By Michael Wojtychiw

It’d been a while since Lane’s girls water polo team had lost a conference game.

Five years, March 22 of 2018, to be exact.

The Champions, then known as the Indians, lost to Jones/Payton on the road on that exact date. Fast forward to Monday and the Champions were back at the Jones pool, ready to take on the Greagles with a conference title on the line.

And like that day five years ago, the home team walked away as victors, with Jones/Payton holding on for a 6-5 win in front of an overpacked crowd.

“Lane Tech, they’re our rivals, we lost to them in the city championships last year,” Jones/Payton goalie Lilly Gunn said. “This is an amazing feeling. 

“The game was supposed to be played last month but got canceled, so there was a lot of hype leading up to the game. This is such a good win and I’m so proud of how we were able to get things done.”

Both teams were coming off of wins over perennial state power Fenwick last weekend and looking to cement their spot at the top of the conference standings coming into their last conference game of the season.

Junior Nita Thaci got the Greagles got to a fast start with goals on two of the team’s first four possessions, including the first possession of the game.

From there on out, it was a defensive battle.

“Our goal is to identify scorers early on and ice them out,” the Greagles’ keeper said. “That’s our goal and shooting shallow end isn’t where we score too often it seems.”

The Champions weren’t able to get onto the scoreboard until Susan Palamentera-Reid scored to make it 2-1 over five minutes into the game. 

Josephine Olson tied it up on the first possession of the second half and Palamentera-Reid put Lane up 3-2 ha;fway through the period and let the Lane defense do the rest.

The Champions held Jones/Payton scoreless in the second period, forcing four turnovers along the way.

The lead wasn’t long-lived, however. Jones/Payton scored on the first possession of the second half courtesy of a Mya Garcia goal, followed by a Thaci goal a possession later that gave her squad a 4-3 lead.

A Garcia goal with two minutes left in the period and another by Morgan Butney on the fourth quarter’s first possession gave the Greagles what seemed like a commanding 6-3 lead.

Much of that was thanks to the play of the team’s defense, as well as the goalkeeping by Gunn.

The junior keeper finished with 15 saves for the game.

“After last year I had so much motivation and wanted to beat them,” she said. “I really wasn’t even thinking, I was just reacting.”

Despite being down 6-3 early in the final period, the Champions fought back with leading scorer Martha Palmentera-Reid scoring to make it 6-4 with 5:42 remaining and Megan Woell scoring to make it 6-5 with 2:57 left.

The Champions had a chance late in the game but Gunn came up with another save and Lane wasn’t able to get a good shot on before the game ended.

The two teams now prepare for the city championships next week.

“All the field players out there are playing amazing,” Gunn said. “They’re coming together and playing like they never have before. It’s so amazing to be back and seeing it.

“I think this is just motivation for us. We’ve been thinking ‘Can we do it? Will we do it?’

“And then we did it. I don’t think this is going to slow us down at all, it’s going to jump start it and we’re going to carry over as we keep playing in the playoffs.”