturday's opponent Corban is consistently among the top teams in the conference and is 5-0 to start the season, including a 2-1 win over Embry-Riddle who topped the Saints 1-0 last Friday.
 
Timur Zhividze leads the conference with seven goals and three assists.
 
"Corban is a top of the conference team," Mello said. "I thought we played them really tough at home last season and I hope we can do that again. The bus ride is tough but we have to do what we need to do. If we can win two this weekend it will be a huge step in the progression of our program."
 
The Saints take on Northwest Christian at 3 p.m. MDT Friday before facing Corban at 3 p.m. MDT Saturday. Live stats and video for both games will be available via the Cascade Conference Stretch Internet Portal.