Senior Salute: Janelly Farias and Rachel Wood

IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine women's soccer kicks of its senior week with a look at a pair of seniors that made UCI its second, but final, stop.

Janelly Farias joined the team in 2011 as a sophomore after transferring from the University of New Mexico. She played in 13 matches and recorded one assist. She is known for her technical skills including her innate ability to "nutmeg" opponents or play the ball between an opponent's legs.

Coach Juniper adds to the praise saying, "Janelly is one of the most gifted soccer technicians that I have ever had the privilege to work with. She is a true soccer artist on the field and I would still buy a ticket to watch her play. My memories of Janelly are partly of her bossing parts of our games against teams like Portland and Stanford, and partly of the joy she brings to the simplest elements of a practice session."

Farias has stuck around the team throughout the 2012 season as part of the support staff while also striving towards her degrees in social ecology and criminology, law, and society.

Rachel Wood has only been with the Anteaters for part of a season, but has already made a full impact. She jumped onto the scene with UCI's first goal of the season; a penalty kick to spark a comeback against BYU, and since then has added four more goals, all penalty kicks, to cement herself into the UCI record books. She became the first Anteater to net five PK goals in a career and five in a season.

Her five goals, two game-winning goals, and one assist at UC Irvine has added to her illustrious collegiate career that has spanned 81 matches and two National Championships while at North Carolina. Overall, she has recorded 10 goals, 10 assists, and 30 points while making 40 starts.

Coach Juniper sang her praises as well saying, "I recruited Rachel many years ago, long before she transferred to UC Irvine for her senior year.  I have been a fan of her talents for this game for a long time, but this season has shown me what a true competitor she is. When she was told that her injury could take up to 11 weeks to recover from she was back playing in about 8 days.  Her desire to compete, her unrelenting belief and her ability to fight through adversity is of the highest level. She is a talented player, an elegant athlete, and a warrior who shows her teammates what it means to sacrifice for the team."

The Southern California native grew up in Laguna Niguel, Calif. and attended Aliso Niguel High School. She is a psychology major, and has been involved with many organizations including Invisible Children, Habitat for Humanity, and running various SJSA camps.

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