USL LEAGUE TWO: Stingy defense is the name of the game for the Vermont Green
- Dan Stickradt
- Jun 25
- 3 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — You won’t find the Vermont Green FC with players up and down the USL League Two leaders board this season.
That doesn’t matter.
The Green are playing as good of defense as any of the 144 teams in the USL League Two. Vermont Green are now 7-0-2 overall in Northeast Division league games and hold a 18-2 scoring edge with seven shutouts and a plus-16 scoring differential.
The Green are averaging 2.00 goals-per-game and don’t overpower anyone. In fact their highest output of the season is four goals. The team goals-against average is now a stout 0.23 through the nine games – one of the best in North America amateur/pre-professional ecosystem of thousands of teams in that space.
The only sides to score on Vermont’s stellar defense are the Albany Rush (4-1 win) and the Boston Bolts (1-1 tie). All of the other games finished in clean sheets.
Defensively, the Vermont Green took care of business once again Tuesday night in near unbearable conditions.
Vermont Green FC took home a point on Tuesday night in over 90-degree temperatures and humid conditions, posting a 0-0 draw against AC Connecticut in Northeast Division play at Western County Stadium.
The Vermont Green FC defense shut down another opponent for the seventh shutout and stymied the host’s attack for 90-plus minutes. It marked the first time this season that the Green were left off the scoreboard and only the second time they finished with a stalemate.
The Big Mean Green Defensive Machine, otherwise known as the Vermonters for short, still remain atop the table in the Northeast Division with 23 points. The Western Mass Pioneers are in second place with a 6-1-2 record and 20 points, while NEFC sits in third place in the nine-team division with 16 points and a 5-3-1 record.
AC Connecticut picked up the point but remained in fifth place in the division at 4-5-1 and 13 points.
Coach Chris Taylor fielded his ninth different starting 11 for the season. But again the story was defense and goalkeeping.
Moussa Ndiaye, Brandon Marshall, Gabe Fernandez and Owen O’Malley comprised as the starting four along that sturdy backline, while David Ajagbe spent some time in the second half on defense. Judewellin Michael stood tall under the framework and helped the Green earn another clean sheet and even stopped a pair of breakaways during the contest. He finished with seven saves.
AC Connecticut had a first-half shot ring off the crossbar, while an AC Connecticut defender cleared a shot off the goal line by Vermont’s Jacob Labovitz late in the second half.
The Vermont Green FC will hit the road Saturday and travel to Burlington, Vermont, to face New England FC, the third-place side in the Northeast Division, for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
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