photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas sophomore Saige Wimes celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against UCF on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Lawrence.

The Kansas soccer team hasn’t always been able to rack up goals this season. So when UCF gave the Jayhawks a couple of golden opportunities early on Thursday night, it was essential that they took advantage.

Lexi Watts and Saige Wimes did just that, forcing and then capitalizing on mistakes by the Knights right in front of the net so that KU seized a 2-0 lead within 20 minutes.

“Before the game we just asked our team to find our identity, make sure we’re crystal clear on it and then go play directly to it,” first-year head coach Nate Lie said. “The first thing that we said in the room, one of the players, was, ‘Our identity first and foremost is we come out and press,’ and it’s really great, it’s really affirmative, that we then scored two goals directly from that press early in the game. Set the tone, gave us energy, gave us confidence.”

By halftime, the Jayhawks had three goals on the board for the first time against a Division I opponent all season. By the end of the night, they had claimed a key conference win, 4-0, to improve to 5-3-3 on the year and 2-2 in conference play.

“I think that was a really good win,” Watts said. “I think there (were) a couple games where we wish we could go back and fix little key mistakes that happened, but I think for the most part we’re happy with this game, and we’re wanting to take this game and move forward and win some more games.”

Watts finished with a brace to double her tally on the season, Wimes had one goal and freshman midfielder Lauren Wood, returning from an absence of several games, scored her first career goal.

“It makes us a better team, it makes a stronger team, a deeper team, having her here,” Lie said.

KU successfully kept UCF in its own end for almost the entirety of the opening minutes, and eventually Watts took advantage of some lackadaisical passing along the Knights’ back line. She crowded goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson and poked the ball straight by her to give KU a quick lead before five minutes had elapsed.

“Me and Saige, our pressure to force them inside made a lot of mistakes,” Watts said, “from the defenders to the midfielder line, and we attacked that space really well.”

Perez Watson was initially solid in net following the early mistake. Then all her work got undone by another series of soft touches inside the box that allowed Wimes to seize on a loose ball and convert through the keeper’s legs from point-blank range.

The Jayhawks made one of their most artful offensive plays of the night not long after, when Mackenzie Boeve charged forward to set up an attack. Perez Watson saved Watts’ initial effort on goal, but Wood slammed in the rebound to make it 3-0 in the 25th minute.

With 11 minutes remaining in the first half, UCF’s high-scoring striker Chloe Netzel, whom Lie once coached at Xavier, was running downhill and threatening to outmaneuver a trio of Jayhawk defenders before Olivia Page made a crucial sliding stop.

Netzel later beat a series of defenders and got a good angle for a shot over keeper Sophie Dawe, but it cleared the bar and the Knights remained scoreless.

UCF changed keepers after the break, switching Perez Watson for true freshman Sami Lipcon. Lipcon saved a header by Wimes that nearly capped off an elegant run by Caroline Castans down the left wing, as KU continued to press its advantage.

“The game’s much less fun to play when you’re looking at the clock trying to wish time away,” Lie said. “It’s much more fun going to try to get another (goal). And that’s what we said at halftime … I said, ‘Let’s get that fourth, but no matter what we do, we can’t start trying to wish this game away. Just go take it.'”

KU freshman Jillian Gregorski was able to line up a shot of her own from dead center just outside the box in the 60th minute, but it sailed over the bar.

Lipcon mishandled a high-arcing ball into the box and KU put it into the net, but the Jayhawks were flagged for offside. Dawe was then tested on a breakaway by Netzel, whose shot was cleared away from goal by defender Brooke Otto.

Finally, fresh off the bench in the 77th minute, graduate transfer Makayla Merlo set up Watts at the far post for an easy look at the goal, which she converted quite straightforwardly.

“It was a perfect ball,” Watts said. “All I had to do was finish it.”

The Jayhawks’ next match will be a great challenge, as KU travels to face No. 16 Colorado over the weekend.

“What I’ve known the whole time, and I’ve been trying to have these players understand,” Lie said, “is if we invest in certain things we are going to be a very, very hard team to beat, a very dangerous team to play, and I want us to bring that mentality into every game we play, including the one on Sunday.”

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

The Kansas soccer team celebrates its 4-0 win over UCF on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas senior Raena Knust (7) and fifth-year Mackenzie Boeve (5) celebrate their 4-0 win against UCF on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas junior forward Lexi Watts celebrates scoring a goal with teammates against UCF on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas junior forward Lexi Watts celebrates scoring a goal against UCF on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas sophomore Saige Wimes dribbles the ball against UCF on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas sophomore Saige Wimes celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against UCF on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas sophomore Saige Wimes (4) celebrates with teammate Kate Langfelder after scoring a goal against UCF on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas junior forward Lexi Watts dribbles the ball against UCF on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas sophomore Caroline Castans kicks the ball against UCF on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Lawrence.