Men's soccer team can't close out Santiago Canyon at home

Men's soccer team can't close out Santiago Canyon at home

Irvine Valley's men's soccer team saw some points slip away on Tuesday in a 4-3 Orange Empire Conference loss to Santiago Canyon at home.

The Lasers led early on and were in position to at least earn a tie late, but the Hawks scored on a free kick with four minutes left in the contest to take the win.

Irvine Valley's record slipped to 4-6-2 overall and 2-3-2 in conference. Santiago Canyon remained in third place in the conference standings. The Hawks moved to 7-2-3 overall and 4-2-1 in conference.

IVC was on the board in the sixth minute. Freshman midfielder James Reyes found the back of the net off a nice pass from freshman midfielder Joshue Gallardo.

The Lasers nearly went up another goal a few minutes later, but sophomore forward Daniel Segal's shot sailed over the top of the goal.

Santiago Canyon answered in the 22nd minute when Niko Achatz headed in a corner kick from Devin Cornejo.

Irvine Valley came right back a minute later and scored on a counter. Sophomore forward Grant Joyce scored off a pass from sophomore midfielder Mahyar Shabani to give Irvine Valley a 2-1 lead.

But the game was tied again in the 37th minute when Robert Salcido scored off a cross from Cornejo.

And Santiago Canyon took its first lead of the game in the 41st minute when Cornejo found the upper left corner of the net.

The Lasers got a goal from Gallardo just before the end of the first half to make it a 3-3 contest.

The teams continued to create opportunities in the second half, but it wasn't until the 86th minute when Santiago Canyon scored the game-winner.

After a foul was called just outside of the box, Cornejo bent a free kick around the IVC wall and into the lower left corner of the goal.

Irvine Valley freshman keeper Nathan King ended up making six saves and Santiago Canyon goalie Alejandro Espinoza also made six saves.

The Lasers begin the second half of conference action on Friday, hosting Fullerton at 3 p.m.