Ledyard — Senior goalie Dan O’Brien, who engineered 20 saves Wednesday night, some of them which glanced off his fingertips, spoke of the St. Bernard School boys’ soccer team going “places no other St. Bernard team has been.”

“We made it to a platform like this,” O’Brien said. “We fought until the last minute.”

Finally, in double overtime, it was top-seeded and fast-paced Windham which came up with the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II boys’ soccer tournament title, beating No. 2 St. Bernard 2-1 at Ledyard High School.

Windham junior Abimael Garcia-Mendez scored with 1 minute, 7 seconds remaining, skipping a ball into the left-hand corner of the goal to end it and earning Most Outstanding Player honors in the opening game of the league’s boys’ soccer championship doubleheader.

Another 1:07 would have brought penalty kicks.

The teams, which did not meet during the regular season, were scoreless in the first half, with O’Brien saving a shot by Windham’s Branlee Dimas with :43 remaining.

Windham, though dominating the scoring chances in the first half, did not break through until the 20:04 mark of the second half. Windham’s Oliver Coj Morente fired a shot from the left-hand corner that didn’t possess very much of an angle but bounced around enough to find its way past O’Brien, eventually scored as an own goal.

The Whippets celebrated the lead, with goalie Aaron Palacios-Mendoza charging to midfield to join a joyful huddle. St. Bernard appeared stunned by the turn of events, with coach Joe Purtill later calling it a miscommunication.

But the Saints weren’t done.

With 10:36 left, St. Bernard forward Jose Pacheco crossed a ball from right to left with just the perfect touch to teammate Ben Syphrett, who tied the score at 1. Pacheco also assisted the game-winner in a 1-0 semifinal victory Monday against Montville.

Pacheco had a dangerous scoring chance with 7:32 to play and Windham reciprocated with several opportunities in the final moments of regulation, as the level of tension raised itself to a fever pitch. O’Brien punched a Windham shot over the top of the goal at the 2:39 mark.

An emotional Garcia-Mendez accepted the MVP trophy for the Whippets (16-1-1), who were the ECC Division III regular-season champions.

St. Bernard, the ECC Division IV champ, is 15-2-1.

“That’s how much he loves this team and loves this game,” Windham coach Zack Konopka said of Garcia-Mendez’s reaction. “... We definitely knew (St. Bernard would) be organized. We knew they’d pack it in and try to stop us. I knew they’d have a game plan for us; they’re well-coached.

“We made it difficult for ourselves. We like to make it difficult for ourselves. It seems like in a final, you never get to play your best game. We lived up to that.”

St. Bernard was 12-5-1 last year and also won the ECC Division IV title, but managed to eclipse even that this season with shutouts of Division III opponents and traditional nemeses Griswold and Montville.

“I was definitely confident, confident in my squad,” said O’Brien, in his first year as the Saints’ starting goalie. “... In the past, we had individuals who were very talented but there’s something about the team chemistry this year. We have good camaraderie. I knew we had a solid squad.”

“We knew what to expect. They’re very fast, very technical,” Purtill said of Windham. “... That’s the way the ball bounces (with the own goal). We had some adversity this year; we knew we had to keep playing. I would have liked to have gotten another goal, but that’s an excellent team. They are very talented.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com