Class M Boys Soccer: Amundarain Cashes In For Ellington

Eric Amundarain scored with 11:29 remaining in the second half to lift No. 8 Ellington to a 1-0 victory against No. 11 Tolland at Middletown High School.

MIDDLETOWN — After a 2-0 semifinal victory over No. 1 seed Lewis Mills, Ellington's Eric Amundarain thought he had let down his teammates.

Amundarain missed out on a pair of volley opportunities against Lewis Mills. Improving in that area became a concentration point for Amundarain in the days leading up to Saturday's Class M boys soccer championship game.


That concentration paid off for the Ellington junior.


Amundarain cradled in a volley pass from freshman Alexander Domingos about 15 yards out on the left side and curled a shot to the inside of the right post, past Tolland goalkeeper Kyle Boutot.

"We practiced a lot of shooting the past couple weeks since we started the tournament," Amundarain said. "I know one of my main focuses since the semifinals, after I missed two volley shots similar to that, was to better my shot off the volley and get it on net. And this one was just better than I could have ever imagined.

"It was an amazing pass from [Domingos]. He got it right where he needed to. I had missed an easy shot really early in the game, so I just knew I had to concentrate and get a touch on it, settle it as much as I could and then rip it."

Tolland's Ryan Greenberg lifted a shot past Ellington goalie Bailey Bassett with 45 seconds left, but the ball rang off the crossbar. Bassett and the Ellington defense were able to stave off a wild scramble in the box following the shot.

It was the fifth state championship for Ellington (16-3-2) and first since 2008.

"The tenacity in the entire match, both sides, that's what finals are supposed to be," Ellington coach Roy Gurnon said. "Tolland was very difficult to break down. We didn't string enough passes together to hold the ball very much. But in the long run, a terrific play by [Domingos] to get the ball out to Amundarain and that's a great goal. That's a great goal."

Tolland (14-6-1) controlled the offensive flow for much of the game but couldn't find a way to beat Bassett.

"We really lost being us," Tolland coach Jim Leahy said. "We played well all year and possessed the ball well all year, and we struggled to score a little bit. That's really who we were today. We had some good chances, but Ellington played a great game, and finished, and that's often the difference in a soccer match."

Greenberg, a freshman, led the Tolland attack much of the day.

"Someone just cleared the ball over the top, and I saw the ball coming in, and it was a pretty crazy moment," Greenberg said of the late shot that nearly tied it. "I just tried to lift it up over the keeper when the keeper came out. It just hit the crossbar."

Said Gurnon: "That was just an awful lot of pressure. It's almost amazing that the ball didn't go in, to be honest. But our back line has been absolutely tremendous all season long. Again today, they did the job."