Vermont Green FC Bounces Back Against Western Mass Pioneers
The tifo was right
In another top-of-the-table clash, Vermont Green FC was unable to secure a victory as a sold-out crowd watched a tense nil-nil draw.
Adam Pfeifer’s starting XI was an interesting one. Francesco Montali earned the start in net while the back line featured Nathan Simeon and Bernardo Prego on the wings with Sjur Dreschler and Moussa Ndiaye serving as center backs.
Sam Layton and Nick Lockermann served as defensive midfielders in the 4-2-3-1 with Zachary Zengue playing in the No. 10 role.
In an interesting tactical twist, Yaniv Bazini was positioned out on the wing opposite Gabe Threadgold who was playing further up the field than he usually would. Jake Labovitz was the lone striker up top.
“He goes out there a lot anyway,” Pfeifer said of Bazini’s positional change. “We probably asked him to do more defending than we would like to. We would like him to have a bit more freedom to concentrate on scoring goals but he did a good job. It was just the numbers and the guy’s available, we had to move some things around, maybe decisions that we wouldn’t have made otherwise.”
Early on in the match, Bazini had a great chance to score but was unable to find the back of the net in the 15th minute. Western Mass would return fire a minute later but Montali made a great reaction save.
As the game progressed, the intensity increased. Zengue was issued a yellow card in the 28th minute and Prego received one of his own in the 32nd minute. The Portuguese outside back would go on to play the rest of the match and even receive the Man of the Match award.
Prego was a problem Pioneers defenders as he used his speed and skill to create space as well as blow by opponents.
“He’s an experienced player,” Pfeifer said of Prego. “He’s played in a lot of big games in his career so he knows how to manage a game with a yellow card. He was fantastic.”
When the second half began, Vermont continued to accumulate chances. Zengue missed a chance in the 51st minute to score the game’s first goal and was a workhorse for the Green on Saturday evening.
Pfeifer made his first change in the 62nd minute as Jackson Castro and Gerardo Castillo replaced Simeon and Threadgold. Castro was able to make an immediate impact as he played Labovits in on goal but the striker failed to convert in the 64th minute as the Pioneer goalkeeper made an easy save.
In the final 10 minutes of the game, The Green controlled the match and were desperately searching for a goal. Ernest Bawa replaced Labovitz in the 80th minute to add some pace and energy in Vermont’s search for a goal.
During this time, Western Mass bunkered down as they looked to maintain the lead. The Pioneers also brought out the dark arts as they were constantly time-wasting highlighted by a late corner that saw the goalkeeper receive a yellow card after he moved the ball after it was placed on the ground.
Lockermann took the corner but The Green were unable to convert. A nil-nil draw is a good result against a top team in the division, but after dropping points to Seacoast United, the top spot in the Northeast seems all but secured by the New Hampshire club.
“Honestly, I think we feel okay with it,” Pfeifer said. “It was a really, really, difficult week, injuries and guys being away trialing at MLS clubs. So from that standpoint, it was a tough week and we were able to get through it today and get a result. Obviously we'd like to win the game but I don't think this one's going to keep us up at night.”
The Green return to the pitch on Tuesday as they head on the road to face AC Connecticut.