Free State High’s girls soccer team could not overcome an early first-half deficit and lost, 3-2, to Olathe South, Thursday at FSHS.

The Firebirds scored the lone goal of the second half, but were unable to find the back of the net a second time to tie the game before the end of regulation.

“We gave up two goals that we usually don’t give up,” FSHS coach Kelly Barah said. “Obviously we got back one, but we couldn’t get the other one to tie the game. I think both halves we really executed our passing, and it was just unfortunate that we couldn’t get the win tonight.”

Rosemary Newsome and Maren Kahler scored the Firebirds’ two goals, and both said they were in perfect position to score thanks to nice ball movement.

“It was really a lot of work by my teammates,” Newsome said. “I think Maddie (Dieker) played a ball in. Tanna (Fanshier) took a shot that bounced off the goalkeeper, then I just tapped it in.”

Barah credited the two goals and the Firebirds’ other scoring opportunities to keeping the Falcons’ defenders on their heels.

“Every single one of them just came from the run-up play, which is what we wanted in terms of an assist and runners always getting in and penetrating to find a finish,” Barah said. “We were really excited that all of our goals came from the run-up play.”

Kahler’s one-timer was assisted by Allix Ice. The senior forward felt the final result did not indicate how the game was played.

“We definitely dominated the possession in that game,” Kahler said. “We just couldn’t quite execute.”

The loss dropped the Firebirds’ record to 8-6 with two games remaining before postseason play. Free State will return to action against Leavenworth at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at FSHS.

“We just have to get back and do some little things a little differently, I think, but not too much,” Barah said. “There’s not a huge thing to fix right now. If we had a huge thing to fix right before the playoffs, we would be in trouble. It’s just little things here and there to make sure that we’re the well-oiled machine that we should be.”