Santa Ana trips up Lasers at home
In Friday’s conference game between tied-for-first Santa Ana College and tied-for-second Irvine Valley, who was two points back, the Lasers fell victim to the Dons’ quick attack and, unable to regain their footing, fell, 3-1.
The Dons drew first blood early, scoring in the first minute of play when sophomore forward Ramon Quintana threaded a pass through the Lasers’ defensemen springing freshman forward Alex Moreno on a breakaway.
Moreno caught IVC’s freshman keeper Mikhail Radchuk playing a bit too aggressive and placed a soft shot from point blank range out of Radchuk’s reach and into the back of the net.
“We made a lot of individual mistakes and they’re a quality team, so we got punished for those mistakes,” said head coach Martin McGrogan. “It’s difficult to win when you make mistakes and you’re chasing all game, but you have to give [the Dons] credit.”
The Lasers were unable to stop the bleeding when Santa Ana sophomore defender Miguel Cuecue played a pass to speedy freshman forward Juan Carlos Agripino who raced past IVC’s defense to beat Radchuk a mere three minutes after the first goal.
IVC was given the opportunity to play a man up when Dons freshman midfielder Ramsee Munoz received his second yellow card of the match with 7:45 remaining in the first half.
IVC built up steady momentum as the first expired and retained the momentum through the opening of the second half as it scored its only goal of the game 10 minutes into the half when sophomore midfielder Taylor Campbell recorded his first goal of the season.
“We tried to make some halftime adjustments by moving some men up from defense to the offensive attack,” McGrogan said. “It got us an early goal but we were still trying to chase so they were able to score shortly after.”
Santa Ana’s third goal came just five minutes after IVC’s early second half goal when Agripino recorded his second goal of the contest.
The Lasers slipped to 7-4-2 (2-2-2). IVC’s next game will be held at home on Friday when it faces Orange Coast College at 3 p.m.
