Letters from Lexi

With one season remaining in her Kansas career, the time has arrived for KU soccer star Lexi Watts to pour everything she’s got into her final season on the pitch.

As she does, we’ll follow her every step of the way in the latest edition of our weekly diary series that will chronicle Watts' 2025 season.

Some of what you’ll read here, in Watts' own words, will focus on the stuff happening between the lines — big wins, memorable moments and the grind of the season.

But a lot of it will focus on Watts the person, who loves soccer, loves KU, loves her teammates & coaches and is looking to make one more mark on the program before she says goodbye.

The Watts File

Age: 21 | Number: 18 | Height: 5-7 | Position: Forward

High School: St. James Academy (Lenexa) | Club: Sporting Blue Valley

Notable: Lexi Watts began playing soccer at 3 years old and has not looked back. The daughter of soccer-playing parents, Watts quickly showed her skills in the game en route to earning all-league and all-state honors in high school, where she solidified her status as a goal-scoring machine... During an all-Big 12 freshman year at Kansas in 2022, Watts' 6 goals were the most by a KU freshman since 2012... In Year 2, Watts appeared in all 18 KU matches, finishing second in points scored and third in assists... Last season was Watts' true breakout season, as she finished with a team-best 21 points and 9 goals. Her shots on goal (38) and total shots (82) both ranked in the top seven on KU's all-time, single-season lists, and she was named to the Big 12's all-tournament team as the Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the 2024 Big 12 tourney, with a spot all-Big 12 first team following that.

KU record to date: 8-3-2 overall, 2-3 in Big 12 play

Next up: Friday at Iowa State, 6 p.m. kickoff (ESPN+)

Throughout her college career, Watts has had the good fortune of staying healthy enough to play in every game she was eligible to participate.

Until last week’s home match against Kansas State, which Watts missed because of a knee sprain she suffered in practice two days before kickoff.

The decision to play or sit was largely put in Watts’ hands, but after trying to warm up and not feeling quite right, she told the coaches that she probably should sit out.

“Obviously I’ve been injured before, but not to where I’ve had to miss a game. So, it was just weird being in the locker room before and having the mindset of ‘Am I gonna play or am I not?’ I didn’t even have an energy drink before because I was like, ‘I just don’t know.’ I was more on the side of thinking I don’t know if this is smart, it didn’t feel great by any means.”

“I wanted to play, of course. That was gonna be a fun game. It was gonna be intense. Because no matter how good they are, they’re gonna give us their best.”

The Wildcats did exactly that, scoring the first goal and leading until the 27-minute mark. But KU took control from there and went on to win 4-1, without their leading goal scorer.

Watts didn’t even fully know the extent of her injury — she said it’s a sprained MCL — until one day after the game, when she finally went to get it checked out.

“I’m notorious for hating the athletic training room. Like, if I don’t have to go in, I’m not going in. I hate it.”

“I had told Sindra, our athletic trainer, ‘You know what’s funny, I almost didn’t come in because I didn’t want to get treatment.’ But it got to the point of, ‘OK, it doesn’t feel good. I have to do something.’ But I don’t like going. I don’t want to spend two hours of my day in a training room. I have homework to do.”

With a little extra time on her hands while her teammates took on the Wildcats, Watts elected to help however she could instead of worrying about her classwork.

“It definitely wasn’t hard to watch. I mostly had the mindset of let’s just help the team as best as I can. If I can make an impact in the locker room, at halftime, giving feedback based off what I see, maybe that can help.”

There was a moment, after K-State took a 1-0 lead, when the KU coaching staff approached Watts about her status.

But her warmup taught her that she couldn’t sprint and that her lateral movement was also compromised. Not ideal for a soccer forward.

So she chose to remain cautious instead of trying to gut it out.

“I told one of the coaches, ‘You can put me in if you need me, but I’m not at 100%. I’m not even near it. I’m probably at like 60%.’ I was like, ‘You totally can; I want to play. But I don’t know if it’s the smartest thing.’”

Part of the reason Watts even considered trying to play was because this is her last season and she wants to soak up every opportunity to play with her teammates and represent her school while leading her team.

“That’s definitely gone through my head, where I’m like I don’t want to play one less game than I could, especially a home game. But it was always a question of, ‘Is it worth it?’”

The official word on Watts on game day was that she was questionable. Two days later, as the Jayhawks prepared to take on Texas Tech in Lubbock, she bumped her health above the 80% threshold and that gave her the chance to get back onto the field.

She tested the knee in warmups again and felt better. She didn’t start but did sub in and played somewhere around 30-35 minutes, far below what she normally plays.

It wasn’t just her usage in the 2-0 KU loss that was impacted.

“It was kind of the same scenario as the K-State game. I knew I was playing after warmups. It was good. I felt fine. But I also found myself in positions where I feel like I normally would’ve scored, but I didn’t quite feel like myself. But at least I got to play. It’s mostly just stupid and annoying now, but it’s OK. I just keep reminding myself that it could’ve been so much worse.”

So, now, as she continues to work her way back to 100% healthy in a week with just one game instead of two — Friday at Iowa State — Watts is focused on helping her team snap out of its midseason mini-funk.

The Jayhawks have lost three of their last four games but have not been rattled by the recent results.

“We just need to tighten up a bunch of things. We’ve got to fix something. But the good thing is all three teams we’ve lost to are good teams. We just know we need to win. We have to lock in and win every single game.”

“A lot of people have asked, ‘What’s the locker room like?’ And it’s completely fine. It’s the same. And, in the past, if this had happened with previous teams, it might’ve been more negative. But I feel like this group of girls is a lot different and gets it, which is good.”