Irvine Valley's men's soccer team stayed in the mix for one of the top spots in the Orange Empire Conference with a 2-1 win at Cypress on Tuesday.
The Lasers dropped their first match to Cypress, 2-0, on Sept. 28 at the OC Great Park.
But it was a different story Tuesday on the road.
IVC scored the opening two goals and carried on for the win.
Sophomore midfielder Christopher Osuna got the Lasers going in the 25th minute, scoring off an assist from freshman midfielder Sam Al Qaraghuli.
And the Lasers went up, 2-0, two minutes into the second half on a goal from freshman striker Ivan Lopez off a feed from freshman defender Domenyk Jara.
It was Lopez's team-leading sixth goal of the season.
Cypress chased to get back in it and cut IVC's lead to 2-1, in the 87th minute on a goal pm a penalty kick by Nomar Ibarra.
But IVC hung on for the three points. Freshman keeper Isaac Hernandez recoreded three saves in the win.
Irvine Valley improved its record to 8-8-0 overall and 4-3-0 in conference. Cypress slipped to 6-6-3 overall and 2-4-1 in the OEC.
The Lasers remain in third place in the conference standings behind Golden West and Santa Ana.
IVC plays again next Tuesday, hosting Santiago Canyon at 3 p.m. at the OC Great Park (Field 18). Fans are welcome with social distancing.
