Box Score LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Shaelan Murison tallied her second career hat trick, including two goals in the first 25 minutes of the match, and she assisted on another goal as UC Santa Barbara held off Loyola Marymount for a 4-2 women's soccer win on Sunday afternoon at Sullivan Field.
The Gauchos (3-2-3) have now won two straight and are 3-1-1 in their last five matches. The Lions (0-7-2) remain winless in 2019.
Murison's first goal came at the 15:30 mark when she collected a pass from Isabella Viana and then made her way through several LMU defenders, firing a shot past Sadie Kenny to give UCSB a 1-0 lead.
Less than 10 minutes later, at 24:38, Murison took a pass from Lauren Moss and blasted a powerful shot that hit the crossbar and bounced down and in past Kenny for a 2-0 lead.
Murison completed her hat trick just over 11 minutes into the second half at the 56:37 mark. After a throw in, Elise Ziem passed the ball across the 18-yard box to Murison who was inside the top right corner. With her back to the goalkeeper Kenny and the defenders, Murison pivoted to her left and crushed a shot into the upper left corner of the goal to give her team a 3-0 lead.
The hat trick was the second of Murison's career. Her first came during her freshman season on September 16, 2016 when she scored three goals in a victory at UT-San Antonio.
The Lions cut the lead to 3-1 in the 67th minute when Amber McCorkle hit the crossbar on shot from above the 18-yard box. Jackie Fiacco got the rebound and her shot was blocked, but Sydney Schultz was there to boot the ball past Hanna DeWeese.
The score was narrowed to 3-2 in the 72nd minute when Olivia LaCasto cracked what looked like an intended cross from the left side about 10 yards outside the 18-yard box, but the ball curled into the upper right part of the goal and DeWeese had no chance to make the save.
After LMU cut the lead to 3-2, UCSB did a good job of preventing any additional threats and, in fact, scored a goal in the final second of the contest.
The final score came when Murison was in the left corner trying to run the clock down. With two defenders on her, she turned toward the goal, dribbled into the box, past another defender and tapped a pass to Viana who knocked the ball in to make it 4-2.
The Lions had a statistical edge on UCSB with a 20-15 advantage in shots and a 7-2 margin in corner kicks. The visitors, however, had five shots on goal while LMU had just four. DeWeese had a pair of saves.
With her three goals, Murison now has a team-leading seven on the season. She also has 15 points.
The Gauchos remain on the road for two more matches. On Thursday, Sept. 26 they will travel to Santa Clara for another match against a West Coast Conference opponent. They will then complete non-conference play on Sunday, Sept. 29 when they play at Cal State Bakersfield with kick-off scheduled for noon.
