By Michael Wojtychiw

Payton came into Friday night’s city title game looking to make not only school, but Public League girls lacrosse, history.

Lane has long had a stronghold on the sport of girls lacrosse in the Chicago Public League.

Since the sport was incorporated into CPL play in 2015, Lane has not only won every city title, but also not dropped a game to a conference squad.

That streak, however, ended Friday when the squad faced the Grizzlies for the city title at Lane Stadium and the visitors walked away with a dramatic, come-from-behind 7-6 win.

Not only did it end Lane’s championship streak, it also marked the first time the Grizzlies had beaten Lane.

“What makes beating Lane so difficult is that they have endless numbers and endless legs,” Payton’s Savi Smith said. “They almost have twice our number. Once we started to pick up that they play slow and they have legs, we knew to use that to our advantage.

“Lane is a second-half team and we beat them with no numbers.

“Every year, this is every senior’s dream and we have worked so hard. To be able to do this not only for ourselves, but for everyone else who has started the program and worked the years before, helping us develop as players, it makes it that much more meaningful.”

“This doesn’t feel real,” Payton’s Froning said. “We came into this…there was stuff on social media that they were posting…

“We came into this game, playing for the seniors.”

The Grizzlies, a team made up of mostly players who had just started the sport once they started their high school careers, avenged last season’s city title game loss thanks to the play of its senior class.

Froning, who led the team with three goals, including two of its final three, played savior Friday night. 

After Payton’s Ellie Fulkerson scored on a free-position shot with 31 seconds to go, both teams were looking to grab the draw for the one final chance to go home champions.

It was the Grizzlies, however, that gained control of the draw, allowing Froning to set up her dramatics. The senior came around the back of the goal, going from left to right, jumped and put the ball past the Lane goalie with a mere six seconds remaining to secure the win, her team jumping on her in celebration.

“The (Lane defender) went up to get the ball, and I do this a lot in practice, I’m a lefty and that’s a move we’ve been working on…two people cutting to the same side,” she said. “I saw the girl go up and I turned around. It was right in front of me, I just shot it.

“I didn’t even see it go in, my eyes were closed. Everything just happened. I threw off my goggles and everyone just started screaming. It was crazy.”

As witnessed by the low score, the game was a highly defensive one, especially in the early portion of the game. After the start, neither team was able to put a ball into the back of the net for the first nearly nine minutes, thanks to multiple spectacular saves by both goalies.

Payton goalie Sophie Iturralde came up big with four saves early on, keeping the defending champions off of the scoreboard.

“She’s incredible,” Froning said.

“All of us, especially Sophia, started playing freshman year, Smith said. “She came in, she worked so hard all four years, working with the Northwestern goalie, going to camps, playing travel. She has grinded for this.”

“As a goalie, I feed off our team energy, so if the team energy is high, even if we’re losing, I’m trying my best,” Iturralde said. “And that really showed this game.”

Sage Raulston and Froning got the Grizzlies on the board first with two goals a minute apart, at the 16:29 and 15:24 marks of the first half.

A back-and-forth affair broke out with Iturralde making a couple more saves before Eliza McHale put Lane on the board with just over 10 minutes until halftime.

Then it was Lane’s turn to be on the defensive, especially after killing off a Payton woman-up opportunity after a Lane player got a yellow card. 

Stella Paulsen tied the game with 4:21 before the half, until Gabby Scholtes and Savi Smith put the Grizzles up 4-2. Lane’s Kendra O’Keefe scored with just over a minute before halftime to cut the lead to 4-3 at the half.

It was all Lane after the half, as it held Payton scoreless for the first nearly 19 minutes of the second half, primarily by changing up the gameplan.

“Our girls just kept fighting,” Lane coach Amanda Malstrom said. “This is a team that’ll always come back, always fight, they’ll get up, they’ll get down, but keep on fighting.

“On the girls side, there’s there’s only so many people across on the field, so we tried to do some strategic placing so we could make some cuts, get some distance and give us some more space.”

“We normally try to play fast,” Froning said. “When we lost last time, we were gassed, so tired. We realized if we slowed it down…it really helped us that refs gave us quarter breaks because it was really hot.

“Those timeouts were clutch, we needed those.”

After a number of shots were saved by the Payton goalie, senior Kayla Tirado, who plays attack, scored on a free-position shot to tie the game with 17:14 to go.

Senior defender Isabella Buonauro gave Lane the lead with 6:51 remaining at 5-4. However, the Grizzlies won the ensuing draw and 22 seconds later, Froning tied the game up at five with Payton’s first goal of the second half.

“They slowed the game down by putting a lot of pressure on us,” Froning said. “That’s what happened when we played them last time. We picked up on that and knew that if we waste time, we don’t need quick goals, we just have to run out time.

“We are really good at settling it and getting good looks, not just driving and shooting right away.”

Lane’s Kate McNamara gave the home team the lead again on a goal with 5:45 remaining. The Lane defense, led by its goalie, kept the Grizzlies off the board for the next 5:15, saving three key shots and it looked like Lane would continue its winning streak with under a minute left.

“I physically shake the goals off and get that energy out,” the Payton goalie aid. “My teammates really help me out and I realize there’s 11 other players on the field, so it’s a team effort and I re-focus.”

Payton wasn’t to be deterred though. The Grizzlies scored on Fulkerson’s goal, grabbed the draw and set up Froning’s heroics to make CPL history.

While the loss obviously wasn’t what Lane was hoping for, Malstrom is really happy to see the growth of the sport in the Public League. 

When the sport started in the CPL in 2015, there were only three teams and more teams have joined every year, this year with a total of eight teams.

“The teams have changed, back in the day there were only three teams, then four,” she said. “It took a lot of years just to convince CPS to have a girls championship because there wasn’t that many teams. Now it’s wonderful to see eight teams out there, competing. As a coach at Lane Tech, I want to see us winning all the time, but it’s good for our league, good for our teams to see the Payton’s rising up, new programs rising up.

“As a coach, it’s wonderful to see the growth of the sport. It’s a sport we all love, so it’s wonderful to see that. I do hope I can be a good ambassador for the other teams and help them be successful, because in the long run, that’s what’s best for all of us.”

*After the City Championship Lane Tech entered the IHSA state playoffs as the 5th seed in the one of the toughest brackets in the tournament. While Lane Tech defeated St. Ignatius 2-1 in their first playoff game, they fell in the regional Championship to Maine South 2-1.