Rhode Island FC were back at Beirne Stadium for the first time in more than three weeks to take on North Carolina FC on Saturday, July 27th. Rhode Island FC sat in 8th place in the Eastern Conference standings, holding on to the final playoff spot in the East, with 25 points. North Carolina came to Rhode Island positioned directly behind RIFC in the standings in 9th place with 23 points.

In North Carolina’s last five matches, they’d lost to the best team in the league (Charleston Battery), beaten the worst team in the league (Miami FC), and drawn against three high quality opponents (Detroit City FC, Sacramento Republic FC, and Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC). Rhode Island, of course, entered this game having continued their blazing hot form – winning four of their last five matches, and extending their unbeaten streak to six matches.

Rhode Island imposed their will on North Carolina FC for the first 30 minutes of the game, but failed to capitalize (or even get a single shot on target) during the dominant period. Once North Carolina FC scored the opening goal against the run of play, much of the wind in Rhode Islands sails seemed to die out – until, for the second match in a row, coach Khano Smith’s 2nd half substitutions changed the game with a pair of goals to secure the victory for Rhode Island FC.

For additional post game content on the comeback victory against North Carolina FC, check out Matt and Ryan’s post match reaction podcast. My fellow writer Matt Hands also shared his post match thoughts. Matt was listed as questionable with a self-inflicted knee injury and being away on a family vacation, but he’s played through both ailments in order to give the people what they want.

And without further ado, here are my player ratings for Rhode Island FC vs. North Carolina FC on Saturday, July 27th, 2024.

My rating scale is as follows:

• 1/10 – Abysmal. You might as well have me on the pitch.
• 2/10 – Very bad
• 3/10 – Bad
• 4/10 – Below Average
• 5/10 – Average. The player didn’t necessarily stand out, but did their job.
• 6/10 – Good
• 7/10 – Very good
• 8/10 – Great
• 9/10 – Outstanding
• 10/10 – Transcendent performance. Watch out, because Real Madrid may come knocking.

Koke Vegas (GK) – 7/10

Koke didn’t have much to do in the way of making saves tonight – but he found himself plenty involved in the match, playing as an integral part of the defensive line while in possession. Koke had the 10th highest number of completed passes of all players in the match (33/37), which is quite an anomaly for a goalkeeper. Later in the match when RIFC were pushing to equalize and get the go ahead goal, Koke was standing near the halfway line in order to get the attack restarted after NCFC’s clearances.

As for the goal conceded, I believe Koke’s visibility was at least somewhat impaired by Yao and Nodarse, but more importantly, Maldonado should not have been left unmarked to run on to that ball. It was a very good finish.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 8/10

Frank was spectacular tonight as he led the team with 11 total defensive actions – five of those being successful tackles, and a game high four interceptions as well. He picked up an early yellow card for a handball, and I worried NCFC would target him as a result – but Frank dealt with it almost flawlessly.

Karifa Yao (D) – 6/10

Karifa has a clearly defined role in this team and he played it exceptionally well on Saturday. As the central anchor of the defense, he is there to make clearances (he led the team in this match with three), and to make safe passes to his partners in defense on either side or in to the midfield, with an occasional long ball mixed in. One of his clearances was basically a goal line save – during a stretch at the start of the second half when NCFC could have doubled, or tripled, their one goal lead.

Grant Stoneman (D) – 8/10

Stoneman saw a lot of the ball in this match and he was very effective with his possession. Not only did he have the highest number of accurate passes in the game (69), but he also led all players in passes in to the final third with 14. Stoneman’s passing range and vision adds a welcome new skill set to Rhode Island’s already very effective back line. On the defensive side, he also led the team with a pair of blocked shots.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 8/10

This was a return to form for Clay after a rocky match last week. Clay seemed to be everywhere on the pitch tonight, and led all players with an outrageous 12 ball recoveries. Sometimes a stat simply matches up with the eye test, and this was one of those times. If you told me after the match that he actually recovered the ball 50 times, I wouldn’t bat an eye.

Marc Ybarra (MF) – 4/10

I was nervous seeing Ybarra subbed off after 60 minutes, but it turns out maybe coach knows more than I do. Ybarra, regrettably, was the best option to make way for Herivaux as he was not winning balls at his usual clip and been dribbled past a very uncharacteristic three times.

After a continued trend from last week of Ybarra’s corners going to the near post, I finally realized (perhaps slower than most) that it appears to be a new corner routine. On the third attempt it damn near worked, as JJ Williams got the first touch on this one inside the NCFC box and played it back to Ybarra for a looping cross that found his partner in crime, Frank Nodarse.

Jojea Kwizera (MF) – 6/10

Kwizera led RIFC with three chances created – in the first half, he left his defender in the dust as he dribbled in to the box and played a perfect pass to JJ Williams that really deserved to end up in the back of the net.

Kwizera and Turnbull were neutralized for stretches of this game by the wide players on NCFC, but Kwizera still found ways to get himself involved and was making runs at the NCFC back line all night long. He picked up a needless yellow card for dissent in the second half.

Noah Fuson (MF) – 7/10

This was the second consecutive strong performance for Noah playing as the primary attacking midfielder and playmaker. Once again, he was heavily involved in a lot of our best build up play moving in to the attacking third. In fact, he led all non-defenders in passes in to the final third with seven.

Even beyond the beautiful ball that he played in to Herivaux for the game winning goal, Noah was constantly looking to break lines and play a progressive or creative pass to open up NCFC. Some were overhit, some were overly ambitious, but we’ve been missing a player who is regularly willing to try to make that killer pass.

Stephen Turnbull (MF) – 5/10

Again, the wide midfielders for Rhode Island FC were not given much space to work with from the NCFC defenders, and Turnbull suffered from this worse than Kwizera. He did take his opportunities to play some dangerous crosses in to the NCFC box — one of which sailed just inches over Albert Dikwa’s head right in front of the goal.

JJ Williams (F) – 4/10

JJ was active to start the game, with some strong hold up play (as always) and being heavily involved in build up. He made a great pass to strike partner Albert Dikwa in the first half that was nearly a very good goal scoring opportunity. He also was the recipient of a great pass from Kwizera that required nothing but a tidy finish – unfortunately, JJ put it just a few inches wide. He even had a headed clearance inside our own box.

But as the game wore on (and especially after NCFC took a one goal lead and began to play more conservatively), JJ’s effectiveness dwindled significantly – besides one very good chance that he created for himself in the second half. He was not his usual self competing for 50/50 balls as he won just two duels out of a total 16. He was dispossessed three times and had a lowly 53% pass accuracy. Nonetheless, JJ can make magic out of nothing, so you want him out there at all times.

Albert Dikwa (F) – 5/10

Dikwa had a relatively quiet game on Saturday as well, particularly after back to back standout performances. Again, part of JJ and Dikwa’s performances had to do with the flow of the game – both players looked relatively dangerous until the first NCFC goal.

It is telling, however, that substitute forward Mark Doyle had more touches in the opposition box in his 24 minute cameo than Dikwa and Williams had in 88 and 94 minutes respectively.

Subs

Zachary Herivaux (MF) (60th minute) – 7/10

Following Herivaux’s brace at Birmingham last week, it was no surprise to see him make an early second half substitute appearance. He was immediately active on both ends of the pitch – making deeper runs than you would typically see from Ybarra (who he replaced), but also helping Clay with his defensive duties in the midfield.

Then – in the 85th minute – Herivaux showed us his striker’s finish for the second week in a row (and third goal in two games). Has he done enough to earn himself a start at Detroit next Saturday? With a congested fixture schedule in the coming weeks, I lean towards thinking that he has.

He did pick up a yellow card for a tactical foul – I thought it was a smart play.

Mark Doyle (F) (70th minute) – 7/10

I’m not going to say “I told you so”, but I did say just last week that I still think Doyle can be an impact player for RIFC. Approximately three minutes after subbing on in this match, he proved me right with the equalizing goal. It was a simple header in to a wide open net off of a deflected shot by Grant Stoneman, but Doyle was heavily involved in the clever build up play to work the ball in to that position in the first place.

Isaac Angking (MF) (88th minute) – 5/10

He played six minutes, and had a single touch. Nothing really to evaluate here.