Irvine Valley Has Midseason Edge in Men’s Soccer

Irvine Valley has established itself as the favorite at the halfway point of the Orange Empire Conference men’s soccer season.

The Lasers, coached by Martin McCrogan, are 5-0-1 in conference and have 11 points; teams get two points for a victory and one for a tie.

Orange Coast (8-1-6, 3-1-3) and Riverside (9-3-1, 4-2-1) are tied for second with nine points.

Golden West (8-8, 3-4) is fourth, Fullerton (4-6-4, 2-4-1) fifth, Cypress (4-7-3, 1-4-2) sixth and Rancho Santiago (6-8-1, 2-5) seventh.

Irvine Valley plays host to Rancho Santiago at 3 p.m. today, then travels to Riverside for a 3 p.m. contest on Friday.

Riverside plays at Fullerton, the defending conference champion, today and OCC has a bye. The Pirates have a bye today but return to play Friday at district rival Golden West.

The women’s race is far less dramatic, with Cypress in control with five games left. The Chargers (15-0-1, 7-0) have 14 points.

Orange Coast (10-6, 4-2) is second with eight points. Golden West (4-5-3, 3-3-1) and San Diego Mesa (3-3-1, 3-3-1) have seven points each and are tied for third.

Irvine Valley (3-6-3, 2-2-2) is fifth, Fullerton (1-9-3, 0-5-2) sixth and Palomar (0-4-2, 0-4-2) seventh.

The men’s and women’s State championship games will be played Dec. 4 at Orange Coast.

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Southland Poll: Palomar (7-0) remained No. 1 in the weekly football poll.

Bakersfield (7-0) is second, Long Beach (8-0) third, Cerritos (6-0-1) fourth, San Bernardino Valley (6-1) fifth, Mt. San Antonio (5-2) sixth, Orange Coast (5-2) seventh, Moorpark (5-2) eighth, Los Angeles Valley (6-1) ninth and Antelope Valley (5-2) 10th.

Orange Coast travels to Riverside (3-4) Saturday in the key game of the week. Both teams are 2-0 and tied for first in the Central Division of the Mission Conference.

The winner will get the inside track on a bid to the Dec. 4 Orange County Simple Green Bowl at OCC. But Orange Coast hardly has an easy run of it. Besides Riverside, the Pirates travel to Saddleback Nov. 13, then play host to Golden West on Nov. 20, the final day of the regular season.

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Nancy Warren, coordinator of the Physical Education and Athletic Department at Rancho Santiago, was one of many who suffered a loss in the recent brush fires in Southern California.

Warren, along with her husband and two daughters, lost their home in the Ortega fire. The college has set up a relief fund, and those wishing to help can call the college’s athletic department.

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Water polo playoffs: The Orange Empire and South Coast conferences will hold tournaments Friday and Saturday.

South Coast’s tournament takes place at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach and features the top two community college teams in California.

Golden West (24-3), No. 1 in the state, and No. 2 Long Beach (21-6) have first-round byes. Golden West beat Long Beach in four of five meetings this season.

Golden West plays the winner of the Fullerton (11-19)-Cerritos (3-17) game at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The winner of that game plays at 9 p.m. Long Beach plays at 8 p.m. against the winner of Mt. San Antonio (4-17) and El Camino (18-10-1), which play at 10:30 a.m.

The title game is scheduled at 8 p.m. Saturday.

The Orange Empire teams play at Saddleback Friday, but the matchups won’t be determined until San Diego Mesa plays at Palomar in a makeup game. The game, originally set for Friday, was rescheduled because of fire smoke.

Orange Coast (21-6), which won the regular-season title, has a bye but the three first-round games are at 2:15, 3:30 and 4:45 p.m.

The semifinals are at 10:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. Saturday and the title game is at 5 p.m.

Notes

The Orange Coast women’s soccer team travels to Palomar Wednesday for a 3 p.m. makeup game. The game was scheduled for Friday but called off because of the smoke in the air from area fires. . . . Chris Parter’s Fullerton-record streak of 30 conversion kicks ended Saturday when an attempt was blocked by Orange Coast’s Jesse Smith. Saddleback’s Devon Higgins set the Gaucho record for consecutive conversion kicks with 48 this season before missing one Oct. 2 at Grossmont.