Rhode Island FC welcomed Hartford Athletic to Beirne Stadium for the very first time on Saturday night in what was surely the most anticipated match up of the entire season by the majority of fans. RIFC were fighting to strengthen their position in the Eastern Conference, while Hartford Athletic – with their -16 goal differential – were fighting to prove that they’re anything other than the 2nd or 3rd most pathetic team in the entire league.

Rhode Island had their eight game unbeaten streak broken by Indy Eleven on Wednesday night, while Hartford were in the midst of a (genuinely unimpressive – despite what their fans would tell you) three game unbeaten streak.

Khano Smith’s decision to rotate heavily on Wednesday was fairly unpopular here at Tide Talk, but did have the desired result as Rhode Island went on to beat Hartford in a decisive 3-0 victory. The result put a significant dent in Hartford’s playoff hopes, and vaulted Rhode Island FC to 6th place in the Eastern Conference – just three points behind the 4th and 5th place teams.

For additional Tide Talk post match content, you have several options:

• Matt and Ryan break down the derby day win on the Tide Talk pod.
• Matt Hands’ Post Match Beacon gives a break down of the fireworks on (and off) the field
• FQB (@FluffyQuahogBoi) will be hosting the Quahog Corner on Twitter tonight where fans can discuss the game.

Here are my player ratings for Rhode Island FC vs. Hartford Athletic on Saturday, August 10th, 2024.

Koke Vegas (GK) – 7/10

I’m giving Koke an extra point on his rating for the clean sheet. It was a good performance – but, Hartford was kind enough to put most of their best chances well off target so Koke actually only had to make two saves (both of which he did fully catch and contain). His distribution was right on par with his season so far – which is, of course, exceptional for a goalkeeper.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 8/10

Frank doubled Rhode Island’s lead in the 48th minute with a headed goal on a set piece, making him the team’s second leading scorer. He also gets an extra point on his rating for celebrating with D36.

His defensive statistics were exceptional as always, but actually somewhat tame compared to his usual production. However, he was constantly intervening and shutting down Hartford attacks – oftentimes causing the Hartford player to run the ball out of bounds themselves.

Karifa Yao (D) – 7/10

Hartford may as well have just given up on the long ball in this match, because they were not getting anything past Karifa Yao. Yao won six out of his eight aerial duels, in addition to two headed clearances. He really didn’t put a foot wrong in this match, other than a needless yellow card for dissent.

Grant Stoneman (D) – 6/10

Stoneman opened up the scoring with a header from a Jojea Kwizera set piece delivery. Besides the goal, at times I thought Stoneman actually tried to do a bit too much with the ball on a few occasions – with three of his five long balls missing their target, and a couple of attempted line-breaking ground passes to bypass the midfield that resulted in turnovers.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 6/10

Maybe I’m just completely spoiled by Clay but I thought his performance, particularly in the first half, was on the quieter side relative to his usual showing. Part of this was likely his adjusting to a new midfield partner in Zach Herivaux.

He eventually settled into the game and became more involved in the attack. He finished the game with nine passes into the attacking third, and forced the keeper to make a save on a very good scoring opportunity in addition to a couple of off-target and blocked shots from around the edge of the box.

I thought the yellow card he picked up was unfair, as there were a handful of worse fouls in the minutes leading up to Clay’s yellow.

Zachary Herivaux (MF) – 7/10

Herivaux was everywhere tonight in the midfield – in particular, he was battling for absolutely every 50/50 ball, winning 10 of his 13 duels, recovering the ball four times, and was a perfect five for five on tackles in this match. He also hit a shot from outside of the box that forced the keeper to make a very good diving save to keep it out. I would expect Herivaux to maintain the starting spot for next match.

Jojea Kwizera (MF) – 8/10

Kwizera was a man possessed against Hartford tonight. He was running circles around Hartford on the left flank all night long – consistently getting in position to receive through balls down the left wing and either carry in to the box and make a lethal pass, or hit a dangerous cross. His seven chances created means he created more than two times as many chances as the next highest player.

He was also tracking back and contributing on defense all night long and had five ball recoveries to show for it. He was still running just as hard in the 90th minute as he was in the first, causing his man to run the ball out of bounds in our box twice in the dying minutes of the game.

Stephen Turnbull (MF) – 6/10

This was one of Turnbull’s stronger showings in the last several matches, as he was causing a lot of problems for Hartford on the right flank. Hartford had to resort to fouling him four separate times as he was continually able to get past them into dangerous positions. He also created two solid scoring chances off of crosses played from the right wing.

He had a volleyed shot that hit the crossbar in the 57th minute from near the top of the Hartford box that would’ve sent Beirne Stadium into hysterics.

Noah Fuson (MF) – 6/10

Noah won just one out of his fourteen duels and was dispossessed a game-high five times (and followed one of those up with a cheap foul which earned him a yellow card) but he was also playing dangerous through balls to Dikwa and Kwizera down the wings all game long. I think the stats look worse than what I saw via the eye test.

His set piece delivery led to a couple of dangerous chances in this match as well – including one which Frank Nodarse redirected with the top of his head and scored, for Noah’s team-high 6th assist of the year.

Mark Doyle (F) – 5/10

I was pleased to see Doyle get a start here, but he failed to make much of an impact on the game. He had some moments of good build up play working up the left wing and continued to get himself into attacking positions. He narrowly missed two opportunities to score off of chances created by Jojea Kwizera. Doyle won just one out of his six aerial duels – which is a harsh drop off from JJ Williams, who wins over 50% on average.

Albert Dikwa (F) – 7/10

Dikwa was a threat all night long to Hartford, both individually and as a creator for his teammates. His first big chance came just five minutes into the match, and truthfully he should’ve scored it. His link up play with Kwizera, Turnbull, and Fuson was exceptional, as was his willingness to take a foul to relieve pressure for RIFC.

Dikwa had a game-high seven touches in the Hartford box, and was finally rewarded in the 91st minute when Joe Brito got on the end of a ground cross – the chance entirely created by Dikwa – and put it in the back of the net.

Subs

JJ Williams (F) (60th minute) – 7/10

JJ subbed on and immediately did what he does best by winning a header on a Koke long ball that led to a good scoring chance for Rhode Island. Within five minutes, he also was in on goal thanks to a through ball from Jojea Kwizera – he elevated the ball and beat the keeper, but unfortunately sent it just wide of the far post. He also had the “hockey assist” on Brito’s 91st minute goal.

Marc Ybarra (MF) (71st minute) – 6/10

Ybarra only had nine touches in his ~20 minute cameo, but he picked up right where Clay left off when he subbed on – servicing the team in attack by being an extra body in and around the Hartford box, while always being in position to defend and help win the ball back or break up Hartford counter attacks. He had a crucial clearance on a loose ball in the Rhode Island box in the 77th minute.

Collin Smith (MF) (82nd minute) – 5/10

I didn’t see too much from Smith in his brief appearance. He did turn the ball over once, but it looked to me like he was fouled.

Morris Duggan (D) (82nd minute) – 6/10

We only had a few minutes to get a look at Duggan – but he was responsible for the throw-in that found JJ Williams and ultimately led to the third goal. Welcome to Rhode Island!

Joe Brito (MF) (82nd minute) – 6/10

Brito made a great run to put himself in the right place at the right time and finish the ball that Dikwa played into him at the edge of the six-yard box.

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For reference, 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.