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: 15-5-3

Next up: Thursday vs. No. 6 seed Louisville in Round 2 of the NCAA Tournament. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. (central) in Durham, North Carolina.

Shout out to the SEC and Big 12 Conference for staggering their conference soccer tournaments just enough so that Watts’ parents could make it to both to watch their girls play.

For about a 5 or 6 day stretch earlier this month, Rian and Wendy Watts traveled back and forth between Texas and Pensacola, Florida to watch Lexi’s Jayhawks reach the Big 12 title game and younger sister Sydney’s Vanderbilt squad win the SEC tournament.

“It got to the point where my mom didn’t even know what day it was or where they had been. They flew every single day and they stayed in a different hotel every time, too. They’re the best. I love ’em.”

This season marked the second in a row that both Watts girls played postseason soccer. And the fun isn’t stopping with the conference tournaments either.

Later this week, both Kansas and Vanderbilt will be hosting first-round NCAA Tournament games in Lawrence and Nashville, Tennessee.

So, where were Rian and Wendy last Friday night, when the two teams kicked off at exactly the same time?

“They’re gonna go to my game, because I’m the favorite.”

“In all seriousness, though, it’s my last year, so they were like, ‘We’re gonna go watch your game.’ Maybe for next week, depending on how we both do, they may switch it up or try to do both again, but they’re going to be here for this one. They’ve been to all my home games this year.”

Watts said both she and her sister appreciate how much time and travel their parents put into supporting each of them. And they’re both well aware that neither mom or dad minds the grind.

“Oh, no, they love it. They love it. I think they’ve talked about splitting it up, but they’d definitely rather go together.”

“It just means a lot for them to be there for both of us. I mean, they have to work and I don’t even know if they’re taking days off or what. They’re just trying to do as much work as they can. My dad’s boss even went to two games last week.”

Favorite or not, Watts has the advantage of being one year older. So, win or lose, this will be her final crack of college soccer.

That alone made it a little easier for Watts’ mom and dad to be in Lawrence on Friday night instead of in Nashville, where Sydney, a junior, opened play with her team, the top-seeded Commodores.

Vanderbilt opened the NCAA Tournament with a 2-0 win over Tennessee Tech (7-7-8) in its opener, to move to 16-3-2. They'll play No. 8 seed Clemson this Thursday in Nashville.

Watts said her and her sister briefed each other on the bracket earlier this week.

“We’ve definitely talked about who we’re matched up against. I was looking at the bracket and I was like, ‘You guys should probably go pretty far.’”

So far as to face KU in the national title game in Kansas City the first weekend of December?

That hasn’t come up yet.

“No. We’ve both gotta make it that far. That’s more than a couple games away. But that would pretty sweet.”

“Honestly, though, I try to not worry about anything else, but it’s cool because we can really relate to each other. She knows what situation we’re in and I know what situation she’s in. And we talk about it. I mean, she’ll send me 60 videos on Snapchat after games ranting about whatever. We’re super-close and we talk about everything.”

With the biggest games of the year looming, Watts said she has tried to treat the lead-up to postseason play like just another game week for the Jayhawks.

“For us, I feel like recovery was the most important thing this week. We never play three games in a week. I haven’t played three games in a week since club when I was young.”

That third game last week, of course, was KU’s loss to BYU in the Big 12 title game. And while Watts hasn’t fully moved past it, she’s happy to have bigger in store this week.

“Oh, it sucked for sure. That was probably the worst feeling I’ve ever had as a soccer player. I’ve never lost a game that big. And that feeling’s the worst feeling. So, I’m just glad that we’re back, onto this week and we can focus on a new game.”

In many ways, this week hasn’t even felt real.

“If you would’ve told me this is how it would go before the season started, I wouldn’t have believed you. Last year, we didn’t have a seed. And, even this year, I didn’t expect to host. I was just like, ‘I want to make it to the tournament again and then we can make a run.’ The fact that we have another home game is awesome, especially since I’m a senior and now Senior Night’s not my last game at Rock Chalk Park.”

That Senior Night game was a 2-1 loss to Colorado that the Jayhawks saw taken away from them in the final few minutes.

There’s motivation there. But that game, like the BYU contest, is now in the past.

No matter how successful the Jayhawks are in the weeks ahead, Watts knows her college career is winding down.

“It came so quick. I don’t know what I’m gonna do with myself after it’s over. It hasn’t hit me that it’s gonna end, and I don’t want it to hit me.”

Instead, she wants to stay in it as long as she can and worry about the rest when it comes.

“Exactly.”