The Irvine Valley women's soccer team earned its best win of the 2024 season, upsetting Orange Coast, 3-1, in an Orange Empire Conference match on Tuesday at home.
The Lasers had energy from the start and scored three goals in the first half to pull off the win to move their record to 10-9-1 overall and 5-7-1 overall and move closer to a possible playoff berth.
Orange Coast's record fell to 9-8-3 overall and 7-5-1 in conference.
Irvine Valley attacked from the start and scored the first goal of the game in the 25th minute when sophomore forward Jordan Madison sent a ball through to freshman forward Nikki MacDonald for the first score.
Orange Coast tied the match four minutes later when Stephanie Serrato scored off of a pass from Litzy Morales.
Irvine Valley then took a 2-1 lead after Madison had her penalty kick blocked, but followed up with the rebound and found the back of the net in the 32nd minute.
The Lasers went ahead, 3-1, right at the end of the first half when freshman midfielder Izzy Rodrigues took a pass from MacDonald and scored.
Irvine Valley held on in the second half through its defense, led by freshmen Samantha Ortiz, Lilliana Springer, Haley Flores, Emily Orosco, and sophomore keeper Sydnee Salamoff.
Salamoff made seven saves on the day.
Sophomore Faith Hong also worked hard and worked all over the field for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday, hosting Golden West in another important match at 3 p.m.