UCLA head coach Margueritte Aozasa and sophomore defender Lilly Reale lead a group of Bruins who were honored with Pac-12 Women’s Soccer year-end awards. Aozasa was selected the conference Coach of the Year in her first season, and Reale was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
The Bruins earned a total of eight All-Pac-12 honors and two All-Freshman awards. Reale, junior forward Reilyn Turner and sophomore defender Quincy McMahon were selected to the All-Pac-12 first team. Goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy and midfielder Sunshine Fontes received second-team acclaim, and graduate forward Ally Cook, freshman midfielder Ally Lemos and graduate midfielder Maricarmen Reyes were named to the third team. Lemos and midfielder Sofia Cook received Pac-12 All-Freshman honors.
Aozasa, who is in her first year as a head coach after serving for seven years as a Stanford assistant coach, guided the Bruins to a No. 1 ranking for nine consecutive weeks following a pair of upset road wins at No. 2 Duke and No. 1 North Carolina on Sept. 1 and 4. Aozasa’s Bruins compiled a 17-2 regular season record, the third-most wins in the nation this season. UCLA ranks first in the Pac-12 in goals scored (53), assists (50), shutouts (12) and goals against average (0.47) and ranks in the Top 5 nationally in goals against average, goals, assists, points and winning percentage. This is the sixth Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor bestowed upon a UCLA coach.
Reale, a member of the U.S. Under-20 National Team and native of Hingham, Mass., becomes just the second Bruin ever to win Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors, joining World Cup champion Abby Dahlkemper, who won the award in 2014. Reale has started and played in 18 games, leading the Bruins to a conference-best 12 shutouts and a 0.45 goals against average this season. A two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week, she has also contributed offensively, scoring one goal with one assist.
McMahon has started and played in 17 games and has been a force both defensively and offensively, contributing to 11 shutouts and totaling one goal and five assists for seven points. The Carmel, Ind. native was a Pac-12 All-Freshman honoree a year ago and earns her first selection to the all-conference team. She played in every game last season and ranked second on the team and sixth in the Pac-12 with seven…
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