Rachel is a senior Human Biology major from Del Mar, Calif. and a second-year team captain. She is a member of the U.S. Senior National Team and was one of three defenders named a Preseason All-American by Soccer Buzz Magazine.

Question of the Week: What is your favorite thing about Stanford?

"My favorite thing about Stanford is definitely the people here. When I went on my recruiting visit here, I just realized how nice everyone is. It's kind of like a little bubble of niceness. It's not like the real world. Everyone is very thoughtful and interesting and everyone has so much going on for them, whether it be athletically, academically, they play some cool instrument, whatever. It's a very interesting place to be because of the people that are here. I guess I have two favorite places here. The first is MemChu, the church. It's just gorgeous and a peaceful place to go. I also like Hoover Tower a lot at sunset."

The Week That Was: Utah and Wake Forest

"It was a little bit of a rough weekend to start off but I think that we improved from our first game to our second game, especially the first half of our second game against Wake. We definitely played more to our potential. I think we have a young team and it was our first weekend. We're missing some key players right now but I think that what we showed in the first half against Wake is a good sign. We definitely had a lot of opportunities and played together. It's good to see that's out there and that we can definitely do it."

The Week That Is: San Francisco and Cal Poly

"For every game, we're really trying to focus on playing for each other and working hard for each other and bringing that mentality to everything that we do. I think sometimes we get caught up in what the coaches think or what other people think of us and it's really about a team and everyone working together as a whole. We're also trying to bring our passion to every game. If you bring your heart, that's what really matters. For focusing on USF and Cal Poly specifically, I think we just need to keep it positive, move on from this weekend, learn from it and go out there with a lot of enthusiasm. We're going to try to play together as a team, get refocused and do our best."