HELENA, Mont. – Carroll men's soccer opens home Cascade Conference play Friday at Nelson Stadium against No. 5 Corban before hosting Northwest Christian.
The Saints are 4-1 and on a four-game win streak and with shutouts in three of the four matches. Carroll started conference 2-0 with wins over Multnomah and Walla Walla University, but the strength of the opponents ramp up this week.
"We can't win the conference tomorrow but we hope to get a win tomorrow," head coach Doug Mello said. "We had a good week of practice, we are healthy and we are playing at our place, so we have those things in our favor. It is exciting to get things going at home with an impressive opponent."
Carroll is the topped ranked team in the nation in goals and shots per game, but those numbers will go down against the meat of the Cascade schedule. Sam Malouf leads the Saints with five goals, and Rodrigo Portillo has four on the year. After struggling with injuries last season, Alessio Georgiades is back on top of the assist line with four already this season.
Mello said that his team has worked on finishing around the net this week and he believes this will help his team capitalize on the aggressive play they've shown this year.
"We're doing well, we have outshot everyone, and we've out cornered everyone," Mello said. "We worked on finishing this week. We worked on our shot selection and making an extra pass. Those are things that will help us against Corban and Northwest Christian."
Corban is 6-0-1 on the year with the lone draw coming in their lone home match against Westmont (Calif.).
Rolando Velazquez leads the Warriors with five goals, including a hat-trick against Linfield. Goalkeeper Jordan Farr has two shutouts on the year.
"First, they are a talented squad. Second, they have a history of winning," Mello said. "They feel like when they are on the field, it is going to take an exceptional performance to beat them. That is a great attitude to have. They have a good coaching staff, and they work hard."
Northwest Christian is 0-4-1 on the year. Olisa Obianozie leads the team with two goals, one from each of their first two conference games.
"They've been in some tight matches against some good clubs," Mello said. "This is conference play, and we can't take them for granted, they will be ready to play, and we have to come out and match their intensity."
Both games are scheduled for a 4 p.m. kickoff. The games will be live streamed on the Carroll Youtube channel.
