In leading up to the official start of the 2024-25 athletics campaign at Irvine Valley, which starts on Aug. 23 with the IVC women's soccer team hosting Pasadena City at 3 p.m. and the IVC women's vollyeball team playing at Moorpark at 1:00 pm, Irvine Valley's Athletic Department will count down the top 10 stories from the 2023-24 year.
The No. 9 story on the list for 2023-24 season is Irvine Valley's men's soccer team continuing to shine under second-year head coach Conor Ward.
The Irvine Valley men's soccer team finished the 2023 season with a record of 12-4-6 overall and went 7-1-6 in the Orange Empire Conference.
IVC made the So. Cal. Regional Playoffs and fell in a tough game at Mt. SAC in double overtime.
Irvine Valley sophomore star men's soccer players Lennart Granzow and Grant Miller were each named first team all-Orange Empire Conference and Graznow was named the defensive player of the year in the conference.
In his second year at the helm of the program, Ward helped eight players move on to four-year schools from the 2023 fall squad.
Christopher Camarena and Fred Becovic are off to Westcliff, Lukas Stark is headed to Hawaii Hilo, Jacob Edwards and Anthony Ocampo signed with Concordia, Miler will be playing at UC Riverside, Granzow is going to UNC Asheville and Gabriel Velasco, the first to commit, signed with Western Illinois and Sam Lockheart is headed to Stanton.
Granzow, a center back, was not only named the defensive player of the year in the OEC, but also an all-state selection, second team all-West Region and second team All-American by the United Soccer Coaches Association for the Lasers.
Granzow recently committed to NCAA Division I UNC Asheville to further his academic and athletic career.
Granzow had a fabulous two years at Irvine Valley.
He was named the defensive player of the year in the Orange Empire Conference this past season, as well as first team all-conference.
Granzow was then selected to the all-state team, all-West Region and picked as a second team All-American by the United Soccer Coaches Association.
Granzow helped lead Irvine Valley to a 12-4-6 record overall and a 7-1-6 mark in conference in the fall of 2023. The Lasers made the 3C2A playoffs.
IVC fell in double overtime at Mt. SAC, 1-0, to end its season.
Granzow started all 19 games for the Lasers this season and finished with five goals and one assist for 11 points. He also helped IVC to a 1.51 goals against average on the year.
Granzow, from Germany, was also a first-team all-conference and all-state player in the 2022 season as IVC had a record of 11-7-5 record overall and made the playoffs.
Miller was named an all-state player, a second-team United Soccer Coaches Junior College Men's Scholar All-American and a first team all-Orange Empire Conference pick.
Irvine Valley finished in second place in the conference and made the So. Cal. Regional Playoff final at Mt. SAC before falling in double overtime.
Miller started 21 matches for the Lasers and finished with a team-high 17 goals and tied for the team lead in points with 37 this past season.
He also had three assists and seven of his goals were game-winning scores.
Miller scored two goals in six different matches for IVC, including scoring two goals in key 3-2 conference victories over Orange Coast at home on Oct. 27, 2023 and at Santiago Canyon on Oct. 31, 2023. He scored both goals in IVC's 2-0 conference win at Cypress on Nov. 9, 2023.
Miller ranked second in the conference in goals with 17 and was tied for second in points with 37.
The former Tesoro High standout also stood out during the 2022 season for IVC. He played in 23 matches where IVC finished with a record of 11-7-5 overall and made the playoffs.
Miller had 14 goals and five assists for 33 points.
Miller's 70 points in his two seasons at Irvine Valley is one of the top totals in the history of the program.
