What’s more disappointing than getting shut out at Pittsburgh last week? How about doing it again at Orange County SC this past weekend!

Rhode Island have now failed to score in their last four games on the road.

Rhode Island FC traveled across the country to take on Orange County SC on Saturday night. Orange County SC had lost five of their last six games, but still had everything to play for as they entered the match only three points out of eighth place in the Western Conference. Rhode Island were looking to secure three points to keep their hopes of hosting a home playoff match alive.

Rhode Island and Orange County split possession 50/50, but RIFC had twice the number of shots on target with six. Bryce Jamison of Orange County SC’s opening goal in the 31st minute would remain the only goal in the game, as Rhode Island failed to capitalize on their chances.

Despite the consecutive disappointing results and overall lukewarm run of form – Rhode Island FC still control their own destiny to get in to the playoffs, regardless of the results around them. Last week, we added a couple of resources to the site to help fans follow the run-in to the playoffs.

Ryan and Matt also unpacked this match in full last night on the Tide Talk post match reaction episode. They even correctly predicted that I was a bit too charitable with my ratings for this match!

Here are my player ratings for Rhode Island FC vs. Orange County SC on Saturday, September 14, 2024.

Jackson Lee (GK) – 5/10

Lee made two saves, but neither were especially challenging. His decision-making around when (or when not) to come off his line and claim or recover a ball was good. In fact, he led all RIFC players with five ball recoveries.

The broadcast team seemed to feel that he could’ve done better on the Orange County goal. You can decide for yourself from the clip below – but I thought he was left out to dry by his defense, positioned well, and mostly just unfortunate to get beat.

Grant Stoneman (D) – 6/10

At this point, we have at least four exceptional central defenders. It’s a luxury to be able to run out Stoneman and Nodarse on either side of Karifa Yao when Duggan is missing time with a lower body injury.

Stoneman was less involved in build up than I expected in Duggan’s absence, but he was solid defensively, as usual. He was tied for a game-high six clearances from dangerous areas.

Karifa Yao (D) – 6/10

Another game, another 100% success rate on aerial duels for Karifa Yao.

Since Duggan’s arrival, I’ve stuck to my opinion (with, admittedly, varying levels of conviction) that Yao should remain in the starting line up. So far he hasn’t let me down, and this match was no exception as he was strong defensively yet again, and more than adequate in possession.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 5/10

Let’s start with the ugly: where was Frank going on the OCSC goal? Watch the clip again (above, under Jackson Lee) and please try to explain it to me. He wasn’t solely responsible, but he was arguably the main culprit.

If you can look past that moment, he was actually quite good in this game. On the defensive end, he was tied for a game-high 10 defensive actions and won seven out of his ten duels. He also led all RIFC players with 15 passes into the final third – although his long ball accuracy was underwhelming at just 20%.

Zachary Herivaux (MF) – 7/10

I really liked Herivaux’s performance in this match – he seems to have picked up right where he left off before his injury suffered in early August. He was heavily involved in build up play, along with Fuson and Dikwa, for two of our best first half scoring chances. Additionally, he was active defensively and always looked to spring into attack quickly after breaking up any Orange County attacking moves.

Marc Ybarra (MF) – 6/10

Ybarra and Herivaux make a good pair in the midfield, as Ybarra appeared to be more involved in build up and attack than usual. Both midfielders kept it tidy with over 90% pass accuracy, but Ybarra also set up some good scoring chances in the first half – including a nice ball to Noah Fuson that was a high quality scoring chance that Fuson passed out of instead of taking a shot.

His set piece delivery was decent in this match as he found a Rhode Island head a couple of times, even if the eventual shots were saved or off target.

Gabriel Alves (MF) – 4/10

Gabi got the start with Kwizera having just returned from international duty. He has not looked entirely comfortable playing as the left wingback over a handful of appearances since July. He seemed to cut back and pass to the central defenders often, instead of getting forward and putting in crosses – in his defense, his teammates weren’t always offering a great option to him either.

I also believe the combination of Gabi and Nodarse being too high up the pitch is mainly what led to the OCSC goal.

Stephen Turnbull (MF) – 6/10

Turnbull proclaims himself as a traditional defender, but he led the team in shots at Orange County. I have no issue with any of the shots – even with three of them being blocked – as he continues to put himself in such good attacking positions where he should be shooting from. His best attempt, and one of the best Rhode Island chances of the match, came off of some nice build up play in the 18th minute.

His crossing wasn’t great in this match (0/4 accuracy), nor was his dueling (five wins, six losses), but he did have some good defensive moments to add to his contribution on the offensive end.

Jack Panayotou (MF) – 5/10

Eh. I think Jack still needs more time to click with the team, but it’s disappointing when he made such an immediate impact back in May when he joined the team for his first stint. He clearly jumps off the pitch as our most technically skilled player, but it’s not converting into enough chances – or even particularly good build up – at the moment. He did create some chances, including this one for Dikwa in the 54th minute.

I actually preferred Ybarra’s corner and set piece delivery in this match compared to Panayotou.

Noah Fuson (MF) – 6/10

With Fuson and Panayotou both playing in the attacking midfield role, I thought Fuson looked more useful during his time on the pitch. As has been the case since Noah took over as the starting 10 in Jack’s absence, he’s constantly providing an outlet for the wingbacks (mainly Turnbull, in this game, as he played on the right) or a forward pass for the midfielders and then looking to play them, or Dikwa, back in with a through ball.

Fuson had a game-high five chances created. On paper, it’s only one more than Panayotou created, but I thought Fuson’s were also the higher quality and more threatening opportunities.

Albert Dikwa (F) – 5/10

Dikwa is another player whose role has changed with the return of Jack Panayotou. In this match he wasn’t dropping deep or making runs on the wings as we’ve grown accustomed to, but instead mostly remained central and played as a true striker. He only had 22 touches, with six of those coming in the opposition box.

He had three shots on target. He perhaps could have made it a bit harder for the OCSC keeper, but generally their keeper played well. I’d be knocking Dikwa the other way if he tried too hard to find a corner and failed to put the shots on target.

Subs

Jojea Kwizera (MF) (59th minute) – 6/10

Kwizera came on and we immediately looked much more threatening down the left flank. His impact dwindled as the game went on (keep in mind, Kwizera played almost a full 90 minutes mid-week for Rwanda), but I can’t help but feel that starting the match with Kwizera could have changed this result – especially if he was fully fit.

JJ Williams (F) (70th minute) – 5/10

Williams came on and had three total touches – two of them were headed shot attempts. One narrowly missed, and the other missed by a larger margin. I’d love to see JJ get more touches, via better service, in a game where we are trailing by a goal.

Joe Brito (MF) (70th minute) – 5/10

Only 10 touches for Brito as well, but at least he was attempting to whip the ball in the box, with four cross attempts and two of them being accurate. In the dying minutes of the game, he put in a very dangerous ball that JJ almost got on the end of.

Clay Holstad (MF) (76th minute) – 6/10

Clay was lively in his brief substitute appearance. He’s the other sub that I look at and wonder, along with Kwizera, if the result could have been different if we had their energy and quality from the start.

Clay had a headed shot in stoppage time that had a good chance of equalizing the score, but the OCSC keeper, again, made a nice save.

Mark Doyle (F) (76th minute) – 5/10

Perfectly fine.

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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.