SPOKANE –  Carroll College men's soccer notched a come from behind 2-1, overtime win over quality NCAA DIII program Whitworth College on the road in Spokane.

"This is as big of a regular-season win as we've had in our program," head coach Doug Mello said. "I think that Whitworth is a top-20 DIII team and we earned this win. It was hard-fought, nobody giving an inch."

Whitworth opened the scoring early when Autin Cassity scored off a crossbar rebound past goalkeeper Dominique Beauboeuf.

"On the first goal, Dom got a piece of the first shot before it hit the cross bar and it bounced back and the guy got it on a rebound," Mello said.

Neither team scored for the rest of the first half, although the Saints had opportunities. Carroll tallied six shots in the first half with two on goal.

"We had some quality chances in the first half, and we just missed, and their keeper made some great plays," Mellos said. "We stayed the course, however, and it paid dividends in the second half."

The Saints got on the board early in the second half. Rodrigo Portillo scored on an assist from Eric Hollenbaugh. A free kick ball nearly scored before it bounced back to Hollenbaugh. He played the ball to Portillo who delivered the strike to equalize.

The Saints outshot Whitworth 12-3 in the second half, but regulation would end tied 1-1.

"It was tightly contested second half," Mello said. "We outshot them, but they had opportunities too. It set up for an exciting overtime."

Early in the first overtime, the Saints went on the attack but the first overtime period would end without a goal. In the second, Carroll would end it.

In the 105th minute, a corner kick from Alessio Giorgiades went into Hollenbaugh who found Kyle Thomson in the scrum. He sent the ball in for the golden goal and the win.

The defense played well, holding Whitworth to just six shots in the second half and overtime and just two shots on goal for the game.

"Dom had a good game in goal and made a couple good saves," Mello said. "Our whole defensive line played well against a tough offense. Jose Porras kept a lot of balls alive in the midfield and kept the ball in the attacking half of the pitch."

The Saints won despite a rough start to the road trip. Bus troubles caused delays, and the team arrived late into Spokane Saturday evening.

"I was proud of the way the team handled a little bit of adversity," Mello said. "We could have been distracted, but the guys put that behind them and came to play. I am excited about the energy that we have as a team heading into the conference opener this week."

The Saints open Cascade Conference play against Walla Walla University Friday in Walla Walla.