PREP ROUNDUP : Irvine Wins, Sets Up Showdown

Fifth-ranked Irvine set up its first-place showdown against Santa Margarita this weekend with a 3-1 Sea View League girls’ soccer victory over El Toro Thursday night at Irvine High.

Forward Shannon Filbin scored two first-half goals within five minutes to give Irvine a cushion. The score stayed that way until Krista Bracha scored off a deflection with 13 minutes left in the game.

But halfback Erin Rummels sealed the victory five minutes later when she hooked a corner kick past El Toro keeper Melody Derloshon.

Irvine Coach Hamid Sedehi said the victory wasn’t nearly as easy as it appeared.

“I thought El Toro outplayed us,” he said. “We were standing around a lot. We did some good things with the ball, but we played in spurts.”

Filbin’s goals came in one of those spurts, but Sedehi sounded almost embarrassed about Filbin’s second goal.

“That goal was unlucky,” he said. “It was a cross that fell in.”

But Sedehi did give his team credit for keeping its poise after Bracha’s goal.

“We kept our composure and we didn’t panic,” Sedehi said. “We took over from there and played our best soccer of the night.”

Irvine outshot El Toro (8-6-3, 2-1), 14-7, and improved to 13-2-2, 4-0. Irvine will play Santa Margarita Saturday in a game matching the only two undefeated teams in the Sea View League.