photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State senior Riley Prier passes the ball in a 2-0 loss to Gardner Edgerton on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Lawrence.

No matter what has happened during the regular season for Free State girls soccer, the Firebirds have had a trend of going into the playoffs and upsetting teams.

The Firebirds hold a 3-11-1 record with one game left in the regular season. They’ve struggled to score, having never scored more than twice in a game and having the seventh-fewest goals scored this season in 6A.

But the Firebirds haven’t lost faith. The senior class knows what they’ve done in the past and knows that the rest of the season is not guaranteed. For the eight seniors on the team, it’s important to not take each game for granted.

“You’ve got your senior leadership that their spirit is not going to let that happen,” Free State coach Tyson Heck said. “I’m excited for it. I’ve got my reservations. The next few days and practices will be really just trying to get the team in touch with where that heart is at and find out what we really want.”

Cara Jeffries, a senior defender on the team, has been playing soccer for a long time and will continue to do so at Missouri Western State next year. But that doesn’t mean that finishing her Free State career the right way isn’t important. Jeffries said that playing alongside her Free State teammates has been the highlight of her high school career.

“It’s super important keeping the mentality that we have to play for each other,” Jeffries said. “That’s the only thing we have to play for. That’s the biggest thing going into every game — playing for each other because this group is special.”

The biggest advantage that the Firebirds have when it comes to the playoffs is their position in the 6A West. The 6A East is dominated by the Kansas City metro area, an area that has a strong soccer culture. Free State spends its season competing against Sunflower League teams and players who have spent their lives playing high-level soccer.

“The playoffs, it’s so easy to upset teams because they don’t play the competition we do,” Riley Prier said. “We have a good chance to win (games). But we definitely have to fight hard and get some goals.”

Just because the Firebirds have pulled off upsets in the playoffs doesn’t mean the team is guaranteed to do so again this year, and the team knows it. The Firebirds have more to work on as the playoffs quickly approach, and it’s going to be a challenge with every team knowing that it could potentially be the last of the season.

“We still have to go in ready to battle and play hard every single game,” Jeffries said. “It doesn’t matter who is on the other side of the field.”

For the following practices and final game of the season, the Firebirds are going to have to figure out the offense. Free State has spent more time at practice working on shooting and moving the ball down the field with short passing. The Firebirds often rely on deep passes to set up scoring chances, and moving the ball with shorter passes helps the team set up better scoring chances. Senior Lauren Jackson said the Firebirds know their teammates better, which has helped them have a better understanding of how to connect on those passes. To compete in the playoffs, the Firebirds are going to need more short game.

In Free State’s 2-0 loss to Gardner Edgerton on Tuesday, the Firebirds had more success creating scoring opportunities in the first half with a greater emphasis on short game. Prier said the team needed to continue emphasizing that in the second half, but that the team has improved offensively.

“We’ve grown a lot from the beginning of the season,” Prier said. “We tend to play the ball over the top just because there’s pressure that we’re facing on the back line, but just taking a deep breath and finding that open pass has been really important for us.”

The Firebirds know what’s at stake and what they can do to improve their chances of pulling off road wins in the playoffs. But at the end of the day, the most important part is the faith the team has in each other.

“It’s crazy to know that as much as they have not had that (regular season) success, they still have the great attitude to come back and push and push,” Heck said. “That’s all you can ask for.”