Strong start continues with home shutout
On an overcast afternoon the Irvine Valley College men’s soccer team took on the Fullerton Hornets for the second conference game of the Lasers’ schedule on Friday Sept. 28. The kickoff was followed by 10 minutes of solid defense resulting in zero scoring chances for either team.
The Lasers drew first blood in the 20th minute when freshman forward Bruno Sad tied a frozen rope from 5 yards outside the Hornet’s box to the back left side of the net to beat Fullerton’s freshman goalkeeper Cesar Ortega. The goal came after IVC built up some steady momentum by drawing several fouls in the Fullerton zone. The fouls led to a series of well-placed corner and free kicks for IVC.
No one suspected Sad’s goal would be the eventual game winner as the Laser’s went on to record their second shutout of the season beating the Hornets 3-0. Freshman keeper Mikhail Radchuk collected three saves to record his second shutout of the season. The Laser’s also received goals from freshman forward Corey Cordray when freshman midfielder Jack Plummer dribbled in down the left sideline and rattled a shot off of Ortega, Cordray was in the right place at the right time to gather the rebound and boot it home to double the Lasers’ lead in the 31st minute.
IVC really put it out of reach in the 55th minute when the Lasers were awarded a penalty kick after one of their players was taken down in Fullerton’s box. Plummer took the PK and beat Ortega to the right side of the net. The penalty kick appeared to be a product of Fullerton’s frustration which kept building up during the entire game. Fullerton was called offside multiple times when attempting to attack in the Lasers’ zone.
IVC goal scorers Cordray and Sad were both subbed out late in the game after coming up slow from collisions. Cordray limped off under his own power, but Sad needed a little assistance from the trainer. “With that kind of lead we still try to stick to our game plan,” Martin McGrogan said. “Every player has a role and we just try to get more players in the game to fulfill that role when we have a comfortable lead like that.”
“What we’re trying to do on defense is run a flat back four we weren’t trying to play the offside it’s just one of the benefits of running a flat back four,” she said.
The Lasers improved to 1-0-1 in conference play and 6-2-1 overall.