After two close losses to start Orange Empire Conference action last week, the Irvine Valley men's soccer team earned its first OEC victory on Tuesday at home.
The Lasers got goals from freshman forward Fred Becovic, sophomore midfielder Daniel Segal and freshman midfielder Allesandro Cabral along with stellar play in goal from freshman Nathan King in a 3-0 win over Orange Coast.
The win improved Irvine Valley's record to 3-5-0 overall and 1-2-0 in conference, while Orange Coast slipped to 3-4-1 overall and 1-2-0 in conference.
Orange Coast had a chance to go up early, but King was up to the challenge after the Pirates received a penalty kick in the 10th minute.
Archef Beldi earned a foul in the box and Vitor Gameiro stepped to the spot to take the penalty kick. But King guessed right, diving to his right to get a hand on the ball and make the save.
Irvine Valley answered with a goal to take the early lead five minutes later.
Becovic scored on a header in the middle of the box after sophomore forward Grant Joyce sent in a nice cross from the right side.
Orange Coast nearly tied the score just before the end of the first half. Beldi hit a shot right in front of the goal that King dove and got a hand on. The ball then banged off the crossbar and out.
Irvine Valley led, 1-0, at the half.
Seven minutes into the second half, Irvine Valley increased its lead on another header goal.
This time it was Segal who scored off a cross from Becovic.
The Lasers had several other chances in the second half, but had to wait until the 86th minute to completely put the match out of reach.
The play started with some nice work on the right side from Joyce. He found freshman midfielder Gibae Kim open just outside the box. Kim flicked a pass past a defender to freshman midfielder Joshue Gallardo.
Gallardo tried to score. His shot rolled left of the goal, but Cabral never gave up on the play and was able to poke the ball in right before it went out of bounds.
The match ended a few minutes later.
King ended up with five saves in goal for IVC and OCC goalie Tiago Lino Da Costa also had five saves.
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday, hosting Santa Ana at 3 p.m.
