The 2026 USL League Two season begins for Vermont Green FC on Saturday as the defending champions cross the twin state line for a road showdown with Seacoast United Phantoms. The match pits the last two USL2 National Champions against one another in what’s sure to be a high-intensity rivalry match.
HISTORY
Saturday’s season-opening contest will be the tenth meeting between the two clubs. Seacoast has dominated the fixture historically, winning six contests to Vermont’s three. The Granite Staters swept the series in 2022 and 2024, and handed the Green their last league loss—in the 2024 Eastern Conference Semifinals—en route to lifting their first National Championship.
In 2025, the Vermonters flipped the script. On May 31, Chris Taylor’s men defeated the Phantoms 4-0 in a downpour at Virtue Field, the largest margin of victory in the history of the young rivalry. On the return leg in Epping, NH, Jacob Labovitz scored twice in a 3-2 win for the Green.
Prior to 2025, the Green’s only win in New Hampshire came in 2023, when Yaniv Bazini scored twice in a 2-1 victory.
SEACOAST IN FOCUS
Seacoast United is a youth and semi-professional soccer club based in Epping, NH, serving the coastal region of the state. The club’s USL2 outfit, known as The Phantoms, have been playing competitive professional and semi-professional soccer since 1996.
Seacoast United Phantoms are led by new boss Drou Goff, who will look to utilize the strength of the club’s deep and highly respected youth network to build a formidable roster in hopes of a bounce-back USL2 campaign.
The New Hampshire side opened the 2026 season on Wednesday night with a 3-2 loss to NEFC at the Seacoast Outdoor Athletic Complex. The Phantoms scored first, but then endured a three-goal barrage from New England, and will enter the weekend with no points yet to their name.
Last year, the Seacoast fell flat in their title defense, finishing sixth in the Northeast Division with 5 wins, 2 draws, and 7 losses after the departure of Head Coach Alex Ryan, who joined Bobby Murphy’s staff as an assistant at USL1’s Portland Hearts of Pine.
DOS SANTOS RETURNS HOME
When Vermont Green takes the field against Seacoast United on Saturday, all eyes will be on one player caught between two worlds: Marco Dos Santos. The Seacoast United homegrown—now a Vermont Green standout—returns to his home state to face his former club in the opening match of the Green’s title defense.
Dos Santos—a key piece of Seacoast United’s 2024 National Championship team—made a splash in the New England soccer scene when he committed to Vermont Green in the 2026 U.S. Open Cup. Once a thorn in the side of the Green Mountain Boys, Dos Santos wasted no time showing his professionalism and commitment. He played a crucial role in David Ismail’s match-winning goal that sent the Vermonters past USL1’s Portland Hearts of Pine on a freezing night in March.
On Saturday, the winger will have the added pressure of playing in his home state, against his former team, in the opening match of Vermont’s title defense. Despite that, Dos Santos has proven time and time again to be dependable in big games—at the academy level, in college, in the Open Cup, and especially in USL2. Should the gaffer select Dos Santos in his starting XI to take on the Phantoms on derby day, he’ll be one to watch.
WATCH THE MATCH
The hosts have communicated that the match will be streamed live on the USL League Two official streaming platform, SportsEngine Play.