Vermont Green FC grinded a 1-0 win over AC Connecticut on Saturday night, extending the unbeaten season to eight games. Another sold out crowd of 2,500 boisterous supporters were on hand to push the Green through to victory. Ask Ekeland scored the lone goal off an assist from David Ajagbe, and Judewellin Michel kept a clean sheet.
The starting XI to face AC Connecticut began with Judewellin Michel in goal, with an identical backline to Tuesday night’s match: Luca Costabile, Moussa Ndiaye, Brandon Marshall, and Amoni Thomas. In the center of the park, the triumphant trio of Eskil Gjerde, Joseph Picotto, and Ask Ekeland sat behind a front three of Stephan Njike and Enzo Dovlo out wide, with David Ajagbe at center forward.
With his start at centerback, captain Moussa Ndiaye became the club’s all-time leader in competitive appearances with 39. He passed midfielder Daniel Pacella, who played for the Green between 2022 and 2024.
The match started at a similar pace to many of the Green’s first eight games, with possession, high press, and an eye for goal. Equally similar to previous games, the opponents were able to perform in a compact defensive formation, looking to utilize speedy forwards to try and beat the Green on the counterattack.
After about 20 minutes of pressure, the moment finally came for the Green, when Stephane Njike broke his way through the left side, delivered a ball centrally to David Ajagbe, who found a the feet of Ask Ekeland waiting just yards away to curl a tidy finish into the bottom corner of the net.
Moments later, Ndiaye headed the ball into the back of the net from an Njike corner, but the referee saw a push in the area and waved the goal off.
The Green took a 1-0 lead into the break.
Gjerde, who was on a yellow card, was replaced by Diego Rived to start the second half. At the restart, the Vermonters looked to build on their lead, but the Connecticut gameplan stayed intact, and they continued to threaten the Green lead.
Ekeland, Picotto, Ajagbe, and Njike were replaced by Zach Zengue, Julien Le Bourdoulous, Jacob Labovitz, and Gabe Fernandez, who made his debut. The final change saw Enzo Dovlo make way for another debutant in Alex Hall.
In the final 10 minutes of the match, Labovitz headed a ball into the back of the net, but like Ndiaye’s attempt in the first half, it was called back, as the veteran was judged to be offside.
Former VGFC star Sam McCann nearly spoiled the party on several occasions—including stinging the crossbar from close range—but Michel and his backline were able to keep the sheets clean all the way to the final whistle.
Chris Taylor’s men secured all three points, but will have an instant rematch on Tuesday in Connecticut. Anything can happen in 180 minutes of football, and the Green will have to be focused during the longest away trip of the season if they want to keep claiming three more points and create some breathing room at the top of the Northeast Division.
Lineups
Vermont Green FC — Judewellin Michel, Amoni Thomas, Brandon Marshall, Moussa Ndiaye (c), Luca Constabile, Joseph Picotto, Ask Ekeland, Eskil Gjerde, Stephane Njike, Enzo Dovlo, David Ajagbe.
Subs — Tenzing Maske, Mohammed Ibrahim, Owen O’Malley, Zach Zengue, Gabe Fernandez, Julien Le Bourdoulous, Diego Rived, Alex Hall, Jacob Labovitz.
AC Connecticut — Luca Marinelli, Matthias Dick, Samuel Carrias, Justin Vallejo, Jack Ryan, Daniel Istambouli, Sam Mccann, Saviour Anyagri, Trevor Pegg, Elijah Stein, Jordan Blunschi
Subs — Tyler Doherty, Ethan Zaldivar, Nickolas Santana, Noah Holczinger, Joaquin Manon, Gavin Bravado.
Scoring Summary
VGFC: Ask Ekeland — 21′ (assist from David Ajagbe).
ACCT: No goals.
Maple Man of the Match: Moussa Ndaiye
Referees: Fabio Cardoso (R), Jason Weischedel (AR1), Jason Dizek (AR2), Richard DeGraff-Murphy (4th)
Weather: Perfect summer evening, 72°F
Attendance: 2,500 (sold out)
Post Match Quotes
“Bittersweet victory for us tonight. We are happy with the three points but we know that we have the quality to be better than what we shown especially in that second half. We have a great opportunity to show that on Tuesday by playing against them again.” — Goalkeeper #22 Judewellin Michel
Credit: Patrick McCormack