photo by: Richard Gwin

Free State girls soccer coach Kelly Barah demonstrates correct shooting form for his players during soccer camp on Monday June 13, 2016.

Less than a month after a season-ending loss against Manhattan, Free State High’s girls soccer players were trying to pick up where they left off Monday.

That meant spending the first day of their weeklong team camp at FSHS working on offensive drills — almost exclusively passing — to help improve scoring.

The Firebirds only scored 16 goals in 18 games last season, ending with a 6-9-3 record. With a strong defense, they know that’s the biggest area that needs to improve if they want to reach their goal of a double-digit win total.

“Today was just passing and making sure we’re getting our heads up — really breaking it down to the basics,” senior Sabrea Platz said.

About 20 girls showed up for the morning session in their first day of camp, with a mix of varsity players, underclassmen and freshmen.

One of the big differences between team camp and practices during the regular season is the chance to work on fundamentals without worrying about game preparation.

“It’s different because we get to work with a variety of different people — new freshmen coming in,” senior Molly Bryant said. “We get to take our time and really think about the technical things that we need to work on.”

Along with the morning session of team camp focusing on technical skills, the Firebirds scrimmage in the afternoon and hold daily conditioning work throughout the offseason.

“I feel like we’re still in the season, and in a sense we are,” Bryant said. “If we want to get through the season successfully, we need to work throughout the whole year.”

Looking to fix their offense, the Firebirds believe it all starts with their passing and making sure their final passes puts their forwards in good positions to score.

“It’s nice to see the group is eager already to go fix what we thought were mistakes from the end of the season,” Free State coach Kelly Barah said.

Platz added: “Maybe not a quick fix, but it’s solvable through us practicing. We’re all really going to work at it because that’s what we want. We want to be able to get that last ball through.”

On the defensive third of the field, the Firebirds, who lost five seniors, only allowed 19 goals last season.

They were thrilled with their defensive success, holding some of the top teams in the state to only one goal, but plan to make sure that area improves with the offense.

“You always have to go back and fix some things that you didn’t do well and keep on doing the good things that you did,” Barah said. “We’re still doing some defensive stuff, and that’s where we want to start our passing anyways.”

Off the field, one of the biggest changes for the Firebirds, since their last game, is the emergence of new seniors and new captains.

“We just dismissed, and our captains always say, ‘Free State on three. One, two three,’ or whatever,” Platz said. “I got to do that for the very first time. It’s crazy. High school goes by really fast.”