The goals were flying on a rainy Saturday night as Vermont Green FC bested AC Connecticut 6-3 at Virtue Field. Despite another harsh weather game in Burlington, 1533 fans turned up to Virtue Field to watch the scoring extravaganza with goals from Felipe D’Agostini, Zach Zengue, Federico Tellez, and Nacho Lerech delighting the crowd.
The match began with the usual home possession the Green tend to enjoy but in just the 7th minute of the match Connecticut would be the ones to strike first on a spectacular finish from Daniel Istambouli. While it may have caught the Virtue Field faithful off guard, it wouldn’t be long before the Vermonters reasserted themselves.
In the 16th minute, the equalizer would come from the foot of Felipe D’Agostini. A cross from Gabriel Threadgold would nearly end up at the feet of Yaniv Bazini, who was taken down in the box, but the loose ball would be met by the precise placement of the Brazilian number 12.
Moments later, Zengue would get in on the action to give Vermont the lead. A crossed-in ball from Threadgold again was finished cleanly by ZZ, and from there, the boys would not look back. Zengue added a third goal for the Green and a second for his tally just before the half as he beat the keeper to a 50/50 ball on the break. Vermont would go into the half leading 3-1.
After the interval, Tellez entered the match to leave his impression. The energized attacker found the back of the net twice in the span of ten minutes, cutting through the defense in the 61st minute to score with his right, and in the 70th taking advantage of a dummied ball from Levengood to bury one into the far corner.
Connecticut would take advantage of defensive lapses from the Green late on, scoring two goals to catch the home crowd once again off guard, but the consolation goals never threatened the home side’s winning position.
In the 90th minute, on a hat trick, Federico Tellez unselfishly left teed up Nacho Lerech to add a sixth goal for the night. It was the sixth goal of the season for the Argentine, a club-leading tally. The assist from Tellez was enough to firmly secure his Vermont Maple Man of the Match award which he accepted graciously in front of the Green Mountain Bhoys after the match.
Vermont Green FC now have as big a league match as they’ve ever had in front of them on Tuesday as they head to Epping, NH to take on Seacoast United Phantoms. The Green can protect their newly acquired spot at the top of the table with a positive result.
The Green return to Virtue Field next Sunday, July 2nd at 1pm. You can get tickets now for the crucial games ahead at tickets.vermontgreenfc.com.
