Men's soccer team battles for 1-1 draw at Golden West

Courtesy of On My Game Photography
Courtesy of On My Game Photography

The Irvine Valley men's soccer team continued its solid 2022 season on Friday.

The Lasers went on the road and tied one of the best teams in the conference, Golden West, 1-1.

The draw moved Irvine Valley's record to 10-5-5 overall and 5-2-4 in the OEC. Irvine Valley stayed in second place in the conference standings behind first-place Fullerton.

"The attacking intent from the team today was fantastic and I hope we can keep that going in the games ahead," Irvine Valley coach Conor Ward said.

Irvine Valley fell behind early at Golden West, but answered with a goal in the second half. Fresman forward Grant Miller scored another goal off an assist from sophomore midfielder Julian Svoboda.

It was Miller's team-leading and conference-best 13th goal of the season. Svoboda also recorded his conference-leading 14th assist of the year.

Irvine Valley freshman keeper Tygo Steenvoorden made four saves in the tie for IVC.

"The standout player today was a strong performance in the midfield from Lukas Stark," Ward said. " He was absolutely everywhere."

Irvine Valley plays again on Tuesday in the regular-season finale against tops in the OEC Fullerton at home at 3 p.m.

"I was really proud of the performance from the players," Ward said of the IVC performance. "We battled for 90 minutes and played one of our best games of the season."