Freshman midfielder Marissa Rico's well-placed strike in the 81st minute helped the Irvine Valley women's soccer team escape with a 2-1 Orange Empire Conference win over Fullerton on Tuesday at home.
With the match tied, 1-1, and under 10 minutes left to play, Rico was in the just the right spot on the right side of the field.
The ball was played toward the Fullerton box by IVC. Fullerton cleared the ball out, but straight at Rico, who stepped up and launched a one-time shot that fell over the head of Hornet keeper Mallory Van Voorhis and into the net.
"It was a great goal by Rico," IVC coach Joe Supe said. "Those are the moments that you have to capture and she did."
IVC held on the rest of the way to earn the much-needed victory.
The Lasers had a two-match win streak snapped last Friday at Santiago Canyon.
It looked like there might be a lot more scoring than the three total goals early on in Tuesday's match.
Each team scored in the opening five minutes.
IVC got on the board first – in the third minute. Freshman midfielder Berenice Pacheco got in behind the Fullerton defense. Pacheco tried to dribble past Fullerton's goalie Klarissa Flores, but the ball was knocked away.
IVC freshman forward Crystal Lefebvre was right there, however, to tap the ball into an open net for a 1-0 Laser lead.
Fullerton answered right back two minutes later. Elizabeth Ayson scored her team-leading eighth goal of the season for the Hornets off a pass from Johanna Moran.
Irvine Valley had a couple of other opportunities in the opening half, but freshman forward Rosa Soto Aleman had a shot tipped over the bar by Flores and then Rico had a shot near post kicked away by Flores.
Fullerton's Ayson sent a shot wide right after IVC gave the ball away in the defensive end just before the end of the first half.
"I thought we had good chances in the first half and didn't finish," Supe said. "But we kept working and I thought we played hard until the 90th minute.
"A win is a win and we will take it."
Tuesday's win improved Irvine Valley's record to 9-3-3 overall and 6-3-1 in conference. It also kept Irvine Valley in third place in the conference standings.
Fullerton's record fell to 5-10-0 overall and 2-8-0 in conference.
The Lasers play again on Friday, hosting Golden West at 3 p.m.
