Irvine Valley's men's soccer team entered Friday's showdown with Santa Ana tied with the Dons for first place in the Orange Empire Conference.
The Lasers are now alone.
Irvine Valley fought back from being a goal down in the first half for a 2-1 victory over Santa Ana at IVC.
The Lasers improved their record to 7-2-4 overall and 4-0-2 in conference, while Santa Ana's mark fell to 4-5-4 overall and 3-1-2 in conference.
"Our guys stepped up and played like men today and I thought they deserved the victory," IVC coach Martin McGrogan said of his squad, which is ranked ninth in the state. "They showed a lot of character and passion against a very talented and skillful Santa Ana team."
Santa Ana scored first, getting a goal in the 27th minute.
Jangho Yoon took possession of the ball in the Irvine Valley defensive end and then slipped a pass to the right to Luis Cazares, who scored into an open net.
Irvine Valley tied the score in the 36th minute.
Freshman midfielder Jose Gamboa sent a corner kick in from the right side. Freshman midfielder Jose Rivera was able to get enough of a flick to send the ball toward the back post where freshman forward Toby Waterman headed it home.
The teams went into halftime tied, 1-1. Each squad had three shots in the opening half.
Both Irvine Valley and Santa Ana had early chances in the second half to take a lead.
A shot by Waterman was saved by Santa Ana keeper Cyrus Mohseni in the 47th minute and then off a counter going the other way, a shot by Santa Ana's Yoon was saved by IVC sophomore keeper Manuel Zamora.
Zamora made a nice save nearly 10 minutes later on another shot by Yoon in the box.
In the 63rd minute, Mark Garcia got loose in the IVC defensive end and Zamora had to make a diving save on an angling shot to the far post.
Irvine Valley went up a player in the 66th minute when Garcia was sent off for a red card.
Irvine Valley freshman forward Connor Elder streaked toward the Santa Ana goal in the 79th minute, but his shot was blocked by a defender in the box.
The Lasers took the lead three minutes later. In the 82nd minute, Rivera played a ball from the right wing across the Santa Ana goal mouth. It hit off a Don defender and rolled in the net for a 2-1 IVC advantage.
Irvine Valley was able to hold on over a final few tense minutes for the win, which was its first over Santa Ana since the 2010 season.
Irvine Valley heads to Cypress next Tuesday for a 3 p.m. start in the final game of the first round of conference.
