photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas forward Lexi Watts places Kansas on the bracket as the Jayhawks move on past West Virginia during the Big 12 tournament at CPKC Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Kansas City, Mo.

The Kansas soccer team has already experienced one rematch against a team it had just beaten, and one against a team it had lost to earlier in the regular season.

Despite facing a different sort of challenge on each occasion, the Jayhawks emerged from those matches against Arizona State and West Virginia with one-goal victories. Against WVU on Saturday night, Lexi Watts drove home an overtime winner and KU became the lone non-top-four seed to reach the semifinals of the Big 12 Conference tournament.

“We have to enjoy those moments,” head coach Nate Lie said on Monday. “They’re rare. That’s why they signed up to do this and put in all that time and effort in the offseason.

“But we still have a big job to do. We think we still have a lot more to play for. We’re doing our best as coaches to try to find that right mix. Enjoy the ride, seize the momentum, ride that wave, but also don’t get complacent with what is allowing us to find that success.”

Just two more victories away from the second Big 12 tournament title in program history, KU will deal with a new sort of obstacle as it takes on Texas Tech, which is both one of the few teams it avoided playing during the regular season and a nationally ranked foe that has lost just one conference match this year.

“I think it’s a nice professional challenge,” Lie said of facing a new team, “and I also think we tend to do better against teams that haven’t seen us before because we feel that we’re different than a lot, than most … Our speed of play in different areas can come fast to some people.”

The Red Raiders, who beat upset-minded No. 10 seed Baylor 2-1 to reach the semifinals, are led by 18th-year head coach Tom Stone, who has brought Tech to eight NCAA Tournament appearances. The team continued its momentum from a Round of 16 berth last year into what currently stands as a 14-3-2 campaign.

“Thankfully, they’ve been on the national scene for a while and so we’re pretty aware of them and what they do well,” Lie said.

The Red Raiders have been by many metrics the best defensive team in the league; they allowed just two goals in their first 10 games of league play, thanks to the efforts of the conference defender of the year Macy Blackburn and first-team all-league goalkeeper Faith Nguyen, a transfer from UCLA who leads the conference in goals against average. Midfielder Peyton Parsons and forward Ashleigh Williams joined them on the All-Big 12 first team.

As successful as Tech has been throughout the campaign, KU might have the edge in terms of recent form. In a surprising turn, Tech has conceded three goals in its last two matches. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks enter Wednesday’s clash on a six-match winning streak in which they have outscored foes 13-2.

The junior forward and golden-goal scorer Watts opened the season scoreless through seven games but has netted nine times in the 13 matches since. Her relentlessness on the attack is one of the keys to the Jayhawks’ high-pressure style. Makayla Merlo and Saige Wimes are now tied for third in the Big 12 with seven assists each, as Wimes has had a knack in recent days for heading the ball into space to set up Watts.

KU got fifth-year senior defender Mackenzie Boeve back on Saturday after giving freshman Jordan Fjelstad her first career start in the previous match, but the Jayhawks still haven’t quite been whole. Already missing two of their captains due to season-ending injuries, they have played without the third, Brooke Otto, since Oct. 20.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas forward Saige Wimes leaps up for a header against West Virginia during the Big 12 tournament at CPKC Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas midfielder Makayla Merlo steps in to take the ball away from an opponent against West Virginia during the Big 12 tournament at CPKC Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas defender Mackenzie Boeve dribbles the ball downfield against West Virginia during the Big 12 tournament at CPKC Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Kansas City, Mo.

Due to their substitution-heavy style, though, the backups rarely look out of place. Nineteen of KU’s 27 field players have spent at least 250 minutes on the field this season.

One important matter to note is that the Jayhawks may not need to win the Big 12 bracket to reach the NCAA Tournament — something that might have been difficult to conceive of at the start of the year, as head coach Nate Lie began the season with a young team composed of 50% newcomers.

As of Tuesday morning, KU sat at 49th in the NCAA RPI rating system, with Tech at 37th. The NCAA provides automatic qualification to 30 conference champions and then awards 34 at-large berths.

Last season, according to archives cataloged by the RPI for Division I Women’s Soccer site, South Alabama missed the tournament despite its No. 27 ranking in RPI, but the picture really started to get blurry between No. 43, where SMU was the next highest-ranked team not to receive an at-large bid, and No. 56, where Colorado was the lowest-ranked team to make the tournament. Three teams between them did not receive bids, including Big 12 schools UCF and TCU.

A victory over Tech could position KU much better, but a loss could consign the Jayhawks to the outer reaches of the bubble with no further opportunities to improve their standing.

“If things don’t go our way on Wednesday night, I’ll probably be back in front of some of you explaining why I think this is a tournament team, because I do,” Lie said.

Lie said that just as he and his team wanted to get into the Big 12 tournament on their own merits, not by backing their way in and scoreboard-watching, “That’s what we intend to do here, is play our way into the NCAA Tournament.”

“You can do it one way by winning the whole thing,” Lie added. “Some people who aren’t even in the mix get it that way. I think if we’re able to win on Wednesday, we’re in pretty good position.”