IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine women's soccer has enjoyed its success over the past decade-plus resulting in a steady flow of Anteaters earning their stripes on the professional ranks which includes a successful trio during the 2018-19 campaign.
Kiana Palacios - The scoring star for the Anteaters from 2014-17 has continued her ascent up the Mexican National Team ranks joining the senior national team shortly after beginning her professional career. Mexico failed to qualify for the 2019 Women's World Cup in France, but she was integral in that run scoring three times in the qualification games. Nearly a year ago today, she scored against the U.S. National Team in a friendly, and this year she started in a friendly against the powerful Netherlands team giving her seven career top team caps.
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The squad recently went 2-1-1 in the Cyprus Women's Cup while Palacios remained with her professional club,
Real Sociedad, in San Sebastian, Spain, part of the Spanish Women's First League, Primera División Feminina. In the current season, the team stands sixth in the table of 16 clubs with a 12-7-8 record, and Palacios has played in 23 matches, cracking the starting lineup 14 times, with six goals on the year and three in her last eight league matches including one over the past weekend in a 6-0 demolition of Valencia. Real Sociedad has also rolled through its domestic cup, Copa de la Reina, where it has reached the final set for May 10th against Atletico Madrid in Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes in Granada. In the semifinal, Palacios scored in the opening minute as part of a 3-1 victory of Sevilla in front of a record 18,731 fans in Estadio Municipal de Anoeta
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Palacios' season has just three matches left in it in addition to the Copa de la Reina Final next month. The Mexican team's next venture is the
2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru scheduled to start July 28th with Mexico slated to play Jamaica, Paraguay, and Colombia in the group stage.
Cami Privett - The jovial midfielder that graduated in 2014 has bounced around the professional soccer world spending a little time with FK Kolbotn in Norway before a strong run with NWSL side, Houston Dash. After a brief break, she's resurfaced in the same league as Kiana over in Spain for side
Escuelas de Futbol de Logroño in the north of Spain near the French border. The club is fighting to stay in the top league two points out of the relegation zone with a 6-5-16 record. Privett has started all nine matches she's appeared in for the club since joining in late December of 2018, primarily as a defender, with one clean sheet to her name.
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Mady Solow - A third Anteater has emerged in Europe in the versatile Mady Solow, this time with
FC Basel, a top-tier side in Switzerland's Nationalliga A. FC Basel is fifth in the eight-team table with an 8-4-9 record, and Solow has been an integral part of the midfield and even scored a pair of goals - once in the 16th minute of a 2-1 victory vs. Grasshoppers, and a 72nd-minute strike in a 5-0 victory over Yverdon. Solow joined the club in 2018 after a year with Icelandic side, Throttur Reykjavik, and two seasons at Italian club, Chievo Verona. Solow has also trained with the Polish National Team who just missed out on a spot in the 2019 Women's World Cup. The league schedule runs until June with seven matches remaining in FC Basel's season along with Mady as she continues to journey across the professional football landscape of Europe.
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Janelly Farías - The star of field and social media continues to prolong her career on the pitch. Farías had her stint at UEFA Champions League side Apollon Limassol cut short due to injury as she returned stateside and continued to train with the senior Mexican National Team. She's endured a long road to recovery, but will join up with UWS side, LA Galaxy OC, a semi professional squad in Irvine coached by UCI coaches
Scott Juniper and
P.J. Woolridge that helps to develop college players and recent graduates into professional players. Their season starts in May playing in the Orange County Great Park. Farías has also been an influencer on social media and had stints with Telemundo Deportes reporting for the organization on football and the Mexican side.
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