Four women's soccer players make all-conference teams

Four women's soccer players make all-conference teams

Irvine Valley's women's soccer team had four players named to all-Orange Empire Conference teams last week.

The Lasers had sophomore defender Rosa Soto-Aleman and sophomore goalkeeper Yesenia Pulido selected to the first team and sophomore forward Alexandra Benedict and sophomore midfielder Vanessa Gonzalez picked to the second team.

Irvine Valley finished with a record of 7-8-6 overall and was 5-7-5 in conference. The Lasers took fifth place in the OEC.

Soto-Aleman and Pulido were key players for the IVC defense. The two helped Irvine Valley shut out four teams this season.

With her speed, Soto-Aleman also pushed forward to become part of the Irvine Valley attack.

She ended up four goals and three assists for 11 points. Soto-Aleman had one goal and one assist in Irvine Valley's 3-1 win over Santa Ana at home on Sept. 30 and another goal and assist in IVC's 3-3 tie at Santa Ana on Nov. 1.

Pulido was second in the conference with 85 saves. She ended with a 1.72 goals against average. Her shutouts came against Golden West, Norco (twice) and Saddleback.

Benedict led Irvine Valley with 14 goals.
She ended up fourth in the conference in goals and fifth in points with 30.

Benedict had a four-goal game at San Diego City on Sept. 2 in a 6-1 Irvine Valley victory and scored two goals at MiraCosta on Sept. 6 in a 3-2 Laser win.

She also finished with three game-winning goals.

Gonzalez provided three goals and three assists for Irvine Valley this season and played tough in controlling the middle of the field.

She scored one goal and had one assist in Irvine Valley's win over Saddleback at home on Oct. 14.