LUDLOW — It wouldn’t feel right if the Belchertown and South Hadley girls soccer programs didn’t meet in a Western Mass. final. And on Friday, for the fourth consecutive year, the two teams battled it out in the Class B playoffs – the third time in four years doing so in the title game.

Belchertown defeated South Hadley in the Class B championship in 2021, and the Tigers got their revenge over the Orioles in 2022. In 2023, they matched up in the Class B semifinals – a 4-3 South Hadley win.

The most successful Hampshire County girls soccer programs of the past half decade added another chapter to their rivalry at Ludlow High School on Friday night.

The top-seeded Orioles took advantage of an early penalty in the box, converted a penalty kick and never looked back. Belchertown added another goal three and a half minutes into the second half as it overwhelmed No. 2 South Hadley en route to a 2-0 victory, clinching the Class B crown for the second time in four years.

“For our seniors, to kind of book-end their career, as freshmen our program won Western Mass., and as seniors they won Western Mass.,” Belchertown head coach Kyle Thibeault said. “That was some of their motivation of the past two years. We won it one year, the next year we kind of just didn’t show up to the game mentally. Last year we battled and took South Hadley to overtime. This was probably one or two of the best games we played for 80 minutes.”

Friday’s Orioles win evens the series 2-2 in the PVIAC Western Mass. tournament. Every time the teams face off, it feels bigger than a soccer game – and the stakes are always high.

“It’s great,” South Hadley head coach Rich Marjanski said of the rivalry with Belchertown. “Belchertown is a great team, and we battle all the time. We get them one year, then they get us the next year. Congratulations to them. They were better than us today, and they were very deserving.”

In the ninth minute of the first half, Belchertown junior Alexa Karabetsos possessed the ball just inside of the left corner of the box. She maneuvered around a South Hadley defender before being knocked to the ground from behind to prompt a whistle from the official. He made a signal and awarded the Orioles with a penalty kick.

Belchertown senior Allison Morris – a defender – stepped up to take the penalty, and booted it to the bottom right corner of the goal past the dive of South Hadley goalie Olivia Athas to make it 1-0 Orioles less than 10 minutes into the game.

“Anytime you can take a lead against a team like South Hadley, it gives you that upper hand,” Thibeault said. “It was a foul in the box, but you gotta make PKs too. Allison is just solid at PKs, so we knew right away if we got one in the game it was gonna be her taking it. And she buried it. From there, we played well and dominated.”

Despite consistent pressure from Belchertown the rest of the way, South Hadley’s defense continued to hang on and Athas made a few key saves to keep the game 1-0 at the half.

But not even five minutes into the second 40, the Orioles were back on the scoreboard. The ball found Fallon Clancy about 10 yards outside of the box in the middle of the field, she squared up toward goal and locked eyes with her classmate and fellow forward, Brianna Ribeiro.

Clancy sent a perfect through ball past a trailing Tigers defender and short of the charging Athas. Ribeiro lunged at the ball, made contact and redirected it past Athas and into the goal to double Belchertown’s lead. It was a picture-perfect second goal.

“We told them if they score in the first 10 minutes of the half, that really lays out the game,” Thibeault said. “It puts the pressure on them even more. Getting that second goal, we always tell them that the last five minutes of the first half and first five minutes of the second half are huge. They’re critical. You can get another goal and go up or you can give up the equalizer.”

Belchertown keeper Jill DeBarge made five saves while Athas corralled 16 on 18 shots.

South Hadley (13-4-2) had come in playing tremendous soccer, winning four of its last five – the other being a draw. The Tigers simply couldn’t establish any rhythm on Friday, never truly getting into the flow of the game.

They’ll have another chance to do so as the seventh-ranked team in Division 4. South Hadley’s state tournament begins next week in the Round of 32 against the winner of No. 26 Monomoy and No. 39 Cathedral. Specifics of the game are still to come.

“[We never got settled], to be honest with you,” Marjanski said. “These guys are learning. I was just telling them, when you make mistakes, don’t hang your head and show everybody on the field. You just gotta make the next play. [Belchertown] controlled the game pretty much throughout the game, we were doing a lot of chasing and defensive work. They played better than us today.”

Belchertown (9-5-5) is No. 16 in Division 3. The Orioles will enter the state tournament as Western Mass. Class B champions and host No. 17 Tewksbury in the Round of 32 on Tuesday.