Irvine Valley steps up, gets important OEC win at Fullerton

Irvine Valley's men's soccer team earned its biggest win of the season so far on Tuesday.

The Lasers, playing with 10 men for much of the contest, defeated Fullerton, 3-2, on the road in a match between Orange Empire Conference powerhouses.

IVC handed Fullerton its first loss of the season.

Fullerton was ranked No. 5 in the state and Irvine Valley was 15th heading into this week.

It is early in the conference season, but with the win, Irvine Valley took sole possession of first place. The Lasers improved to 6-2-0 overall and 2-0-0 in conference.

Fullerton slipped to 6-1-1 overall and 2-1-0 in conference play.

Irvine Valley got goals from sophomore midfielder Jose Rivera in the 21st minute on a penalty kick to take a 1-0 lead.

But the Lasers were down to 10 men shortly after a red card was handed out to an IVC defender.

Irvine Valley continued to attack, however, and sophomore forward Sean Goode found the back of the net on a pass from Rivera.

It was a nice goal with four passes setting up the score.

IVC went into halftime up, 2-0.

Fullerton made it a 2-1 game with a goal by Matthew Lares in the 57th minute.

But Irvine Valley put the game away in the 86th minute with another nice goal. Freshman midfielder Mitchell Findlay-McKenzie scored off a pass from sophomore midfielder Albert Chavez.

Fullerton finished the scoring in the 90th minute to make it 3-2, but the game ended shortly after.

Irvine Valley got nine key saves in goal from freshman Blake Sigler, including stopping a penalty kick at an important moment in the second half.

The Lasers play again on Friday, hosting Cypress at 3 p.m. in a Orange Empire Conference match.