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JERREY ROBERTS

Emily LaFleur of Granby, center right, moves the ball against Hailey Cox of Holyoke Catholic, center left, Thursday. Others in the front row are, from left, Falon Rooke and Emily Biegner of Holyoke Catholic and Melissa Strycharz of Granby. In the background are Granby players Stephanie Isabelle, top center, and Brooke Labrie. Granby won 2-0.

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JERREY ROBERTS

Hillary Ladeau of Granby, left, heads the ball as Gillian Cassidy-Payson of Holyoke Catholic defends Thursday. Granby won 2-0.

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JERREY ROBERTS

Adara Ash of Granby, right, scores past Holyoke Catholic goalie Mary Beth O'Hare Thursday. The Rams won 2-0 to clinch the Pioneer League title, their first since 2003 when they captured the Franklin County League.

GRANBY - The Granby girls soccer team dominated possession of the ball Thursday, leading to two goals, a shutout and a Pioneer League championship.

The Rams won their first league title in six years with a 2-0 win over Holyoke Catholic to conclude their regular season.

"Anytime you can win a league, especially one with as many good teams in it as ours, it's pretty special," said first-year Granby coach Nuno Pereira.

"That was one of our goals coming in," he added. "First was to make the tournament, second to win the league, and third, ultimately, to win Western Mass. We're very excited and very pleased with the way the season turned out, but we're not satisfied quite yet."

The Rams (13-2-3, 7-1-2 Pioneer) outhustled the Gaels (3-13-1, 0-9 Pioneer) in the early going, winning nearly every ball and turning their possessions into offensive opportunities.

Granby's first score came 25 minutes into the game when Adara Ash and Carmen Marino were in a two-on-two situation just outside the top of the 18. Marino beat her defender cleanly and slipped the ball past the second Holyoke Catholic player to an open area where Ash collected the pass and tapped it into the goal. It was her team-leading 17th goal of the year.

Marino and Ash continued to play well together throughout the game, making quick passes to each other for good scoring opportunities.

"Me and Ash played last year together, the chemistry has been building since then," said Marino, whose assist was her 10th point of the season.

The Rams' second goal came in the 15th minute of the second half. Brooke Labrie received the ball behind the defenders on a throw-in, and drew Gaels goalkeeper Mary Beth O'Hare who came out to play her. Labrie slid a pass to a streaking Nicole Ladeau, who finished the play into the empty side of the net.

O'Hare made five saves.

Gateway Regional (11-3-2, 7-2-1 Pioneer), which defeated Ware 2-1 in the final regular-season game Thursday, finished one point behind Granby.

The title is the first for the Rams in the Pioneer League and their second overall. Their last title was in 2003, in the Franklin County League. The next year Granby won the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament.

Pereira is optimistic about his teams chances in this year's tournament. "No matter who we face we just have to worry about how we play," he said. "If we play the way we've been playing we should be fine."

Tournament seedings will be announced Nov. 6.

Rams goaltender Abby Hurlburt, who earned her seventh shutout of the season with three saves, also has confidence in her team. "The offense is strong, the defense is strong. We play really well together."