Union Takeaways: A four-goal outburst lifts a burden off Mikael Uhre and his teammates

Here are our day-after observations on the Union’s 4-2 win over Toronto FC on Saturday, the team’s first win since March 12, fueled by Mikael Uhre’s first hat trick for the Union.

Mikael Uhre. When he scored twice at Montreal last month, it seemed like he was ready to break out for the year. Then he didn’t. Now he has a hat trick, and could be at another inflection point. Obviously, it helps that the Union didn’t blow a lead like the team did back then. But in charging out to a 4-0 lead, it felt the team lifted a burden off its shoulders, especially when Uhre broke away for his second goal of the night.

Uhre tallied five shots in all, and completed 12 of 19 passes — including four passes into the attacking third.

» READ MORE: Mikael Uhre’s first Union hat trick leads a 4-2 rout of Toronto FC

4: The number of scoring chances created for teammates by Julián Carranza. He also took five shots of his own.

12: The number of defensive recoveries by Kai Wagner, with three of Toronto’s top attacking players — Federico Bernardeschi Brandon Servania and Richie Laryea — on Wagner’s flank at various times.

“Obviously, it’s been frustrating. As a striker, it’s sometimes black and white: if you don’t score you don’t really get the recognition. So yeah, it was really nice to get three tonight. But I can’t give enough credit to the guys that set me up perfectly. It’s a team effort again.”

— Uhre on his hat trick

“I think this was our closest to a complete 90 [minutes], but I still see a lot of room for improvement. Always disappointing to concede goals. Obviously, [Toronto’s Lorenzo] Insigne is a guy that can make a play, and he scored a pretty special goal. But the one at the end irritates me still.”

— Union manager Jim Curtin, rightly annoyed by his team’s lapse in concentration late in the game that led to Laryea’s 92nd-minute goal for Toronto.

“What I’ve learned with José, and I say this with love: he needs chaos in his life. Chaos is good. Chaos is perfect for José. He had the birth of a son, he navigated that through the week, which isn’t easy — travel, different things. But when he steps on the field he was amazing tonight.”

— Curtin salutes José Andrés Martínez, who played a few days after his wife gave birth to their second child.

» READ MORE: Jim Curtin faced his mentor, Toronto’s Bob Bradley, at a crucial time for him and the Union

Los Angeles Galaxy 2, Austin FC 0. Amid continuing protests by supporters’ clubs demanding a front-office house cleaning, the Galaxy finally got their first win of the season, eight games into the campaign. The goals came from the team’s big stars, striker Javier Hernández and former Barcelona playmaker Riqui Puig.

The much-anticipated Concacaf Champions League semifinal series against Los Angeles FC, a rematch of last year’s MLS Cup final, kicks off Wednesday at Subaru Park (9 p.m., FS1, TUDN). Both teams then have next weekend off before the series shifts to L.A. for the second and concluding game on May 2 (10 p.m., FS1, TUDN).