Free State soccer players Kylee Loneker, #14, left, and Amber Hicks, #15, converge on the Olathe North goalie in the Firebirds game against Olathe North Thursday, May 7, 2009, at Free State. A kick by Loneker just before everyone hit the ground, got past the goalie for a Firebird goal to give FSH a 2-1 lead in the second-half.

For the better part of Thursday’s soccer game between Free State High and Olathe North at FSHS, Firebirds coach Jason Pendleton sounded more like a lifeguard than a soccer coach.

“No diving. Don’t dive in. Don’t dive,” Pendleton urged his defense.

In the end, after a late defensive lapse in regulation forced overtime, it was the Firebirds who made the last splash, knocking off O-North, 3-2, in double overtime.

“To weather that storm, not panic and come back and get a positive result is really good for us,” Pendleton said. “I think a win like this can do a lot of things for the girls’ confidence.”

Free State dictated the pace of play for most of Thursday’s game and took a 1-0 lead on a goal from Caroline Mayhew, 20 minutes into the first half.

After coming up short on a few early runs, Mayhew continued to pressure the Eagles’ back line and finally benefited when O-North’s Chanel Evans mishandled a ball and allowed Mayhew to slip past her and poke it into an empty net.

Late in the first half, the Eagles responded when Samantha Richards took advantage of two misplays by the FSHS defense and ripped a shot into the net to tie the score at 1-1 with 1:20 to play in the half.

The Firebirds regained the lead 20 minutes into half No. 2, this time on all-out effort from Kylee Loneker, who scrambled in front of the Olathe North net after a free kick to push a diving shot past Evans.

At that point, the Firebirds shifted their focus to defense, nearly giving up on any offensive attacks whatsoever.

“It definitely seemed like that,” junior McKenzie Liebl said. “The ball was down at our end almost the whole time after that goal.”

As a result, the Firebirds found out the hard way that when you live dangerously, you occasionally get burned. That lesson came courtesy of O-North’s Jennifer Wolfe, who scored the game-tying goal after a great individual effort with 3:34 to play.

From there, the momentum shifted to the Eagles, who nearly won in regulation and then controlled the game for much of the two overtimes.

Late in the second overtime, with a tie seeming inevitable, the Firebirds put together one of their prettiest transition attacks of the season. Liebl controlled the ball in the defensive end, carried it to the midfield and then pushed it ahead to Amber Hicks. Hicks, without hesitating, knocked the ball across the field to Hillary Yoder, who carried it for four or five seconds before unleashing the game-winning assist.

As Yoder controlled the ball, junior Hannah Carlson picked up steam and made a run through the defense. Yoder hit the ball perfectly and her pass landed right at the feet of the streaking Carlson, who charged in one-on-one against Evans and buried a shot to the right side.

“To have the mental concentration to execute at that point is great,” said Pendleton of the goal that came in the 96th minute of play. “It was really nicely executed and the girls demonstrated a lot of composure to finish it off.”

Said Carlson, of the game-winner: “I don’t do breakaways, but I knew it was in as soon as I kicked it.”

The victory marked the Firebirds’ first win against Olathe North since 2001 and also sent lone senior Courtney Moore out on a high note. Thursday’s game was the final home game of Moore’s career.

Free State (5-7-2) will close out the regular season at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Shawnee Mission Northwest.