Men's soccer team beats Mesa for its second straight win

Men's soccer team beats Mesa for its second straight win

Irvine Valley's men's soccer team won its second straight match and third in its last four contests with a 3-1 victory over San Diego Mesa at the OC Great Park on Friday afternoon.

The Lasers improved their record to 3-4-0 overall.

Irvine Valley dominated most of the action.

IVC started fast with sophomore midfielder Victor Onofre hitting the crossbar with a shot just eight minutes in.

But it took until the 23rd minute for Irvine Valley to get on the board. Freshman midfielder Sam Al Qaraghuli sent a cross into the box off of a corner kick and sophomore defender Garrett Hayes out-jumped everyone and headed the ball into the back of the net for 1-0 lead.

It stayed that way for the rest of the half although freshman forward Ivan Lopez created a couple of other good chances for Irvine Valley.

Freshman defender Domenyk Jara and Lopez each had opportunities early in the second half.

The Lasers increased their lead to 2-0 in the 77th minute. Sophomore midfielder Christopher Osuna tapped the ball into an open net after Onofre hit a hard shot that was saved by Mesa keeper Angel Noriega.

San Diego Mesa made things interesting in the 90th minute when Enzo Cambruzzi scored on a free kick from 30 yards out. His strike went into the upper left corner.

But IVC put the contest away in extra time when freshman forward Adem Toskic scored on a breakaway after taking a pass from Lopez. Toskic had hit the post with a shot just a few minutes earlier.

Irvine Valley freshman goalie Thomas Hutchinson finished with three saves in goal to help in the win.

The Lasers play again next Tuesday at home, hosting Taft at 3 p.m.