In a rematch of last season’s regional final, Free State High’s girls soccer players were happy with how they played in one half of Monday’s game against Manhattan.

But the Firebirds couldn’t find the back of the net when they were playing their best offense in the second half in an eventual 1-0 loss at FSHS.

Manhattan (3-0) scored the game’s only goal with less than two minutes remaining in the first half. After a foul was called outside of the 18-yard box — to the dismay of the Firebirds — MHS junior Cailey Perkins snuck a shot inside of the near post, which appeared to spin off of Free State’s defensive wall.

“I just told my team, we need to get all of the elements out of this, be it the weather, be it the refereeing,” Free State coach Kelly Barah said. “We thought we didn’t do the things that we needed to do well enough to be able to get a better result.

“Yes, we played, at some moments, beautiful soccer, but we need to make sure we play long stretches of that.”

The Firebirds (1-1) controlled the tempo in the second half with strong ball movement from their forwards: Emma Yackley, Eyerusalem Zicker, Sabrea Platz, Brittany Hoffman, Reagan Sullivan and Julia Larkin.

They took six of their seven shots in the final 40 minutes, earning four corner kicks, but couldn’t convert on their opportunities around the net.

“I think the second half, we did a lot better,” Yackley said. “We were a lot more aggressive. The first half, we were kind of just out of place. We were running all over the place.”

In the first half, Free State’s main scoring opportunity was in the opening minutes when Larkin tried to push a shot through traffic on a corner kick.

Throughout the final 40 minutes, the Firebirds had a couple of shots fly over the net, including a free kick from Yackley outside of the 18-yard box with 17 minutes remaining.

Free State sophomore Cassidy Warden caught a pass inside of the box, but couldn’t fire off a shot before Manhattan defenders converged on her while she tried to shift the ball to her strong foot.

“It just wasn’t clicking tonight,” Yackley said.

Free State’s defense, outside of the free kick, stood strong against Manhattan’s attackers. Defenders Sidney Yother, Molly Bryant and Kate Odgers limited shots on goaltenders Jessica Ellebracht (four saves) and Kaelyn Weiss (two saves).

Plus, Free State midfielders Maya Hodison and Sydni Beeley helped clog up passing lanes.

The Firebirds will travel to Shawnee Mission Northwest at 7 tonight, continuing a stretch of four games in five days.

“Having to play these four games right now and going into the Sunflower League schedule right away is a good barometer for us to see where we’re at,” Barah said.