Men's soccer team battles to 2-2 draw at Golden West

Courtesy of Elizabeth Elder
Courtesy of Elizabeth Elder

Irvine Valley's men's soccer team remained in first place in the Orange Empire Conference after a 2-2 draw at Golden West last Friday.

The match featured the top two teams in the conference standings and two of the top-ranked teams in the state.

Irvine Valley went into the match ranked No. 14 in the nation and No. 7 in the state.

Golden West was ranked 13th in the state.

With the draw, Irvine Valley remained three points ahead of Golden West with two matches left to play in the regular season.

IVC is at Santa Ana on Tuesday and plays host to Cypress on Friday.

Irvine Valley scored the first two goals of the match.

Freshman forward Toby Waterman was taken down in the box in the 22nd minute and then converted the penalty kick to give Irvine Valley at 1-0 lead.

The goal was Waterman's team-leading 15th of the season.

Irvine Valley took a 2-0 lead in the 60th minute when freshman forward Connor Elder executed a perfect free kick from outside the box on the left side. It was Elder's 10th goal of the season.

But Golden West continued to pressure and scored back-to-back goals later in the contest. Noe Corona scored in the 78th minute and Max Hubert scored a minute later to tie the match at 2-2.

Irvine Valley sophomore keeper Manuel Zamora made 12 saves in the contest.

Irvine Valley's record moved to 12-2-5 overall and 9-0-3 in conference. Golden West went to 12-2-5 overall and 8-1-3 in conference.

Golden West finishes up the regular season at Orange Coast on Tuesday and hosting Santa Ana on Friday.