Free State High’s girls soccer squad was bound to break through eventually with the amount of offensive pressure it was putting on Topeka High on Saturday at FSHS.

Just 27 seconds into the second half, the Firebirds finally found the back of the net and never looked back.

After scoring another goal late in the game, FSHS came up with a 2-0 victory.

“It was nice scoring right out of the half, but I felt that we executed really well in the first half and had the momentum and carried it over to the second half – which we usually don’t do,” sophomore midfielder Hannah Carlson said. “We really kept the energy up, so it was really important for us to get that quick goal.”

Carlson set up both Free State goals, which were put away by senior forward Leah Williams.

“I thought in the second half, that was one of the better halves that Hannah has played at this point in the season,” FSHS coach Jason Pendleton said. “Her job is more of a point-guard situation on the soccer team, so she needs to put us in a position to score like she did today. Hopefully she can keep finding those seams and finding our forwards in the right situation so we can convert them into goals.”

Williams had several chances to net a few other passes from Carlson for a potential hat trick. But the senior forward said she was happy to score at least the two.

“We talked about that exact play, which got us both of our goals, at halftime,” Williams said. “It was nice to get the pressure off a little bit by getting that lead early in the second half. I should have finished on a few more that was the same play with perfect opportunities. I’m just glad I got a few of them in.”

It was an easy day in the net for junior goalkeeper Fanny Peterson during her shutout bid.

In the first quarter, Peterson’s height helped her prevent Topeka High from taking the early lead off of a free kick. The Trojans turned up the heat in the second half, forcing Peterson to make several saves on line-drive shots from just inside the box.

“When nobody scores, it’s always fun,” Peterson said. “But I didn’t have that much to do today.”

Pendleton, who has been swapping goalkeepers – Peterson and sophomore Sarah Parrish – the last several games, said it was important to see the defense complimenting the strong offense.

“It’s huge any time we can get some confidence in the back of the net, and we feel comfortable with Fanny or Sarah in the goal,” Free State’s coach said. “We feel like our back line did a really nice job of neutralizing them. To be able to get a shutout against a team that has been putting up some goals this year is a positive for us.”