Reilyn Turner Hat Trick Powers UCLA Women's Soccer to Road Victory

The Bruins scored three early goals and never looked back, continuing their undefeated start to the 2021 season.

It took all of 35 minutes for Reilyn Turner to put away three goals, and the Bruins made the most of her career-best performance by turning it into a win.

No. 4 UCLA women's soccer (4-0) blanked Loyola Marymount (0-6) 3-0 on Sunday. The short trip down the I-405 led to another road win for the Bruins, who are now 2-0 both at home and on the road and undefeated through four games for the third consecutive season.

Turner did all the scoring for UCLA, notching goals in the 6th, 17th and 36th minutes of the match. The sophomore forward led the Bruins with 11 goals in 17 games in the delayed 2020 season, scooping up Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors in the process, and she now owns sole possession of the team lead in 2021 as well.

Freshman Quincy McMahon, who was making the second start of her young career, picked up her third point of the season when she lofted a pass into the box for Turner to clean up and bury in the back of the net in the opening minutes of the game.

Turner's goal in the 6th minute would have been enough for the win considering UCLA's third-straight shutout effort, but she got the ball deep in the box 10 minutes later with another chance to make the Lions pay. Handling the ball toward the left edge of the box, she made a cut back to the top and planted her foot, rifling it to the left of the keeper for her second goal of the afternoon.

The third and final goal of Turner's hat trick also came in the first half, as she slipped behind the back line, took a few long strides and put herself in position to score before tapping it into the bottom right corner and giving the Bruins a 3-0 lead.

It marked the first hat trick by a UCLA player in nearly four years, with the last coming via Hailie Mace against Santa Clara in 2017.

The Bruins had a chance to extend their lead to four in the second half, but junior forward Mia Fishel couldn't put away a header in the 70th minute.

The LMU offense couldn't muster up a fraction of the chances UCLA put together, attempting just three shots all day with only one ending up on goal compared to the Bruins' 22 shots and five on goal. Senior goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy did not see a single shot to save before she was subbed out at halftime in favor of redshirt sophomore Hannah Mitchell.

Mitchell had to make just one save in order to close out the combined clean sheet, shutting out a Lions offense that has yet to outscore its opponent this fall. Turner's three goals Sunday nearly matched LMU's total of four from their first six games combined.

UCLA will return home for a match against Santa Clara on Thursday night, kicking off the penultimate weekend of nonconference play for the Bruins. The game also serves as Angel City FC Night, which stands to preview the NWSL expansion team co-owned by coach Amanda Cromwell.

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