Vermont is Green.
The 2025 USL League Two Championship came down to a stoppage-time goal from Maximilian Kissel to lift Vermont Green FC past Ballard FC, 2-1, and win the amateur league title on Saturday night. The victory in front of approximately 5,000 fans at Virtue Field in Burlington, VT, capped off an Invincibles season for the Greens, who finish 2025 with 15 wins and four draws, including a penalty kick victory in the national semifinals.
A scoreless game at halftime gave way to a back-and-forth final 45 minutes with each team trading goals. In the end, it was a familiar scenario for Ballard as the team from Seattle didn't do enough to put a second star over their crest.
Here are four thoughts from Green FC’s first national championship victory from someone who might be the only person to have watched the game while at WWE SummerSlam.
1. This. Is. Deadlock.
Both teams traded physical play and missed chances in the early goings of the match.
Ballard’s Joe Dale skied a pass from Richie Aman right in front of the net over the bar in the 18th minute. Around ten minutes later, Vermont’s Arnaud Tattevin sent a shot on a near-open goal wide right. That was after it looked like Green FC had gone ahead in the 23rd minute when Tattevin seemingly scored off a failed Ballard clearance, but didn't notice the linesman had raised his flag.
Ballard had their own chance on goal late in the half with three back-to-back attempts. Green keeper Niklas Hereg saved the first one, and he himself was saved by his teammates when they cleared the ball off the line to stay scoreless.
Do you think Le Bourdoulous practiced this celly? VGFC 1 - Ballard 0
— Vermont Green FC (@vermontgreenfc.bsky.social) 2025-08-03T00:30:18.439Z
On the other side, Ballard’s goalkeeper Stockton Short was anything but as he stretched himself multiple times to make seven saves to keep his team alive.
The second half saw the game's physicality increase. First, Vermont’s Ian Abbey was brought down early on in the box by Ballard’s Khai Brisco. That set up a penalty for Julien Le Bourdoulous, who easily converted in the 50th minute and put the home team ahead. Both teams were shown yellow cards in the next ten minutes as the match started to lose focus.
Ballard got back into the game after head coach (and former Sounders great) James Riley brought in subs. In the 62nd minute, Charlie Kosokoff headed in a ball from Omar Yehya to tie the game back up, and things looked destined for overtime.
Michael Battista
2. Maxi Kissel: A familiar hero
Maxi Kissel will never have to pay for a drink in Burlington for the rest of his life.
Green's corner kick in the 90+1st minute by Le Bourdoulous went past the goal but found Zach Zengue near the left edge of the box. He played in a ball as Kissel broke past the line and knocked in the go-ahead goal. Kissel then sprinted to the packed stand behind the goal, ripping his shirt off to celebrate. A moment worthy of a yellow card in any book.
It's becoming a habit for Kissel to win national titles for Vermont at the death.
Last fall, while a senior at the University of Vermont, Kissel and his team won the America East Conference championship and became the Cinderella of the 2024 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament. An improbable run to the Catamounts’ first-ever Men's College Cup found the team facing a heavily favored Marshall University in the final. After a late Vermont goal forced sudden-death overtime, it was Kissel who scored the biggest goal in school history when he broke out and scored the game-winner to secure Vermont’s first-ever national championship in a team sport.
University of Vermont wins 2024 NCAA Title | Official Highlights
“I knew what I had to do — and I’m so thankful that I did it,” Kissel told the media after the match. “We did it again. We did it again!”
Kissel went undrafted in the MLS SuperDraft earlier this year.
Greg Van Belle
3. Ballard lives – and dies – in stoppage time
Ballard has now been on both ends of a USL2 championship-winning goal scored in stoppage time.
In 2023, Ballard battled Lionsbridge FC for the USL League Two title in front of their own crowd of thousands of fans at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila, WA. Lionsbridge, who had traveled all the way from Newport News, VA, for the game, scored an 80th-minute equalizer to make it 1-1.
But in the 90+4th minute, Cameron Martin headed in a free kick past the Lionsbridge keeper to secure Ballard its first-ever USL title.
Two years later, a set-piece in stoppage time once again decides a championship game featuring Ballard.
Seth Macomber
4. A stadium at 2X capacity
When a crowd of at least 5,000 fans gathers for two non-professional teams, you know it's special.
The interest in the match was palpable. More than 7,000 fans tried to get one of the 2,600 seats at Virtue Field on Wednesday morning. It took less than a minute for the stadium on the campus of the University of Vermont to sell out. For Green fans that couldn't attend, there were a huge number of watch parties, and the game was broadcast locally on the CBS affiliate in the Burlington area.
Congratulations to the Vermont Green who just completed an undefeated season. This is a fantastic soccer team, with great management, that has generated enormous community support and pride. Undefeated. Two overtime playoff wins. Now, national champions. Unbelievable.
— Senator Bernie Sanders (@sanders.senate.gov) 2025-08-03T01:52:16.015Z
But even still, the entire field area around Virtue Field was packed. The stands were full, and the fences around the goals had people behind them. Fans stood at the top of bleachers on adjacent fields to try to get a view of the game. It was an event unlike anything lower league soccer in this country has seen in some time. Especially for a non-US Open Cup match. If the official seated capacity of Virtue Field is 2,600, then packing close to double that on Saturday night shows the community support for this team and this sport.
Whether it was the Bernie Sanders-inspired tifo ahead of the game or the happy fans charging the field after the final whistle to celebrate with players to try and get autographs, this was a special night. More than anything, it's special to the members of the Vermont Green community.
Combined with last year's NCAA title and now taking home a USL championship, there's a real conversation to be had that the state of Vermont, the 49th most populous in the country, is the soccer capital of the United States heading into the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
