Eldredge rallies Greely past Hampden

BATH – The Hampden Academy Broncos, appearing in their first state Class A soccer championship game since 1998, were sitting pretty.

Goals by Alex Reynolds and Ahm Kongsuriya just 2:07 apart late in the first half, the latter off a header by Bob Burgess into his own goal, gave the Broncos a 2-0 lead over Greely of Cumberland Center Saturday.

But a perfectly placed highlight-reel diving header by Greely junior striker Iain Eldredge with just 38.4 seconds left in the half completely changed the complexion of the game. That set the stage for late second-half goals by Jake Dawson and Greg Frost that supplied the Rangers with their first state title since 1998 as they rallied for a scintillating 3-2 triumph at McMann Field.

“That was the game, that was the game,” Greely coach Mike Andreasen said. “If we didn’t score that [first-half] goal, we weren’t going to win. Against Hampden Academy, they’re such a quality team, it wasn’t going to happen.”

Junior midfielder Frost agreed.

“If it wasn’t for Iain’s goal, we wouldn’t have had the momentum,” Frost said.

Eldredge’s header was made possible by a rare left-footed cross by right foot-oriented senior back Sam Burrell.

“I’ve been working on my left foot a little bit,” smiled Burrell.

Eldredge said there was a Bronco defender “on my back, but I was able to get in front of him. I wasn’t sure if I could get to the ball, but I laid out and I was able to finish the goal.”

His header beat helpless HA goalie Max Silver to the goalie’s right.

Greely had several opportunities to equalize, but it took until their 12th shot at goal in the second half to tie it, and senior striker Dawson picked a perfect time for his first goal. Hampden had managed only three second-half shots up to that point.

“I was saving it until now,” said Dawson, grinning. “There was a scramble around the 12 and the ball popped out around the 18. The goalie was leaving that side of the net really open because the grain of the ball was going to the other post. So I cut it back.”

Silver said, “I couldn’t quite get it. I didn’t react quickly enough.”

On the game-winning direct free kick, Andreasen told Frost to take it instead of standout senior striker Alex Burnham because Burnham had put an earlier free kick way over the bar “and I knew Greg would put it on net.”

Frost said, “I saw the goalie lined up pretty much in the middle. There was a light wind coming, so if I just curved it up around the wall, looking for the right side of the goal near the post, usually, hopefully, those go in. The goalie got his hand on it, but the wind helped out.”

The Broncos pressed relentlessly for the equalizer but two free kicks by the dynamic and omnipresent Kongsuriya hit the Greely wall and the Rangers held on to complete a 13-4-1 season.

Reynolds roofed a loose ball off an Andre Cushing corner to open the scoring before Kongsuriya’s cross and Burgess’ accidental against-the-grain header made it 2-0.

The lightning-quick Cushing almost made it 3-0 when he broke through the defense, but back Paris Mansmann and goalie Joe Monthey combined to deflect the shot wide.

“We didn’t have our usual fire in the second half. They outplayed us and that’s why they’re holding the gold ball,” said HA coach Ryan Shaw, whose Broncos ended up 17-1-1.

Monthey finished with two saves on 14 shots and he also played a few minutes in the field just before the tying goal.

Silver wound up with four saves on 24 shots, 19 of those coming in the second half.