Free State High's Greg Glatz, left, defends against Shawnee Heights forward Bryan Prentice. The Firebirds lost, 2-0, Thursday at Free State.

Free State's Erik Slan, right, attempts to score with a head shot Thursday, Sept 27, 2007, during the Firebirds game against Shawnee Heights at FSHS.

After scoring at least one goal in its first seven games of the season, the Free State High boys soccer squad was shut out for a second straight time Thursday in a 2-0 loss to Shawnee Heights.

“The longer you go without scoring, it puts added pressure on your team and those sorts of things. There may be guys trying to do a bit too much individualized stuff,” FSHS coach Jason Pendleton said. “The bigger issue is we gave up just an absolute (bad) goal in the first five minutes of the game while we were dominating the game in the first five minutes. We had two or three chances to score in the first two or three minutes.

“We had a fantastic chance in the first half where the guy gets the ball three yards out and chooses the wrong foot to hit the ball and just misses wide. So we had chances. I don’t think there’s any doubt as far as through the run of play, we were clearly the better team in creating.”

FSHS finished the game with 10 shots attempted, putting five of them on goal. For Shawnee Heights, their two goals scored were their only shots on goal.

“Every single game has been like that,” Firebirds senior midfielder Nathan Ideus said. “Our last game (a 1-0 loss to Topeka High) we had 26 shots, and they had three and they just happen to squeak one in. Our defense is solid, and one little error we give up a goal. I guess it’s just luck that the one time we make a mistake they finish. We’ve just got to clean those up.”

The first goal Free State gave up was on a header that floated just over the outstretched arms of senior goalkeeper Frank Hurtig. Shawnee Heights scored one more in the final five minutes of the game.

“The last goal was a result of us putting players forward,” Pendleton said. “We’re not playing for a 1-0 defeat, we’re trying to win the game, so I put more players in the attack, and we got punished for that.”

Prior to their last two games, the Firebirds were averaging nearly four goals per game.

“I think we’ve shown at times that we’re capable of doing some positive things, and it’s just a matter of kids, who’ve been making plays through the first seven or eight games of the season, making those plays now,” Pendleton said. “Right now we’re kind of in a little bit of a lull in terms of kids making plays. At the end of the day, sports is all about individual players, at the right time, making plays, and for whatever reason right now, we’ve got a few kids that are not physically, mentally, emotionally as focussed and sharp as they were in the previous games.”

Hurtig, who was struck in the head by a Thunderbirds attacker in the first half, came out of the game having played another 10 minutes and replaced by back-up goalkeeper Ethan Morton-Gaught.

“We’ve always been tough with them,” said Ideus, who was favoring his right shoulder following a collision he was involved in. “We’ve been doing well all season, and this is the first game that we really started picking up injuries. So we’ve got to deal with it and start getting better.”

Today, the Firebirds will be going back to the basics with a clinic for second- and third-graders at Quail Run Elementary.

“Hopefully that will show our kids that this is a fun game and we’ll focus a little bit better,” Pendleton said.