CARSON, Calif. - A four-goal outburst by freshman forward Mary Reilly (Chula Vista/Hilltop HS) powered the UC San Diego women's soccer team to a 4-2 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) match Friday night at Toro Stadium.

Despite missing reigning CCAA Player of the Week Katie O'Laughlin (Carlsbad/Pacific Ridge School) and Megumi Barber (San Diego/Mt. Carmel HS) from its strike force as each served one-game suspensions due to red cards, and seeing central midfielder Brie Diaz leave with an injury in the eighth minute, this was still virtually a must-win game for the Tritons, with the Toros positioned at the bottom of the league table. Win they did, behind their freshman starlet, Reilly, who leapfrogged O'Laughlin as UCSD's leading goal-scorer, now with seven on the year.

A third successive triumph moved UCSD to 7-3 overall and 3-2 in the CCAA. CSUDH lost its seventh straight in dropping to 1-8 overall and a still-winless 0-5 in league play.

"Their record may not be very good, but Dominguez has been in every game, just getting beat by the odd goal here and there," remarked UCSD head coach Brian McManus. "They worked hard and gave us a hard game. Without Katie (O'Laughlin), a recognized starter, and Megumi (Barber), our first forward off the bench, we were facing a tough night, but no matter what happens, we've been able to find ways to win, and that's what we did tonight."

Kelcie Brodsky made three saves in goal for the Tritons. Elisa Martin stopped five shots in the Toro net before giving way at halftime to Alexia Flippen, who had four.

O'Laughlin and Barber both had red cards issued in last Sunday's 1-0 home decision against Stanislaus State. Freshman Summer Bales was a beneficiary, earning her first collegiate start. Junior co-captain Kiera Bocchino shifted back to a forward position, with Bales taking over on the left wing. Taylor Ramos (San Diego/Coronado HS) returned to the pitch as a first-half substitute after starting each of the first seven matches in central midfield but missing the last two through injury. Elisa Martinez (El Cajon/Francis Parker School) also came off the bench in the first period following a three-game absence. A third sophomore, Anna Nilsson (San Diego/The Preuss School UCSD), made her first appearance of the 2015 season.

The last three-goal hat trick by a Triton came from Shelby Wong as she tallied UCSD's first three goals over the first 51:07 of a 5-0 home defeat of Humboldt State on Oct. 21, 2011. Reilly's output Friday matched former All-American Megan Dickey's four from an 11-0 thumping of Central Washington in La Jolla over a decade ago on Sept. 8, 2005. She fell a goal shy of tying the single-game school record of five. Reilly was replaced in the 72nd minute. She actually needed a mere 58 minutes to produce her four tallies, with her match-high five shots all on frame.

"You've got to give Kiera (Bocchino) a lot of credit up top," added McManus. "She was holding the ball, drawing players, and leaving Mary one on one a lot of the time. When you leave Mary one on one in the box, with her speed, she's going to beat you.

"(Associate head coach Kristin Jones has) been working with Mary to use both feet and get out of the habit of going to the near post so much. Her first two goals tonight were both left-footed to the far post. She had four good goals."

Reilly's first came unassisted at 18:23 as she dribbled into the penalty area and hit the left side of the target. At 31:12, it was two, with sophomore Jordyn McNutt (San Diego/University City HS) providing her third assist of the season and 10th already of her career, and Reilly shooting over Martin's head and in from the top of the box.

The initial action by either side after the intermission was Reilly completing her hat trick, unassisted again as she held off her defender to fire home at 46:58. The Toros pulled one back in the 54th when Ida Eriksson headed in Gabrielle Pena's left-sided corner kick for her team-best fourth. UCSD restored its three-goal lead in the 68th, with junior co-captain Meghan Berry notching her first assist as a Triton, deep from her center-back position, and Reilly doing the rest on the breakaway. Kylee Patterson's improbable strike with under 14 minutes left, did not alter the result.

"We were coasting, 3-0, and got back to a three-goal lead after they got their first, but their second goal was freaky," concluded McManus. "Kristen (Sampietro) blocked a shot nearly on the touch line. It somehow ricocheted up in the air, cleared everyone, went off the far post and in. I'm going to have to see the video on that one, because I don't know how it could have possibly gone in from that angle. At any rate, it made the last 14 minutes a bit more nerve-racking."

It was a third straight win for UCSD over CSUDH, and an eighth in a row against the Toros in Carson, now with back-to-back 4-2 finals there in 2014 and 2015.

The four goals were a season high for the Tritons, who out-shot the Toros, 22-10.

UCSD heads back to Los Angeles this Sunday, Oct. 4, to take on defending CCAA champion Cal State L.A. at 2 p.m. The Tritons topped the Golden Eagles, 2-1, in a non-conference meeting in La Jolla on Sept. 14. CSULA (2-5-2, 2-2-1 CCAA) posted its second consecutive shutout success, 2-0, Friday versus Cal State San Marcos.

#TritonsRising

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