Irvine Valley earns special victory at Orange Coast

The Irvine Valley's women's soccer team's 3-0 Orange Empire Conference win at Orange Coast on Tuesday afternoon was its most important victory of the season so far.

It was also one of the biggest in the last several years of the program.

The triumph was the first win for the Lasers over Orange Coast since Sept. 25, 2007. IVC beat the Pirates, 2-1, at home on that day.

Maybe even more notably it was a nice bounce-back performance after a disappointing 0-0 tie with Santa Ana at home last Friday.

The win moved Irvine Valley into third place by itself in the conference standings. After Tuesday's results, Santiago Canyon had 12 points, Cypress was at 11 points and Irvine Valley came in at 10 points in the nine-team field. Orange Coast was in fourth place with nine points.

Irvine Valley improved its record to 6-1-3 overall and 3-1-1 in conference. After a bye on Friday, IVC plays at second-place Cypress next Tuesday.

Irvine Valley received a goal from freshman midfielder Christina Anderson just four minutes into the Tuesday's contest to get things started.

Freshman forward Rosa Soto Aleman earned the assist.

Then in stoppage time of the first half, freshman midfielder Virginia Hickman scored to make it 2-0. Sophomore forward Tiana Salazar picked up the assist.

Soto Aleman then capped Irvine Valley's scoring in the 86th minute with a goal on a breakaway after taking a pass from Salazar.

The goal tied Soto Aleman for the team lead with four on the season. Salazar's two assists gave her a team-high 11 points.

Freshman Nicole Dunn made six saves in goal to record the shutout. Dunn was backed on the defensive line by sophomores Emely Portillo and Celina Chang and freshmen Evelyn Lucatero and Marissa Perez among others.

The shutout was Irvine Valley's seventh of the season and fourth in a row. In those four matches, the Lasers have out-scored opponents, 10-0.