Lana Walker doesn’t have much experience playing goalie.

But she has plenty of experience hitting the ground and diving after her target, which certainly came in handy for the Sycamore senior Wednesday against Kaneland in the Spartans’ 2-1 win against their Interstate 8 rivals.

With the Spartans (9-7-1 overall, 7-1 Interstate 8) clinging to a 1-0 lead in the second half, sophomore Taylor Mills launched a shot from the right side, past an out-of-position Walker.

The first-year goalie had to dive and tumble all the way to the left side of the net and came up with the shot, preventing the would-be equalizer from going in during the 65th minute.

“My dive is kind of like a volleyball dive,” said Walker, a 2025 Daily Chronicle All-Area Volleyball First-Team pick. “I kind of had a running start and got a touch on it. I didn’t know if I was going to get there either, but by some chance I got there.”

Two minutes later, Izzie Segreti connected on a free kick from the left side, just inside the corner-kick area. That pushed the Spartans’ lead to 2-0.

Segreti’s insurance goal proved pivotal. Kyra Lilly scored in the final minute, denying Walker and the defense their sixth shutout of the year.

The main thing, Walker said, was getting the win against the Knights (8-4-1, 5-1). Not only does it put the Spartans back into contention for at least a share of the conference title, it was their first win in regulation against Kaneland since May 7, 2019.

“It’s all I could have asked for,” Walker said. “I think we played amazing today, and that push is what we needed for conference to tie it up. And winning in regulation is amazing always and no PKs is also awesome always. It was just a great win and I’m super happy about it.”

Segreti opened the scoring in the 15th minute. In the middle of the field from about 20 yards out, she fired a one-timer right at the goal. It took an awkward bounce past Lilliana Guzman.

Segreti is up to 15 goals on the year, to go with 12 assists, both team highs.

Sycamore coach Kevin Bickley said Segreti’s second goal, which went top shelf to the far side over Guzman, was a highlight goal.

“Anytime you can get the ball in the air on a windy day, those are hard to manage,” Bickley said. “What a goal, amazing shot, upper corner, no one is saving that. She’s just been hot. She’s been finding the goal lately.”

The Knights came out firing early, but their offensive production fell off. Erin Doucette, the team’s leading scorer with 13 goals, had a run up the right side in the first half but the Sycamore defense cleared it in the third minute. Lilly had a free kick miss high in the fourth and Walker deflected a Doucette shot in the sixth minute.

Due to various weather postponements, the Knights hadn’t played since a 1-1 tie against DeKalb on April 23. After the six-day layoff, Wednesday’s game started a stretch of nine games in 12 days to close the regular season.

“I thought the first 10 minutes we were great and then the wheels kind of fell off,” Kaneland coach Scott Parillo said. “They played better so they deserved to win the game. I don’t know if it was the long layoff or what but it was definitely ... we looked flat, we looked slow.”

The Knights won the first meeting between the two teams in Maple Park, 4-2, which was the first time Sycamore scored in regulation against Kaneland since that 2019 game.

If both teams win out, they’ll split the Interstate 8 title for the third straight year.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Bickley said. “It seems like there’s a lot of conversations about this every year, not being able to score in regulation. But I’m excited for the girls.”