Six years ago, eight current members of the Lyons Township girls water polo team competed at Stevenson High School as part of a club squad.
This past weekend, they returned to that scene with the rest of their Lions teammates to hoist a championship trophy. In the process, LT engineered a perfect campaign that concluded with a 13-8 victory over St. Ignatius Saturday night.
"This is what we've been working for ever since we've been playing water polo," said senior Katelyn Jacobs. "And for a lot of us, that's been eight years. We used to play tournaments at this pool. I don't know if we expected this to happen but I know it hasn't hit me yet. This is unbelievable."
The team's 35-0 record aside, the long-lasting impact of their accomplishment is the Lions became the first public school to win a state water polo title, boys or girls.
"I actually didn't know a public team hadn't won before," said junior goalie Grace Trilla. "But I was told today by a friend that goes to a Catholic school that she was cheering against us because a public school hadn't won before. It's pretty cool."
Head coach Lynn Castro also wasn't aware of the history made as LT joins Mother McAuley and Fenwick as the only girls state winners.
"I remember a few years ago Mother McAuley and Fenwick winning," said the first-year coach. "But I haven't been involved that long so I didn't know that. It's great, very exciting
"What we've been doing is we've been playing together for about three years. We've had a year-round program and that is the key to any succesful program. The other key for the Lions, they were a true team in every sense of the word. In fact, six girls had over 50 goals for the squad while Trilla did her best to keep the opposition off the scoreboard.
"We have all six girls who can score," said sophomore Kirby Kaptur, who finished with 79 goals on the spring, "so you have to have all six defenders on their game at all times. Being a sophomore and being a part of a team that is so great, everyone just works together. It is an amazing feeling.
"LT almost didn't make it to the championship game as earlier on Saturday, they were taken to overtime by Naperville Central. But the Lions found a way to prevail and the final match turned out to be a showcase of their supreme talent.
"We had a rough start this (Saturday) morning going into overtime," said senior Allie Grimes. "But we're here and we won. It is exciting and I'm happy that I got to be a part of it."
