SPRINGFIELD — Granby blinked and Lenox Memorial was ahead by two goals.
“They were playing way harder than we were at the beginning,” Granby girls soccer coach Bob Weaver said.
The three-seeded Millionaires scored twice in the first eight minutes of the Western Massachusetts Division 4 Girls Soccer Tournament championship on Sunday. Lenox defended its early lead and defeated the four-time reigning champion Rams, 3-0, at Central High.
“I don’t think we were ready for their quickness up front right away,” Weaver said. “We knew they had some quick athletes. It was just one of those games where we came out a little flat. I can’t tell you why, because they were amped up to play today. I’m not really sure.”
The Millionaires’ Erin Czelusniak sent a shot in on goal from the left side and bounced it off the right post with 37:26 to go in the first half. Solia Herndon-Schmid ran in and one-touched the ball in to give Lenox an early lead.
Five minutes later, Lenox had the ball in Granby’s penalty box. A Millionaires forward took a shot that deflected off a Rams defender and onto the foot of Herndon-Schmid. She scored again to double Lenox’s lead.
The Millionaires’ forwards and midfield rarely had issues with possessing the ball in the first half. On the back end, Lenox marked the Rams forward Nora Young for the entire game.
“They were going to double and triple team Nora,” Weaver said. “We tried to play off of that and get some other kids involved.”
Young was able to get a decent look on goal with 9:43 to go in the first half from a tight angle on the right side. She almost slipped the ball past Lenox goalkeeper Sophia Patella inside the near post, but the ball went wide right.
Patella was a key part, especially in the second half, to the Millionaires’ success. She finished the game with 15 saves.
“Sophia is a great goalie,” Weaver said. “We knew coming in that we would have to make some great shots to finish.”
The Rams came out on the front foot in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Granby earned two corner kicks in the first two minutes and kept the ball in Lenox’s end of the field.
“We started to play. We really started to play,” Weaver said about the Rams’ start to the second half. “We moved the ball better, looked for angles and got the ball in behind their defense.”
Young had a chance to score with two free kicks midway through the second half, but both attempts went over the crossbar.
Granby’s best opportunity to score came with 13:20 remaining in the second half. Julia Frappier carried the ball down the end line and slid a pass to Kaeleigh Croteau in the box. Croteau sent in a hard shot on goal inside the left post, but Patella recovered and made a sliding save.
Top-seeded Granby kept the pressure on by earning corner kicks and creating space down the wings, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Lenox started to get the ball out of its own end midway through the second half and began to create scoring chances. The Millionaires’ third goal was a high looping shot from Czelusniak. She received the ball at the point from teammate Molly Knight. Once she settled the ball, she turned and sent the shot over Granby goalkeeper Julia Gavin and inside the right post with 9:07 to go in the match.
Granby (14-5-2), which had won two straight Division 4 titles and two straight Division 3 titles before that, will graduate eight seniors: Young, Frappier, Gauvin, Hannah Sudsbury, Ali Parent, Kayla McCreary and Cara LeBlanc.
“It’s been a great senior run for them,” Weaver said. “They knew what it took to get here. It’s the first time they have seen defeat in four years. All credit to Lenox. They deserve it. They came out 100 percent right off the bat.”
Young and Frappier have been members of the varsity team since the eighth grade.
“They are two special athletes,” Weaver said about the duo. “They really are. It’s a bittersweet ending. … It’s heart-wrenching.”