Vermont Green FC Cliches Playoff Spot With 3-2 Win Over Seacoast United
Vermont Green FC clinched a spot in the 2025 USL League Two playoffs with a 3-2 victory over Seacoast United.
Judewellin Michel started in goal, with Moussa Ndiaye and Brandon Marshall paired at centerback. Gabe Fernandez and Alex Hall started as wing backs while Diego Rived paired with Eskil Gjerde as defensive midfielders.
David Ajagbe, Zach Zengue, and Pearse O’Brien were the attacking trio while Jacob Labovitz was the lone striker up top.
The Green had to battle with a Seacoast side that was bunkering down early in the match. Labovitz was the man who broke the deadlock in the 31st minute. O’Brien played the striker through the middle and Labo was in on goal and finished with power.
Labovitz has started the last two matches (including the win over Seacoast). The 26-year-old is a grizzled veteran in USL League Two terms but has been a key player in Vermont’s last two wins.
“My expectation was pretty much whatever I needed to do to help the team,” Labovitz told The Blazing Musket after the match. “At the beginning, I knew that it's a long season. The long game is a lot of guys who get injured, guys who go back to college, rosters will get thin at some point.So whenever I was called on, I'm ready.”
Vermont entered the half with the lead and control of the match but things changed in the second half. Seacoast came out of the locker room with passion and was putting the Green on the back foot by pressing.
But Vermont regained control of the match thanks once again to Labovitz. Zengue sent a cross into the box after striker on the counter and while Labo didn’t get a clean touch, the ball eventually found the back of the net in the 64th minute.
“He's got an incredible instinct, and the things he's good at, we can't teach anyone else,” head coach Chris Taylor said of Labovitz. “So it's an incredible asset.”
Soon after, Vermont would make some changes that brought some familiar faces to the pitch. On USL League Two deadline day, the Green acquired Sam McCann, Bernardo Prego, and Revolution Academy product Gianluca Armellino. Both McCann and Prego previously played for the Green. The Green also added Brandon Parrish, Fernandez, and Hall in June.
McCann and Parrish replaced Labovits and Ajagbe after the second goal. But in the 69th minute, Vermont conceded a goal, shortening the deficit to one.
Another return occurred in the 85th minute as Prego replaced Gjerde. The outside back looked right at home and displayed his skill and pace soon after coming on to the pitch.
These guys are desperate to come back, even if they've got some other options, or they've got some other experiences,” Taylor said. “We're lucky we've got Adam, who's the best sporting director in the game. These guys want to be part of the club and we know they know it's a really good option. If they don't have the professional opportunities on the board at the moment, which they're looking for, we can give them an option that's close enough. You saw the effect that Sam had and you saw having Benny come in with just his quality and his composure is massive.”
Diego Rived put the match away with a techy toe shot that shocked Seacoast goalkeeper Tobey Jahn and everyone watching in the stands. Still, the Phantoms didn’t go down without a fight as they clawed back with a second goal before the final whistle was blown.
“It was a weird game, because they didn't have anything to play for, which is dangerous,” said Taylor. “They kind of bunkered in, which made it hard, and we got that goal in the first half, but then they kind of played with a bit of recklessness in the second half, and we didn't deal with it well enough. At the end of the day, we came here to clinch a playoff spot and get three points. I told the guys before the game, it didn't have to be pretty, it had to be effective. So that's all that matters.”