The Irvine Valley men's soccer team had its chances against the defending 3C2A state champion and national two-year team of 2023 on Tuesday afternoon on the road.
But El Camino scored the final three goals of the game in the second half and rallied to beat the Lasers, 6-4.
Irvine Valley held a 2-0 lead in the first 30 minutes.
Irvine Valley executed a counter-attack with sophomore forward Armon Haghighat opening the scoring in the 22nd minute.
The Lasers added a second goal after sophomore midfielder Luke Newman outraced the Warrior defense. The Lasers were up by two within 30 minutes.
The Warriors got one back in the 39th minute with a score by Charlie Cazares to make it a 2-1 game.
However, the Lasers added a third goal before the half to take a 3-1 lead into halftime. Freshman Finn Monk scored off an assist from Newman.
But the Warriors scored two goals to make it a 3-3 game early in the second half.
The Lasers regained the lead after Newman drilled a free kick from 30 yards out to put IVC ahead, 4-3, in the 57th minute.
It wasn't enough.
The Warriors scored three unanswered goals in the 62nd, 71st, and 90th minute to get the 6-4 win over the Lasers.
Marvin Gamez added his second goal of the match in the 62nd minute to tie the game at 4-4.
And Steven Alvarenga added his second score in the 71st minute off a deflection to give El Camino the lead for good.
Newman finished with two goals and one assist to lead the Lasers.
Irvine Valley can take positives from the match as El Camino gave up just 13 goals all of last season.
The Lasers play again this weekend versus more tough teams. IVC travels to the Hartnell Tournament for matches on Friday and Saturday.
Irvine Valley plays against Fresno City on Friday and then will take on either host Hartnell or Cerritos on Saturday.
