Free State girls soccer coach Kelly Barah knew this night was coming. But he still wasn’t ready to let his seniors go.

After his team suffered a gut-wrenching, 2-1 loss to Hayden on Thursday at FSHS, Barah invited the home crowd onto the field to celebrate the senior group on senior night.

The group, which consists of seven seniors, joined hands with teammates and crowd members and formed a circle around the middle of the field.

Barah gave instructions from the middle of the circle and told everyone to shout out one last “1, 2, 3, Free State!” cheer before he found his place in the chain of hands.

“We’re all going to do this together,” Barah said.

The circle followed Barah’s instructions and shouted out the final cheer this season for Free State, which suffered defeat in the final seconds of its match against Hayden.

With six seconds left and the game tied at 1-1, Hayden sophomore Haley Karolevitz controlled the ball in Free State’s box and tried to attempt a shot on goal before she was taken down and rewarded a penalty kick.

On her penalty kick, Karolevitz watched the ball roll just past the right side of Free State goalkeeper Nicole Knapp and into the net. The goal ended any hope of the Firebirds winning on senior night.

“My heart dropped,” said senior Sydni Beeley, who will play soccer at Truman State University next year. “I was like, ‘Out of all the ways they could have scored, it was in a (penalty kick). (Knapp) almost got it, too. So, watching it roll slowly over the line was a little gut-wrenching.”

The goal was especially frustrating for Barah, since his team outshot Hayden, 6-3, and drew several yellow cards on the night.

“I think we did well enough to deserve better than what the final scoreboard was saying,” Barah said.

Junior Brittany Hoffman, who was moved into a more offensive role this season, led the attack for the Firebirds. She had three of her team’s shots and scored the lone goal for Free State (7-8-1) in the first half.

“Brittany has been really instrumental for us,” Barah said. “That’s why we moved her from the defense and stuck her up top there. I think she’s going to be able to give us a dynamic presence up top.”

Hoffman said she wished her team could have pulled out a win for the seniors, who she credits with being the team’s glue.

“They’re really positive,” Hoffman said. “Their morale is really good, and it brings everyone up. I’m probably going to miss that the most.”

An emotional Barah echoed Hoffman’s sentiment, and he said tears might flow from his eyes while he gives his speech during the upcoming after-season banquet.

“This is a group that really means a lot,” Barah said. “I told them I was not going to cry. I haven’t done that yet, so we’ll see how that holds up. They’ve done every single thing right. From day one.”

Barah said some of the seniors — Sophia Bone, Maya Hodison and Beeley — were tasked with starting as freshmen and making an immediate impact.

“And that’s a tough thing to do,” Barah said. “I’m really, really proud of these young ladies.”

Despite the loss, Beeley said she will always remember senior night because of the people that made being on the team so special for her over the past few years.

“I think everyone on (the team) is just so positive and so energetic that even after a game like tonight, we’re able to go out and celebrate senior night,” Beeley said. “And I see every person and see what I’m going to miss and how much they mean to me.”