The value of a robust attack is obvious. And by its nature, it tends to hog the spotlight. But true title contenders are bolted into place with a well-built back line tailor made to both withstand attacks and start new ones. These teams have done as much as anyone over the past few years to build defenses worthy of a championship.
Montreal Impact U18 (11 goals against)
Statistically, the most defensively robust team in the entire Development Academy at the U18 age range for the 2014-15 season might surprise you. That honor goes not to the usual suspects - RBNY, RSL, LAG, FCD - but to the Impact, who’ve erected a giant wall of ice around their goal so far this season. It’s true that fixtures in the Northeast Division haven’t been as thick as in other areas of the country, so those 16 games played isn’t as much of a sample size as perhaps some others.
