The Irvine Valley men’s soccer team bounced back from a disappointing tie with Riverside in its Orange Empire Conference opener with a solid 3-0 victory over Fullerton Friday afternoon at home.
The Lasers held a 4-2 lead over Riverside on Tuesday, but ended up tying, 4-4.
Irvine Valley wasn’t going to let Friday’s contest get away. The Lasers scored two goals in the first half and then tacked on another goal early in the second half in the win.
“It is nice to get a win like this against Fullerton,” IVC Coach Martin McGrogan said. “They always have talented team.”
Irvine Valley improved its record to 6-2-1 overall and 1-0-1 in conference, while Fullerton slipped to 5-3-2 overall and 0-2-0 in conference.
Freshman forward Bruno Sad started the scoring for IVC in the 20th minute. He received a pass at the top of the box, made a move to his right and then took the ball back left across the box and fired a left-footed shot inside the left post that beat Fullerton goalie Cesar Ortega. It was Sad's sixth goal of the season.
Sad started things on the next goal. He sent a pass forward to freshman midfielder Jack Plummer on the left side. Plummer took three dribbles toward goal and flicked a left-footed shot that Ortega deflected away. Freshman forward Corey Cordray was in the right spot on the far post to punch the ball in the net. Cordray also notched his sixth goal of the season.
The Lasers had plenty of other chances to score in the first half. Sophomore midfielder Taylor Campbell had a header cleared off the line by a Fullerton defender, Cordray beat a defender and went one on one with the goalie, but pushed his shot wide, Campbell just missed inside on a pass from Cordray and Sad had a shot saved by Fullerton’s keeper.
Plummer gave IVC a 3-0 lead nine minutes into the second half. After a Laser player was taken down in the penalty box, Plummer knocked in the penalty kick, beating Ortega with a shot to the right side. It was Plummer's third goal in two games.
The IVC defense did the rest, holding Fullerton to just five shots in the game. IVC out-shot Fullerton, 14-5, in the contest. It was Irvine Valley’s second shutout of the season.
“We talked about defense after the game with Riverside, “ McGrogan said. “We had about a 15-minute span in that game where we couldn’t do anything right. I thought we were a lot tighter defensively today. We didn’t give any goals away.”
IVC plays again Tuesday, taking on Orange Coast in a conference match at 3 p.m. at Orange Coast.