HELENA, Mont. – Carroll College men's soccer notched early goals from Isaac Bostrom and Jose Mena and held on against a strong attacking Lethbridge team to earn a 2-1 win in exhibition action Wednesday.

Bostrom hit first with a rocket from 35-yards out. He received the ball from Jonathan Taylor and turned and fired. The ball snuck in the top left corner gave the Saints a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute. 

Just four minutes later, Bostrom drew the attention and sent the ball to a crafty Mena who found himself wide open with just the keeper to beat. When he came out to challenge, Mena chipped the ball over his head for the goal.

In the 36th minute, Lethbridge's Jalen Veluw used a great individual effort to find himself open in front of the goal. He chipped the ball over the Carroll goalkeeper to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The rest of the match was awash with missed chances by both teams, including wide-open shots that sailed just wide and a rebound opportunity for Carroll from Jose Porras that went just high. 

"Finishing goal opportunities was something that we struggled with last season, and it reared its head again today," head coach Doug Mello said. "We are going to continue to work on that, but this game should have had a lot more goals on both sides."

The Saints finished with 21 shots, including 11 on goal. Lethbridge tallied 23 shots, but only 11 were on frame. The Pronghorns pressed aggressively in the second half, and they earned seven corner kicks after the break, but they weren't able to turn any of those opportunities into goals.

Carroll played 18 players, including two goalkeepers. Dominique Beauboeuf started and made two saves while allowing a goal. Bernhardt Di Cino played the second half and shut out the pronghorns while making two saves. 

The Saints play a pair of scrimmages against junior colleges with the first coming Saturday against Sheridan College. 

"We were able to see good things today and get a lot of guys into the action," Mello said. "We still have a few guys working on some paperwork and a few guys with little injuries that we aren't going to press into service for an exhibition game, but we'll have plenty of opportunities to see a lot of those guys in action in our games against the junior colleges."

Saturday's scrimmage will be part of a soccer/soccer/football triple header starting at 11 a.m. The Carroll women's soccer takes on Gillette College in an exhibition match, at 1:30 p.m., the Carroll men's soccer team takes on Sheridan College in an exhibition match before Carroll football plays its scrimmage at 3:30 p.m.