Frustrated all night by near-misses on several shot attempts, Free State High’s boys soccer team scored two goals in the final six minutes for a 2-1 comeback victory over Shawnee Mission West on Thursday at FSHS.

The Firebirds outshot the Vikings, 19-6, but struggled to score for the first 74 minutes.

That changed when Free State senior midfielder Will Laufer passed a through ball to junior Cooper Moreano, who was a step behind the defense and fired a shot past SM West goalkeeper Angel Cruz with 6:24 left in the second half.

“It was huge because, I mean, we had a good 10 opportunities that we should have put away or at least had a decent shot at putting away,” Moreano said. “Then, I felt like right when we got the first one in that another one was coming because we had all the momentum, and we were dominating them already.”

The Firebirds struck four minutes later when freshman midfielder Rowan Laufer found junior forward Branden Patterson for a breakaway opportunity. Patterson had a couple of opportunities earlier, but had one shot deflected by the goalie and another went wide left.

“Rowan got the ball in the back,” Patterson said. “I guess he kind of saw my run coming across. He split the two center backs, and I was through — wide-open, no one on me or anything. The goalkeeper was in front of me, but I just curled (the shot) around him.”

“It was a pretty spectacular fashion to win, but we should’ve had a few goals by then,” Patterson added.

The Vikings (3-8) scored in the 23rd minute when senior forward Magdiel Meza ripped a shot from inside the 18-yard box past FSHS goalkeeper Jonathan Lesslie, who finished with three saves.

But the Firebirds (6-3) controlled the pace and tempo throughout the match with their crisp offense. Laufer and senior forward Eduardo Carballido Flores both sent strong opportunities on net.

“When you’ve had so many chances in front of the goal, you’ve got to find a way to win that game,” FSHS coach Kelly Barah said. “We were really clicking on all cylinders in terms of the attacking side of the ball. It was just that little foot to tap it into the goal that was kind of letting us down. We just knew it was going to take every single thing for us to find that win today.”

The Firebirds will play host to Shawnee Heights at 6:30 p.m. Monday.