The 300th win in Irvine Valley men's soccer coach Martin McGrogan's career at the college was an impressive one.
Behind a hat trick by freshman forward Toby Waterman and a strong defensive effort, the Lasers shut out Norco, 4-0, in an Orange Empire Conference match at home on Friday.
In his 25th year at IVC, McGrogan improved his record to 300-162-90. Along the way, McGrogan has helped Irvine Valley to two state championships and a national title and moved countless players on to four-year schools to play. A handful of McGrogan's players have even gone on to compete professionally.
"It's really been an honor and a privilege to be coach here," McGrogan said after his players doused him with water following Friday's win. "I am really very grateful. It's been a lot about longevity and also having so many incredible people here on the coaching staff, from Clyde Best to Billy McNicol and David Kemp, Jovan Stojanovski, Laurie Abrahams, Pat Callaghan, Matt Tutton, Chris Gould, Shaun Harris, Peter Carey, Joe Supe, Robbie Earle, Simon Davies and Alex Zotinca and now with Tom Lancaster, Claudio Trabattoni and Gerald Morel.
"I've been able to work with some of the best coaches around. There has been just unbelievable support."
The Lasers, ranked ninth in the state and in first in the standings in conference, came out firing on Friday in support of their coach. IVC took the first eight shots of the game.
After having a goal called back for offsides in the 11th minute, Irvine Valley scored three minutes later.
It came with a nice buildup. Freshman midfielder Albert Chavez passed the ball out wide to freshman defender Khalid Francis and Francis sent it forward to freshman midfielder Jose Rivera.
Rivera settled the ball, beat a defender and then found Waterman charging into the box from the right side.
Waterman buried the ball in the back of the net for his team-leading 12th goal of the season.
But the freshman from England was just getting started. He added two goals in the second half, one after taking a long clearance from sophomore defender Cesar Ortiz and beating two defenders, and then showing skill in controlling a cross from freshman midfielder Joseph Ferguson before finishing with his left foot.
"He has tons of quality," McGrogan said of Waterman, who increased his goal total to 14 and point total to 33, which leads the conference. "He can turn defenders really well, he's deceptive, he can use his speed and he is very composed when finishing. He's done very well for us."
Irvine Valley capped its scoring with a header goal by freshman forward Matheus Paiva Porto de Oliveira in the 87th minute off a long throw in by freshman defender Ethan Thrall.
The Laser defense, anchored by Ortiz and freshmen Marcos Cervantes, Francis, Scott Clark and Thrall and freshman keeper Manuel Zamora, recorded the team's fourth shutout of the season.
Zamora only had to make three saves in goal.
The win kept Irvine Valley in first place by itself in the conference. The Lasers improved their record to 9-2-4 overall and 6-0-2 in conference. They play at Fullerton on Tuesday and host Orange Coast next Friday.
