No. 23 Kansas Stays Undefeated; Battles to 3-2 Win Over Utah Valley

Thursday, August 21

Lawrence, Kan.

7 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

3-0-0, 0-0-0

Utah Valley

1-1-0, 0-0-0

Utah Valley

Kansas

No. 23 Kansas Stays Undefeated; Battles to 3-2 Win Over Utah Valley

8/21/2025 10:06:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 23 Kansas remained undefeated as the Jayhawks fought to a 3-2 win over Utah Valley on Thursday night at Rock Chalk Park. Lexi Watts scored two goals and Jordan Rowan scored her first career goal in the victory. Kansas improved to 3-0 on the season for the first time since the 2020 season.

"Our team has found a way to put themselves at 3-0, which is not an easy accomplishment against three conference champions," head coach Nate Lie said. "I'm glad that we were able to defend our home field. That's something that was important to us heading into this year. We look dangerous and tough, which I thought we would. We scored three in the first half and I thought we had some chances where we could have scored a few in the second half that would've really changed the game."

Lie continued, "I'm really happy with the result. A lot of respect for the opponent we just played, but we have to clean up a lot of things if we want to continue to win games."

Kansas did not waste any time taking an early lead. Junior Livvy Moore delivered a ball into the middle of the Utah Valley box for senior Lexi Watts who took one touch and put the ball in the back of the net 34 seconds into the match. The goal was the fourth fastest goal scored in program history.

Utah Valley (1-1) struck right back however, as Faith Webber took a pass from both Ruby Hladek and Greta Davis to score in the 22nd minute of the match to tie it up at 1-1.

The Jayhawks responded less than two minutes later as Watts drew a foul in the box to set up a penalty kick in the 24th minute. Watts put the ball past the goalkeeper to notch her second goal of the game and give Kansas the lead at 2-1.

Kansas was not done scoring yet, as freshman Jordan Rowan took a pass from Watts to score her first career collegiate goal in the 31st minute of the match to take a 3-1 lead before halftime.

Both teams saw opportunities in the second half but neither team could capitalize until Utah Valley got a corner kick in the 85th minute. Ruby Hladek went through a lot of traffic on the corner and scored on a header to cut into the lead. Kansas was able to hold on for the remainder of the match to close out the win.

NOTES
• Kansas moved to 3-0 on the season with the win on Thursday night. The last time Kansas started a season 3-0 was in 2020.
• Watts scored two goals against Utah Valley, which marked her third career multi-goal game of her career.
• Watts' first goal 34 seconds into the match was the fastest goal scored in Rock Chalk Park history. It was the fourth fastest goal scored in a game in program history and the fastest since Caroline Kastor scored 18 seconds into the game on Oct. 25, 2010 at Colorado.
• Rowan scored her first career goal in the 31st minute of the match off an assist by Watts.
• Sophie Dawe tallied four saves in the match for her season high in saves.

UP NEXT
Kansas goes on the road for the first time this season on Sunday, Aug. 24, with a trip to Logan, Utah, to face off against Utah State. The match is slated to begin at 2 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network at this link.