Men's soccer wraps up regular season with win
Nov 11, 2005
The Irvine Valley men's soccer team finished the regular season with one of its best performances of the year, beating Cypress, 2-0, in an Orange Empire Conference match Friday at Irvine Valley.
The Lasers out-shot Cypress, 16-7, in the match, which they controlled from start to finish.
Irvine Valley got on the board in the third minute when defender Sean Keefe one-timed a shot into the back of the net off a corner kick from midfielder Steve Wulff.
Irvine Valley put the match away in the 32nd minute of the second half when midfielder Matt Johnson got a hold of a loose ball on the left side and fired a shot from about 45 yards out that went over Cypress goalie Ramiro Gonzalez’ head and into the net.
Gonzalez was out of position and out from his goal on the play.
It was Johnson’s team-leading 11th goal of the season. He has 26 points on 11 goals and four assists.
Irvine Valley’s defense did the rest. The Lasers allowed just seven shots on goal, and only a couple of those were good attempts.
Irvine Valley goalie Stuart Nichols made two diving saves, each coming on Cypress (10-10-4, 5-7-2) free kicks. Nichols, who had three saves in the match, recorded his sixth shutout of the season and third in the team’s last four contests.
Irvine Valley could finish in second place in the Orange Empire Conference pending Golden West’s outcome against Santa Ana.
The Lasers found out Tuesday that they picked up two more conference wins after Fullerton had to forfeit all of its victories in its first 20 games because of using an ineligible player. Irvine Valley lost to Fullerton both times it played the Hornets this season.
With Fullerton’s fall, Irvine Valley moved up to third place in conference, just one point behind Golden West for second, heading into Friday’s action.
The Lasers finished with 30 points. Golden West had 29 points going into Friday’s match against Santa Ana. Santa Ana, which had already wrapped up the conference title, had 37 points heading into Friday. It had a record of 21-1-1 overall and 12-1-1 in conference.
Southern California Regional Playoff pairings will be announced Thursday, Nov. 17. Sixteen teams will be included in the field. The top eight seeds will get home games.