The Irvine Valley men’s soccer team suffered a tough 1-0 home loss to Santa Ana Friday afternoon at home in an Orange Empire Conference contest.

The lone goal of the game came in the 24th minute after Santa Ana’s Quiroga Campos was tripped up in the box.

Santa Ana was awarded a penalty kick and Ramses Munoz converted to give Santa Ana the lead. IVC keeper Mikhail Radhcuk dove to his left on Munoz low shot, but couldn’t make the save.

Both teams had chances to score throughout. IVC’s best came in the third minute of the contest.

Freshman forward Allen Villa beat his defender down the left sideline and sent a pass across the goal. Freshman Anthony Ramos tried to put the ball away on the back post, but he tapped it wide of the empty net.

Santa Ana’s Daniel Ruiz got behind the IVC defense and had a one-one-one opportunity with Radchuk in the 22nd minute, but the Laser goalie was up for the challenge, knocking Ruiz’s high shot over the crossbar.

Later in the opening half, Villa had two good looks on goal for IVC. He also sent a dangerous cross into the box that didn’t find the head of an IVC player.

To close out the first half, a shot by Santa Ana’s Richard Rivera was saved by Radchuk.

Villa had IVC’s best chance in the second half. He took a heal pass from freshman forward Anthony Muniz in the box and tried to flick the ball past Santa Ana keeper Jorge Sanchez, but Sanchez made the save.

With time running out, IVC tried to pressure in the final minutes. But the Lasers couldn’t capitalize on four corner kicks and two free kicks.

Radchuk finished with four saves in goal for IVC and Sanchez had three saves for Santa Ana.

The Lasers out-shot Santa Ana, 11-10, in the evenly played contest.

"It was a good game, but a difficult result for us," IVC coach Martin McGrogan said. "Santa Ana is a very talented team. Our boys worked hard and created a lot of chances, but we couldn’t get one in."

The loss dropped Irvine Valley’s record to 5-6-2 overall and 3-3-0 in conference, while Santa Ana improved to 9-4-3 overall and 3-1-2 in conference.

The Lasers were tied with Riverside for first place in the conference standings with nine points heading into Friday’s action. Santa Ana, which was in second, now moves past the Lasers. The Dons have 10 points. Riverside took on Santiago Canyon Friday afternoon.

Irvine Valley plays again on Tuesday at Riverside at 3 p.m.