Seven weeks and 11 games have gone by since the Carroll College soccer team played in the friendly confines of Nelson Stadium.

This weekend, however, the Saints return home as they host Frontier Conference foe Westminster College Sunday at noon.

"Thank God," said Saints head coach Dave Thorvilson. "We're pretty excited just to be home and be on our home pitch.

"It's an advantage for one just being at home and two to play on a nice grass field. We've been playing on a lot of turf."

Carroll is expecting a number of friends and family to be attending the game.

They've had a mixed performance on the road, going 7-4 in their weeks away for a 9-5 overall record. They will have their last three games of the regular season at home against conference teams.

Freshman forward Meghan O'Connell leads the squad with nine goals and three assists on the season.

The Griffins (6-9-1) are playing in their third road game in four days. They lost to Rocky Mountain College Thursday 2-0 and won 4-2 over the University of Great Falls.

"They're a lot like us, they're very young," Thorvilson said. "We match up well against each other. They're very athletic."

This will be Carroll's fourth game in a week's time and Thorvilson said the winner could be the team with the freshest legs.

"We're going to both hopefully have some legs left at the end of the game," he said.

The Carroll College men's basketball team saw its first competition of the season in an intersquad scrimmage Friday.

The Saints had some breakout performances from its new stock of players.

Salt Lake Community College transfer Chris Medina led the squad with 15 points, going 6-of-14 from the floor, 3-of-8 from behind the 3-point arc for the white team.

"We knew that he would be an impact player," said Carroll's head coach, Gary Turcott. Works hard, gets to the rim and he can make jump shots.

"He's got some work to do on his shooting but it's early in the year yet."

Medina's last team placed second at the junior college national tournament. The 6-foot-5 wing follows other strong recruits from Salt Lake, including former guard Sinan Guler, who now plays professionally in Europe and for the Turkish national team.

Freshman Jim Mee led the purple team with 14 points and was a bit of a pleasant surprise for Turcott. Fellow freshman and last year's Gatorade Player of the Year, Andy Garland, of Missoula Sentinel matched his points for the white team and led the squad with seven rebounds. Garland went 5-of-7 from the floor and 4-for-4 at the free throw line.

Senior Zach Parks added 13 points and five rebounds for white, which won the scrimmage 63-54.

There were 20 turnovers and 30 assists between the two teams and Turcott said that the matchup really changed throughout the course of the contest.

"The defense looked like it was good for us to win the first half, and the offense looked like it was good enough to win the second half," he said. "We have to play hard for 40 minutes."

Rocky Mountain College football coach David Reeves said he hoped that his Bears might have some extra added homefield advantage when they host the Saints today at noon.

Rocky's playing field had over a foot of snow on it earlier in the week, which would help out the passing game of quarterback Kasey Peters. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior transfer is averaging 343.4 yards passing per game at a 63 percent clip.

According to the Billings Gazette, the weather is forecasted to be partly cloudy and around 71 degrees.

So much for an advantage.

The Saints cross-country squad is learning what life's like on the road.

They are competing for their third straight weekend today at the Bigfoot Invitational in Spokane, Wash., and will have another race at Lewis-Clark State before the end of the month.

The constant competition is changing their training regiment, but head coach Bill Ballinger believes it is helping his squad in the end.

"We have to be a little more careful and not be running too much," he said, "but I think it's going to sharpen them."

Last week's meet at the Billings Open came in harsh weather, but also showed improvement from some of their top runners.

Taylor Gregory has been leading the men's squad and finished ahead of all of the University of Great Falls' runners in Billings for his best run of the season. UGF is in a solid second place while Lewis-Clark State remains nationally ranked and at the top of the Frontier Conference.

Jade Johnston continues to lead the Saints women, who have had to compete without the help of No. 2 runner Jamie Green. Green has been out the last two weeks with a foot injury.

"Even without her we're still deep and think we have a real good shot at taking second in the conference," Ballinger said.

The women were able to defeat LCSC's squad, but without Green have fallen behind the nationally ranked Warriors.

Ballinger said this weekend will be a nice break from the tough competition they've seen so far this month. It will feature nine teams from the NAIA and NCAA Division III.

"It's a chance to not run against the same people this week," he said. "It is a meet, but it's a break from Frontier Conference."

Assistant Sports Editor

Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 or jeff.windmueller@helenair.com