WORCESTER – Three years of excellence finally paid off for the Peabody girls soccer team at Worcester State’s John F. Coughlin Field Friday.The Tanners laid claim to the school’s first state championship since 1993 and the first by a girls team since 1985 as Katie Brunelle’s goal with 3:26 left in the first half was the difference in a 1-0 win over East Longmeadow in the Division 1 title match.”For Katie to score in her final game is a dream come true,” Peabody coach Dennis Desroches said. “We hung in there with all the opportunities we had and were fortunate that the one goal held up.”In completing an undefeated season (22-0-2) and notching its 58th win in the last 66 games, the Tanners showed they could win on a night when things were far from clicking at full steam.The West sectional champion Spartans (18-3-1) were under constant siege from the opening kick as Peabody owned possession of the ball for what seemed like all 40 minutes of the first half.Many of the chances came off the foot of Hayley Dowd, who was snakebitten from the get-go. She misfired on a free kick in the fifth minute and then saw Victoria Digiacomo fan on a pass in the box in the ninth minute.The pressure kept coming but East Longmeadow kept dodging haymakers like the were going out of style.Digiacomo shanked a shot from near point blank range off a fantastic feed by Dowd with 24 minutes left in the half. Dowd then missed on a free kick from 13 yards as East Longmeadow kept living on the edge.”We had to dig deep,” Dowd said. “Me and Vicky didn’t have a very good night up front but that says a lot about how this team is.”It was beginning to look more and more like Peabody was going to head to halftime in a very frustrating scoreless tie. Then the Spartans made what proved to be their one mistake of the night.A pass back to Stack in goal caught the Spartan netminder off her line and she had to scramble back to keep the ball from going in the net. She was able to get a foot on the ball but her pass went right to Brunelle who rocketed a shot into the net for a 1-0 lead at halftime”It would have been tough to swallow not scoring with all the chances we had,” Desroches said. “But the girls didn’t let it get to them and we were able to get that one late.”Peabody nearly doubled the lead early in the second half when Dowd got behind the defense and had a breakaway. Stack, though, came out to cut down the angle and made a stellar kick save and with it seemed to ignite the East Longmeadow attack.For after Dowd’s chance, the tanners would not have a truly quality chance the rest of the way.”(East Longmeadow) played us tough the whole way,” Desroches said. “They were an excellent possession team and they really out played us for much of the second half.”Leave it to the unheralded Tanner defense, though, to deliver the trophy to Lowell Street. Caitlin Lodi’s diving save on Kristin Casey’s bid midway through the half proved to be the only chance the Spartans got despite three late corner kicks.”Our defense has kind of been overlooked all year but it’s probably one of the best in the state,” Desroches said. “They played so well all year long for us.”All that was left was the celebrating as the Tanners finally ended the mission that was set in motion with a quarterfinal loss to Westford Academy a year ago.”Last year really was a driving force for this team,” Desroches said. “They came in this year with a purpose.”