Men's soccer team earns No. 9 seed, opens at Santa Ana

Men's soccer team earns No. 9 seed, opens at Santa Ana

Irvine Valley's men's soccer team found out on Tuesday that it reached the California Community College Athletic Southern California Regional Playoffs as the No. 9 seed.

The Lasers will take on a familiar foe, facing No. 8 Santa Ana Saturday at 11 a.m. in the opening round. The full bracket can be viewed here

It will be the second straight match-up between the two schools.

Irvine Valley closed out the regular season and Orange Empire Conference play on Nov. 9 with a 1-0 win at Santa Ana.

Sophomore midfielder Victor Onofre scored the game-winning goal in the 85th minute and freshman goalie Sean Salah recorded the shutout.

Santa Ana and the Lasers split their two conference matches this season.

Santa Ana ended the regular season with a record of 9-5-6 overall. The Dons had a record of 6-2-4 in conference to tie with Golden West at the top of the standings. 

Irvine Valley heads into the playoffs with a record ofe 9-9-3 overall. The Lasers tied for third in the OEC with Cypress at 5-4-3.

The Lasers were led during the regular season by freshman striker Ivan Lopez, who had a team-leading eight goals, six assists and 22 points.

Onofre ended with seven goals and one assist and other key contributors included sophomore defender and captain Garrett Hayes and freshman midfielder Marco Ronchini.

The winner of Saturday's Santa Ana and Irvine Valley contest will move on to face either No 1 Mt. SAC or No. 16 Cypress next Tuesday in the second round.

Playoff ticket prices are determined by CCCAA and included below:

$12.00 - Adult  

$8.00 - Students, faculty, staff, senior citizens 60 years and over, and children less than 12 years of age.