Free State girls soccer coach Kelly Barah is planning on throwing the game tape out and never thinking about Tuesday night again.

That might just be the most logical route following the team’s 2-1 loss at the hands of Shawnee Mission East at FSHS. The Firebirds were outplayed in nearly every aspect of the soccer match, which led to their fourth straight loss.

“We actually want to throw the game tape away, we don’t think we played particularly well,” Barah said. “We want to go look at a tape where we played Free State soccer that we are accustomed to and then to try and repeat that same performance.”

Despite not being in the win column since a 7-0 victory over Leavenworth on April 18, Barah believes his team has improved significantly over the last couple of weeks. And yet, Free State has four losses and a tie to show for it over that span.

But that wasn’t the case for the Firebirds (5-7-1) in their most recent one-score loss. All seven losses this year have come via a one-goal deficit.

The offense struggled to even maintain possession of the ball and posted just six shot attempts all night, all of which occurred in the second half.

“We don’t think our passing was the sharpest today,” Barah said. “Once you play a really good team, you have to be sharp. We just think it was a combination of too many bad mistakes and too many bad decisions.”

In the first half, the Lancers (5-7) dominated the possession. They recorded 11 shot attempts but were left empty handed at the intermission thanks to six saves by FSHS senior Jessica Ellebracht. She finished with eight saves, as SM East posted a total of 18 shot attempts.

Ellebracht was reinforced by a superb defensive effort from her teammates. Sophomore Julia Larkin silenced multiple fastbreak opportunities. Senior Molly Bryant and junior Kate Odgers also intercepted several passes, which would have likely led to more looks at the net.

Meanwhile, the offense was not able to reward the early defensive efforts.

“Every game like this is a learning experience,” senior Sabrea Platz said. “Today our style of soccer was overshadowed by theirs. We can’t let that happen as a team. The last two weeks we have been playing really strong, but today it didn’t happen.”

SM East broke the drought less than a minute into the second half with shot that sailed past a leaping Ellebracht. The Lancers added the decisive second goal just 12 minutes later on a one-on-one breakaway.

With less than four minutes remaining, the Firebirds finally got on the scoreboard for their third goal over the four-game skid. Junior Sydni Beeley’s penalty kick bounced off the crossbar, but Platz was there to punch the rebound in for her fifth goal of the season. The goal ties Emma Yackley for the team lead.

“Of course you wish you had more time (at the end),” Platz said. “A goal always gets the blood flowing again. But we needed that energy throughout the entire game and you can’t make excuses for that.”

Free State will travel to Olathe South at 7 p.m. Thursday.