Free State sophomore Jacob Appleman fires a shot on goal late in the first half against Shawnee Mission North on Tuesday at FSHS.

Charlie Newsome had the ball at his feet and plenty of options.

Having just tried unsuccessfully to link up with Nick Howard in front of the goal, the Free State senior went for it again, chipping a ball from the midfield toward the top of the box that Howard chested to the ground.

With no one but Shawnee Mission North goalkeeper Blake Taylor standing in his way, Howard stayed composed and slotted the ball into the net. He put his hands on his head — only the reaction didn’t come from celebration, disbelief or anything other than the frustration of seeing the linesman raise the offside flag to erase his goal in the eventual 0-0 draw.

“Sometimes you just have to sleep on it,” said Free State coach Kelly Barah said after the match. “There’s not much to say about that.”

The “that,” in this case, referred not to the singular opportunity, but perhaps the dozens it must have felt like the Firebirds accrued and subsequently squandered on Tuesday.

Free State out-shot Shawnee Mission North 8-3 in the first half, 6-0 in the second, 4-0 in the first overtime and 2-0 in the second. There was just one thing missing.

“You have to have a certain passion inside you to put it in the net sometimes,” said Newsome. “And we just didn’t have that winning mentality tonight.”

Still, as the match progressed, a goal seemed destined.

In the first of the two extra periods, Howard was brought down on the edge of the box twice, neither time earning a penalty but instead a free kick that would later be cleared away. Moments after those chances, Free State’s Landon Sloan stole a pass from Sam Goldman and powered a shot toward the net. It bounced off the crossbar and out of bounds.

“Maybe we were keeping some goals for the later part of the season,” Barah would later say with a shrug.

Then the Indians practically invited a goal, committing a needless handball inside the box to set the Firebirds up with a penalty kick. Newsome lined up to take it and struck it well, only…

“Goalie just read it right,” Newsome said of the save. “You can always place it a little bit better, but sometimes you just have to say it’s not going your way.”

Ultimately, it wasn’t all bad.

The 0-0 draw moved the Firebirds to 2-2-1 on the season and snapped a two-match losing streak.

Yet as the players walked off the field, none of that positivity seemed to matter. Yes, it was a tie by definition, but to actually live it, it sure felt like something worse.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Newsome said. “No doubt about that.”