Irvine Valley golfer Araceli Esquivel played her first three holes in Wednesday's Orange Empire Conference match at the Arroyo Trabucco Golf Course with a par, bogey and quadruple bogey.
But the freshman didn't waiver. She then put together one of her best rounds of the year, finishing at 74, to lead Irvine Valley to an undefeated day and into first place in the conference with a 4-0 win.
Irvine Valley ended with a score of 337 to out-distance Saddleback (343), Mt. SAC (365), Orange Coast (370) and Fullerton (388).
Irvine Valley leads Saddleback by one match heading into next week's conference finals.
Esquivel played her remaining 15 holes, after the first three, at 2 under par.
The round included two bogeys, eight pars and five birdies.
Esquivel, from Arizona, had back to back birdies on holes 9 and 10, and, on holes 16 and 17.
She continued to be the scoring leader in the conference invidual rankings.
Sophomore Marisa Bhanubandh placed third individuall with a score of 80. Sophomoe Alexis McLachlan had her second solid round in a row with a 89 and freshman Akie Sannomiya came in at 94 to round out IVC's scoring.
Freshman Victoria Vasko carded 96 and freshman Esther Kim ended at 115 for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley has set itself up to go after an OEC title at the conference championships staring next Monday at the Alta Vista Golf Course.
The tournament will conclude at the Los Serranos North Course next Monday.
