The Irvine Valley men's soccer team stayed right in the middle of the race for a top spot in the Orange Empire Conference with a 2-2 tie at Santa Ana on Tuesday afternoon.
It was IVC's second straight tie. The Lasers' record went to 3-4-3 overall and 1-1-1 in conference. IVC tied Orange Coast, 2-2, at home last Friday.
Santa Ana improved to 4-1-3 overall and 1-0-2 in conference.
Freshman forward Eder Olivas scored both goals for Irvine Valley.
They were his team-leading fourth and fifth goals of the season.
Santa Ana took the lead, getting a goal from Matheus Cuhna off an assist from Daniel Castro in the 11th minute.
Eleven minutes later, the Lasers countered with a goal of their own to tie the match.
Olivas scored off a feed from sophomore forward Toby Waterman.
The second goal for the Dons came in the 28th minute when Paulo Gama put his first goal of the season away off a pass from Cuhna.
With that, the Dons went into the second half leading 2-1.
The Lasers came out in the second half with an aggressive mindset, scoring a goal just two minutes into the half with a long strike from Olivas to knot the game at 2-2.
Santa Ana and Irvine Valley both had plenty of chances to score again but couldn't do so, resulting in the tie.
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday, hosting Cypress in a conference match at 3 p.m.
