Irvine Valley caps unbeaten OEC slate with shutout win
Irvine Valley, which captured the Orange Empire Conference title on Tuesday, beats Cypress, 4-0, on Friday at home to run its record in conference play to 12-0-2. IVC now awaits the playoff pairings, which will be announced Tuesday.
Irvine Valley's men's soccer team followed up winning the Orange Empire Conference title on Tuesday with finishing up an unbeaten run through the conference schedule on Friday.
Irvine Valley scored three goals in the second half and beat Cypress, 4-0, to finish the regular season at IVC.
Irvine Valley improved its overall record to 14-2-5 and ended conference play at 11-0-3.
The Lasers, ranked sixth in the state and 14th in the nation, now await the announcement of the playoff pairings next Tuesday. They are expected to host a home match in the first round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs on Saturday, Nov. 21.
"The kids worked really, really hard for this," Irvine Valley coach Martin McGrogan said. "Full credit goes to them. We have improved so much since early in the season. I always thought we could be a force going forward. I am very happy with the progress."
Irvine Valley opened the scoring in the 36th minute when freshman forward Toby Waterman found freshman forward Joseph Ferguson open on the right near the top of the box. Ferguson blasted a shot to the lower left corner of the net for his fifth goal of the season.
IVC led, 1-0, at the end of the first half.
Waterman made it a 2-0 lead for the Lasers midway through the second half. He took a pass from freshman midfielder Jose Rivera and powered a shot by Cypress keeper Mohammad Zargaran. It was his team-high 17th goal of the year.
Freshman forward Matheus Paiva Porto de Oliveira (80th minute) and freshman midfielder Jesy Perez (85th minute) finished off the scoring for Irvine Valley in the contest. Freshman Carmelo Duenas and freshman Jose Gamboa had the assists for the Lasers.
IVC sophomore keeper Manuel Zamora made four saves in helping to record the shutout. He made a nice diving save in the first half and then two at point blank range in the second half to keep the Chargers off the board.
The IVC defense of sophomore Cesar Ortiz and freshmen Marcos Cervantes, Alan McTiernan, Scott Clark, Khalid Francis and Ethan Thrall were also a big reason IVC earned its seventh shutout of the season and second in a row to end the regular season.