Free State boys soccer coach Jason Pendleton doesn’t have as many cobwebs to shake off as he thought he might.

Pendleton was pleasantly surprised in his team’s season opener Thursday, a 3-0 victory over scrappy Olathe Northwest at Free State.

“We did some real positive things,” Pendleton said. “Even though they possessed the ball a lot, they didn’t create a lot of dangerous opportunities.”

The first-year Olathe school outshot the Firebirds, 15-12, but FSHS seemed to have all the serious chances and capitalized on three solid goals.

Two were from Joel Angelone, the Firebirds’ top scorer from a year ago. Angelone put the finishing touches on two beautiful passes, one from senior Drew Becker in the sixth minute and another — a header — off a Brian Ozorkewicz cross in the 41st minute.

Angelone nearly had a hat trick, plunking a shot off the left post in the closing minutes.

The senior was pleased in his efforts, but more pleased with the efforts of Becker and Ozorkewicz.

“It was nice,” said Angelone, who had 21 goals as a junior. “They set me up really well.”

Ozorkewicz also had an unassisted goal in the seventh minute, firing a pinpoint shot into the upper-right corner of the net.

Free State's Joel AngELone, who scored two goals in the Firebirds' 3-0 victory over Olathe Northwest, charges down the field. Free State won the game Thursday at FSHS.

It was plenty of cushion for the Firebirds’ defense, that, despite some breakdowns, gave the Ravens only a few legitimate opportunities to score.

Those chances were denied by junior goalkeeper Aaron Williams, who had five saves.

“The good thing about some of their shots was they were from 35 yards out,” Pendleton said. “We did a nice job getting behind the ball and keeping them in front of us. We were pretty well organized.”

After Angelone’s and Ozorkewicz’s early goals — which were 65 seconds apart — Olathe Northwest held its ground and maybe even took the momentum into halftime.

Just 56 seconds into the second half, though, the Firebirds snatched it back on Angelone’s second score.

“It’s nice when you talk about making adjustments at halftime and right away it pays off,” Pendleton said. “To come out and get that goal right at the beginning of the half kind of deflates them. A 2-0 game is a lot different than a 3-0 game.”

¢ 6Sports video: Free State soccer opens up with a win

Free State (1-0) next will face Lawrence High at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Youth Sports Inc. fields.

Free State 3, Olathe Northwest 0

Olathe Northwest 0 0 — 0

Free State 2 1 — 3

FS: Joel Angelone, 5:55.

FS: Brian Ozorkewicz, 7:00.

FS: Joel Angelone, 40:56.