Before the final home game of her college soccer career, with her parents watching on ESPN+ all the way back home in Osaka, Japan, KU senior Emika Kawagishi was honored on Senior Day in a way that few before her had ever been.
On a night when KU seniors Lexi Watts, Saige Wimes, Mackenzie Hammontree and Emily Minard also were honored with their families, Kawagishi joined the fun with the grandparents of her fiancé walking her onto the field for the Senior Day festivities.
Kawagishi and her Senior Day escorts carried photos of her parents and also one of her fiancé, Gabriel, who also is currently living in Osaka.
It was a nice touch of home for a KU soccer player who has spent the past four years a world away from where she grew up. Before coming to Kansas, she played two years at North Carolina State. Her parents have yet to visit Lawrence but they are planning to be here for graduation next May.
“My mom was like, ‘I wish I could come,’” Kawagishi told R1S1 Sports after Thursday’s 2-1 loss to No. 11 Colorado at Rock Chalk Park. “But she was very happy that someone would be here for me. I feel so special since my parents and my family couldn’t make it. It was so nice of them to decide to come here to represent my family.”
“I feel so special... It was so nice of them to decide to come here to represent my family.”
— KU senior Emika Kawagishi on her special Senior Day supporters
The Osaka-born midfielder, who had never been to America before coming to play soccer, had only met her fiancé’s grandparents a couple of times before Wednesday.
Yet there they were, Puerto Ricans who Kawagishi affectionately calls “Mamita and Papito” landing in Kansas City the night before the match to be there for her on her big night.
Mamita and Papito live in Orlando, Florida, where Kawagishi’s fiancé grew up. So, it was much easier — and quicker — for them to make the trip to the Midwest for the big event than for Kawagishi’s family.
The KU senior said her soon-to-be grandparents-in-law decided about a month ago that they could make the trip and they showed up Wednesday night and were on a flight back home early Friday morning.
Before the match on Thursday, Kawagishi gave them the best time-friendly tour that she could. They went to Wagnon Student-Athlete Center, where she got help with her studies. They went to Rock Chalk Park to see the field and the soccer facility. And they also checked out KU’s campus.
“They were very excited about it,” Kawagishi said. “Because they had never really seen inside anything like this.”
The whole thing — even with the loss — made Thursday a night to remember for Kawagishi, who has filled an important depth role for the Jayhawks during the past couple of seasons.
After receiving her framed No. 6 jersey and hearing her name announced during the Senior Day ceremony, all Kawagishi could do was smiling. It was fitting, given that her name means “smiling flower” in the Japanese system of writing known as Kanji. It didn’t hurt that she knew, without question, that her family was watching back home.
“My mom never misses,” she said with a big smile. “Even when games are at 3 a.m. “It was very nice. I just lost my grandparents this year and that was very tough. I miss home a lot, and this made me feel like being at home.”
It’s been that way for the past two years, she said. And the psychology major who hopes to work with kids back home in Japan after her soccer career is finished will move forward with the feeling that Lawrence, Kansas is another home for her.
Kawagishi and the Jayhawks will now head to Texas for next week’s Big 12 tournament. They’re the 7 seed in the 8-team field, and they’ll take on No. 2 seed West Virginia at 5:30 p.m. Monday in Round 1.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
