The Irvine Valley men's soccer team was right there.
The Lasers tied their match with top in the Orange Empire Conference Fullerton in the 57th minute off of a beautiful ball placed into the box on a free kick by freshman midfielder Luke Newman.
Freshman forward Marcio Costa raised up above the defense and headed the ball into the back of the net to tie the game, 2-2.
But Fullerton, one of the top teams in the state, answered in the 88th minute with a goal by Hayden Kenny off of an assist by Cesar Marquez to take a 3-2 lead and ended up holding on for the win.
Fullerton improved its record to 13-3-3 overall and 9-0-2 in the conference. IVC went to 6-11-1 overall and 4-6-1 in the OEC.
Kenny scored two goals for Fullerton, while Steven Martinez made three saves in goal for the Hornets.
Freshman forward Mason Tracey scored Irvine Valley's other goal in the first half, knocking in a volley off an assist from sophomore midfielder Moises Delgado in the 31st minute
Freshman keeper Rolando Hernandez played all 90 minutes in the net for IVC and had three saves.
Irvine Valley is back at it on Friday, hosting Santiago Canyon in a conference match at 3 p.m.
