Class D girls soccer: Granby claims back-to-back WMass titles, shuts out Hopkins

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The sequel had a similar ending.

The No. 1 Granby girls soccer team beat No. 2 Hopkins for the second straight season in the Western Mass. Class D girls soccer final following its 2-0 win at Clark Field on Wednesday. The only difference was, this year’s result didn’t need extra time as the Rams won in penalty kicks a year ago.

McKenna Zumbruski and Kalli White were Granby’s goalscorers, while goalkeeper Meredith Bartosz (five saves) kept a clean sheet for the fourth game in a row, highlighting the Rams’ title-clinching performance.

“It’s different every year,” Granby head coach Bob Weaver said. “It’s satisfying, [but] they’re never satisfied, they always want the next step.”

The Golden Hawks held the Rams’ potent offense to its lowest, single-game goal total of the Western Mass. tournament as Granby combined for 15 tucks in its first two tournament contests.

Hopkins’ attack wasn’t too far behind as it thumped Ware and Lee with 10 combined goals in previous rounds to return to the Class D final, but couldn’t beat Bartosz under the lights in the west side.

“I had great defense today,” Bartosz said. “Everyone was on lockdown for defense for me. The post saved me on one of them, everybody saw that, but it was a pretty good game overall.”

Ephie Vissas had both of the Hawks’ best scoring chances from about the same area on the pitch during the second half when they trailed, 2-0. The first bid rang off the left post after Vissas sent a floater on net from about 40 yards away. Later, on a free kick from slightly closer, Vissas barely missed with a boot as Hopkins did essentially everything but score in that final frame.

The Rams, on the other hand, benefitted off a pair of corner-kick opportunities. About midway through the first half, Zumbruski got a good piece of the ball within the box after it pinballed off various players’ shin pads, to score Granby’s opening goal.

Then early in the second half, White sent in the Rams’ second strike immediately after the ball was put in play as Granby’s gifted goalscorer got just enough open space in the box to make it 2-0.

“We work on it every day,” Weaver said regarding how often the team practices corner kicks. “Honestly, we even do it in the warmup where we serve the ball, after we take a couple shots, we’ll serve it… they hit corners like there’s no tomorrow.”

These two teams may see each other again once the MIAA Division 5 state tournament gets going, but it likely won’t be until later rounds as both the Hawks and Rams were placed within the top-10 of the latest statewide power rankings.

Hopkins (13-4-2) goalie Abril Cabrera concluded with four saves.

While Granby players soaked up another sectional victory after Wednesday’s shutout, they know the job is not complete.

“We’re trying not to be too over-confident or too under-confident,” Bartosz said. “We’re trying to find the balance in the middle. Our coaches have been saying, stage one complete, regular season, stage two, Western Mass., now we’re on to stage three.”

The Rams (12-3-4) ran to a Round-of-16 berth last season after winning the Class D championship.