UCI’s Palacios competing for Mexico

UC Irvine women’s soccer standout Kiana Palacios will play for the Mexican women’s national team in a friendly with Sweden on Saturday in Falkenberg, Sweden.

Palacios, who will be a senior in the fall, scored three goals to help Mexico reach the semifinals in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2016.

Palacios scored nine goals, four game-winners, in 16 games last season to earn first-team All-Big West Conference recognition. She had five assists before her season was abbreviated in order to train with the Mexican national team.

Palacios was a second-team all-conference performer in 2015, when she led the Anteaters with five goals and added three assists.

Former UCI player Janelly Farias made the initial training roster for Mexico, but suffered an injury in practice and will not join the team in Sweden.

— From staff reports