Men's soccer team earns another shutout
Oct 03, 2006
The Irvine Valley men's soccer team picked up its second straight shutout and second win in a row in Orange Empire Conference play with a 3-0 victory over Fullerton Tuesday afternoon at home.
Irvine Valley out-shot Fullerton, 12-9, in the match. Both teams had several good chances to score.
Irvine Valley got on the board first after freshman forward Luis Miguel was taken down in the box in the second minute. Freshman forward Dillon McEwin stepped to the penalty spot and beat Fullerton goalie Carlos Guerra to put IVC up, 1-0. It was McEwin's fourth goal in four games.
The Lasers made it 2-0 when freshman midfielder Roberto Linck placed a right-footed volley from about 12 yards out into the bottom left corner of the net in the 18th minute. Freshman midfielder Danny Bridgman earned the assist on the play.
Fullerton’s Rommel Rios had two straight chances to score in the 39th minute, but Irvine Valley keeper Jesus Olivera stopped the first shot with a diving kick save at close range and then Rios rebounded the next shot over the top of the goal.
Irvine Valley played with 10 men for most of the second half after sophomore midfielder Greg Ricks received a red card in the 48th minute.
But the Lasers more than held their own.
Olivera made two fine saves on Fullerton chances.
And Irvine Valley freshman defender Darren Whitty nearly scored on a hard blast from the top of the box in the 72nd minute. The shot was tipped over the top of the goal by Guerra.
The Lasers put the game away in the closing minutes when Miguel, after receiving a through pass from freshman defender Taylor Campbell on the left side, cut back on one defender in the box and then faked a second Hornet player before slotting the ball under Guerra for the goal.
It was Miguel’s team-leading seventh goal of the season.
Olivera played all 90 minutes in goal for the Lasers and made six saves in helping preserve the shutout.
“I thought everyone played well,” Irvine Valley Coach Martin McGrogan said. “It was a great team performance and one of our better games this year. We didn’t make any silly mistakes and I was most pleased with how hard all of the players worked out there today.”
Irvine Valley improved its record to 7-2-2 on the season and 2-0-1 in conference, while Fullerton slipped to 5-4-1 overall and 0-2-1 in conference.
The Lasers play again on Friday at Orange Coast at 3 p.m.