Bittersweet does not describe Free State’s convincing 6-0 Sunflower League soccer triumph over Leavenworth  not with senior captain Cameron Baumchen suffering a broken leg.

“Bittersweet may be too light a word,” Free State coach Jason Pendleton said after Tuesday’s match at the FSHS field. “It’s a horrible loss for us.”

Baumchen, the Firebirds’ sweeper, and Leavenworth’s Sean Blew collided with 17:42 remaining. Blew bounced up, but Baumchen lay on the ground in pain. Play was stopped for 10 minutes as trainers prepared Baumchen for an ambulance journey to Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

“It was one of those things that happen,” Pendleton said.

Now the Firebirds, 4-2-1, will have to face arch-rival Lawrence High on Thursday night without one of their most experienced defenders.

“That’s a huge game for us,” Pendleton said. “We’re 1-4 against them. They’ve kind of owned us in soccer. They’re a little down this year, but you know they’ll play the game of their lives against us.”

So eager were his players to meet the Lions that Pendleton was worried they would overlook the Pioneers.

“I was afraid we’d come out flat,” Pendleton said, “but we weren’t looking ahead to Thursday. So that was a real positive.”

Leavenworth never really threatened. The Pioneers made just seven shots on goal while the Firebirds maintained constant pressure on Leavenworth goalie Jim McCollum.

Still, Free State led just 2-0 at the break, and one of those goals was an inadvertent kick into the Firebirds’ net by Leavenworth defender Robert Reilly after only four minutes had elapsed. Kayvon Sarraf produced the only legitimate score with a screamer into the upper-right corner of the net.

Less than six minutes into the second half, Andrew Huffman used Bryan Spangler’s feed for the Firebirds’ third goal. About 17 minutes later, Baumchen went down. When play resumed, Free State midfielder Joel Angelone staged a one-man show, scoring goals less than two minutes apart  one with his right foot, one with his left  to blow it open.

“Angelone does things at times that make our guys drop their mouths,” Pendleton said. “That’s for things he does and things he doesn’t do. He frustrated me for the first 60 minutes. We need more consistent play out of him.”

Senior Adam Bittlingmayer completed the scoring with 2:38 remaining after taking a pass from Aaron Ideus.