The Irvine Valley men's soccer team plays its biggest match of the season so far when it hosts Santa Ana on Friday at home at 3 p.m.
Irvine Valley and Santa Ana are tied for first place in the Orange Empire Conference standings with records of 3-0-2 overall.
Irvine Valley, which is ranked ninth in the state, has a record of 6-2-4 overall, while Santa Ana sits at 4-4-4 overall.
Both squads tied in conference matches on Tuesday.
Santa Ana tied, 1-1, at Santiago Canyon and Irvine Valley, which is ranked ninth in the state, had to settle for a 2-2 tie with Golden West at home on Tuesday.
Freshman forward Toby Waterman scored both goals for the Lasers in the draw.
He leads the team and is tied for the conference lead in goals scored with nine.
Waterman leads the conference in points with 22 on nine goals and four assists.
IVC freshman midfielder Jose Rivera is third in the conference in goals with seven and freshman goalie Manuel Zamora is fourth in the conference in saves with 36.
Freshman forward Connor Elder has contributed five goals.
Irvine Valley is out-scoring opponents, 30-14, on the year with four shutouts.
Santa Ana was coming off three straight 4-0 victories in the OEC before tying Santiago Canyon.
It is out-scoring conference opponents, 14-2, so far.
Carlos Barrios and David Yepez pace the Dons with six goals each.
Yepez has 16 points on six goals and four assists and Barrios has six goals and two assists. Dong Beom Seo has recorded four goals and four assists for 12 points for the Dons.
The match is the second to last contest in the first round of conference play for both teams.
IVC will finish up the first round of OEC play next Tuesday with a match on the road at Cypress at 3 p.m.
