SAN RAMON, Calif. - University of California San Diego junior forward Katie O'Laughlin was named Tuesday morning as the 2016 season's first California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Women's Soccer Player of the Week.
O'Laughlin, a local product out of Carlsbad and Pacific Ridge School, bagged her first collegiate hat trick in leading reigning CCAA Tournament champion and preseason favorite UC San Diego to a 5-0 thrashing of then-12th-ranked Pacific West Conference (PacWest) favorite and West Region rival Azusa Pacific in both teams' opener last Thursday night in La Jolla. APU was the 2015 West runner-up.
O'Laughlin, who was second in the CCAA last year with 10 goals scored only behind the 11 of strike partner Mary Reilly (Chula Vista/Hilltop HS), needed a mere 27 seconds to begin her 2016 account. At 14:05, it was 2-0 Tritons as she headed in a Kiera Bocchino corner kick. O'Laughlin completed her hat trick in the 86th minute to make it 4-0. She had four shots over her 73 minutes, all on goal.
It is a second career CCAA Player of the Week distinction for O'Laughlin, having netted a pair of game-winners to earn the award last Sept. 29. She now has three multiple-goal games in a Triton uniform, and 15 total strikes.
UC San Diego (1-0) is in action later today across town at city rival Point Loma. The Sea Lions (1-0-1) were picked to place second behind APU in their preseason poll, and are the two-time defending PacWest champions. Kickoff at PLNU Soccer Field is set for 4:30 p.m. The Tritons then await a pair of home dates against Regis this Friday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m., and Colorado Mines on Sunday, Sept. 11, at 11:30 a.m.
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