Irvine Valley's women's soccer team hung right with one of the best teams in the state, Santiago Canyon, for the first 25 minutes of Tuesday's Orange Empire Conference match.
But the Hawks, who are ranked fifth in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, stepped up with three goals before the end of the first half and went on to a 4-0 victory at IVC.
KC Cook (27th minute), Alondra Guzman (35th minute) and Karinna Gomez (44th minute) each scored in the first half to put the match out of reach.
Santiago Canyon stayed unbeaten on the year. It improved its record to 13-0-1 overall and 9-0-1 in conference.
Irvine Valley had its four-match unbeaten streak snapped with the defeat. The Lasers' record slipped to 6-5-4 overall and 4-4-2 in conference.
IVC's defense did a good job early on. Sophomore keeper Yesenia Pulido made a nice save on a shot by Gomez and sophomore midfielder Payton Purcell saved a ball off the line.
One of Irvine Valley best opportunities came in the 17th minute when sophomore midfielder Vanessa Gonzalez's free kick from 30 yards out skimmed the crossbar and went over.
Two minutes later, sophomore forward Lexi Benedict got in behind the Santiago Canyon defense, but her shot went just right of the goal.
Santiago Canyon took the lead with a goal from Cook in the 27th minute. She followed the rebound off of a shot by Guzman. Eight minutes later, Guzman scored on a shot from distance.
And just before the end of the half, Gomez found the back of the net to make it a 3-0 game.
Irvine Valley continued to play hard in the second half and had six shots, including four on goal, but the Lasers couldn't get on the board.
Jenny Ramirez capped Santiago Canyon's scoring with a goal in the 75th minute off a cross from Gomez.
Pulido ended up making six saves in goal for Irvine Valley.
The Lasers play again on Friday in a conference match at Fullerton at 3 p.m.
