HELENA, Mont. - The Cascade Collegiate Conference regular season is here, and the Fighting Saints will officially begin conference play as they welcome Rocky Mountain College to Valley Bank Field at Nelson Stadium. The Women will kick things off at 5 p.m., with the Men to follow at 7:30 p.m.

Both the Carroll Men and Women faced a challenging non-conference portion of their 2026 schedules, and both sides feel confident in their preparations as the league slate begins.

The Carroll Women (1-2-2) enter Thursday night's conference-opener with one win under their belt already on the week. The Saints picked up their first victory on the young season Sunday morning, as Rachel McAllister (Brier, Wash. / JR) scored a 69th-minute goal to lift Carroll over NCAA Division III opponent Whitworth.

McAllister, who also scored Carroll's lone goal in their previous contest against OUAZ, was named CCC Offensive Player of the Week for her efforts. The weekly honor was the first of her career, and the first weekly honor for any Carroll student-athlete this season.

The Saints will look to be the first team to knock-off the Battlin' Bears (2-0-2) this season. Rocky enters the week off a pair of wins over Arizona Christian and OUAZ, as both schools made a trip up to the Treasure state last week. 

Carroll seeks its first win over Rocky since the 2023 season, a 3-1 win in Billings. Rocky has won each of the last two meetings by one goal, including a 3-2 win in Billings last Fall.

On the Men's side, the Saints will be tasked with taking down one of the NAIA's hottest teams. The Bears (2-0-2) are appearing in the receiving votes portion of the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll, and began their season with a 2-1 win over defending National Champion and then-ranked No. 1 Grand View (Iowa), before turning in a scoreless draw with No. 7 William Penn (Iowa).

Carroll has intentionally faced ranked competition in the early season as well, suffering setbacks against No. 3 Indiana Tech and No. 12 Bethel (Ind.) last week in the Midwest.

Rocky has had the upper-hand in the all-time series, winning 12 of the 15 all-time meetings. However, it has been the Saints who've owned the recent matchups, winning all three meetings since 2023.