Irvine Valley's men's soccer team continued its late-season charge, scoring three second-half goals and beating Orange Coast, 3-0, in an Orange Empire Conference match on Tuesday at home.
It was Irvine Valley's fourth straight positive result and improved its record to 6-8-4 overall and 5-5-1 in conference.
Irvine Valley was coming off two wins and a tie in its previous three matches.
The win over Orange Coast (5-5-7, 4-3-4) also pushed Irvine Valley into a tie with OCC for fifth place in the conference standings. Each team has 16 points.
"The last three or four games I think we've just been more consistent," IVC coach Martin McGrogan said. "The boys always work hard, but we've seen an even better focus. It's meant a lot of chances on the field. We are creating a ton of chances (to score)."
After being shut out by Golden West, 4-0, and Santa Ana, 1-0, Irvine Valley has out-scored its last four opponents, 12-2.
IVC played well in the first half on Tuesday, but its best opportunities to score were in the second half and the Lasers took advantage.
The game was tied, 0-0, at halftime.
Irvine Valley got on the board three minutes into the second half when freshman forward Alexis Plata headed in a pass off a free kick from freshman midfielder Kevin Yep. It was Plata's sixth goal of the season.
Yep then scored a goal of his own in the 56th minute. His hard shot from the right side was deflected by an OCC defender and went in. Freshman forward Sean Goode picked up the assist, which increased his team lead for points to 17.
Irvine Valley capped its scoring in the 71st minute when freshman defender Tony Scimeca headed in a corner kick from freshman midfielder Guillermo Madrigal.
It was the second straight game that Scimeca has scored a goal for IVC on a corner kick play.
Irvine Valley had a few more chances down the stretch to increase its lead, including getting quality shots from Plata, Madrigal and freshman defender Brandon Contreras, but IVC settled for the 3-0 win.
Orange Coast had a couple of opportunities to score, but couldn't find the back of the net. Felix Villavicencio hit the post with a shot in the 38th minute. And then two Pirate shots were saved off the line late in the game by IVC sophomore goalie Riccardo Antonelli and freshman defender Fayiz Darwish.
OCC keeper Nathan Brown made six saves in the match, while Antonelli made three saves.
Irvine Valley plays again at home on Friday, hosting Santiago Canyon at 1 p.m. It is part of a doubleheader with the IVC women's team.
