Jan. 17, 2013
SEATTLE -- Head coach Lesle Gallimore has announced that Amanda Perez has joined the Washington women's soccer team and will be eligible to compete with the Dawgs this spring. Perez delayed her enrollment at Washington to overcome a knee injury and pursue interests with the U-20 Mexican National Team. "We are thrilled that Amanda will be joining our squad this winter," said Gallimore. "After injuring her ACL over a year ago, Amanda decided to rehab her injury and work hard to try and make the Mexican U-20 World Cup team that played in Japan in September. She was successful and ended up making that squad. This delayed her college enrollment, but we're happy to finally get her in the mix here at UW." Perez is the younger sister of former Washington superstar Veronica Perez, a fixture with the Mexican National team. The older Perez ranks eighth in Husky history with 53 goals. Amanda is a 2011 graduate of San Mateo High School (Bay Area). She deferred her admittance to UW to recover from surgery and play for Mexico in the 2012 U-20 Women's World Cup. Perez helped Mexico to the quarterfinals of that tournament Perez played her club soccer with the Peninsula-Silicon Valley (PSV) Union Football Club in Palo Alto, Calif. She has been primarily a central midfielder, noted for her distribution. She considers Barcelona central midfielders Xavi and Iniesta among the players she models her game after. "Amanda is a talented and skillful midfield player with a great sense of the game," said Gallimore. "She has tremendous passing ability and is a playmaker from a holding position." Gallimore also expects Perez to fit in well with the team that is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2012 and has much higher expectations for 2013. "She has tremendous training habits and a very outgoing and fun personality. Amanda is a tremendous addition to our program. We look forward to helping her continue to pursue her Mexican National Team aspirations as well as become a great collegian." |
