Rhode Island FC welcomed FC Tulsa to Beirne Stadium for a rainy Saturday night match that was loaded with playoff implications for both sides.

The Rhode Island goals felt imminent for the entire second half – but they left it until stoppage time to finally secure all three points with a goal from Albert Dikwa. Rhode Island FC now has five games remaining, and find themselves level on points with Indy Eleven.

For a full breakdown of the match:

• Listen to Ryan and Andrew on the Tide Talk match reaction podcast.
• You can also read Matt Hands Post Match Beacon to get his thoughts on the match.
• Our very own Fluffy Quahog Boy also discussed the match with fans on The Quahog Corner.

Here are my player ratings for Rhode Island FC vs. FC Tulsa on Saturday, September 21, 2024.

Koke Vegas (GK) – 5/10

Looking at the FC Tulsa goal, it was a very high-quality finish and there was a defensive lapse by RIFC for Tulsa to have that opportunity in the first place. On the other hand, Koke was probably a bit out of position (a known-hazard of playing with a progressive keeper) – and Aaron Bibout placed his shot perfectly where Koke would not be able to reach it.

Grant Stoneman (D) – 5/10

Stoneman’s game didn’t exactly jump off of the screen (which is perfectly fine for a central defender), but it was serviceable as always. The pass accuracy, at 74%, was lower than average but not by a huge amount. To be fair, most of the entire team’s long ball distribution in the first half was off – almost certainly due to the slick conditions from the rain.

Karifa Yao (D) – 6/10

Yao’s defensive numbers were strong, as usual (tied for a game-high 13 defensive actions and led all players with five interceptions), but he did so much more than that. He made crucial interventions all throughout the match, and he contributed to the RIFC attack much more than usual. In fact, Yao took one very clever and composed touch in the box during the sequence that resulted in the game winning goal. While his passing was below his averages in this match, he looked to progress the ball other ways including some uncharacteristic carries up the field.

Yao picked up a yellow card for a hard challenge, but it was absolutely the right play to make. He found himself out of position with a very dangerous Tulsa counter attack starting to break. He hacked down the Tulsa midfielder before he could play a through ball to their streaking striker (who was running into space where Yao should have been).

Frank Nodarse (D) – 6/10

Nodarse was tied with Karifa Yao for the game-high 13 defensive actions, and led all players with seven clearances. Nodarse, like all of our central defenders, had some errant long balls (again – going to chalk this up to the weather) but he also led all players with 13 passes into the final third – including a great through ball to Kwizera that led to an opportunity on a cutback pass.

Zachary Herivaux (MF) – 7/10

Herivaux being fouled four times in this match says a lot about the problems that he was causing for FC Tulsa in the midfield. Additionally, he was remarkably tidy in possession, leading all players with 95% passing accuracy.

All of this is secondary compared to his assist on the game-winning goal, which he made while laying flat on his back after being (arguably) fouled in the FC Tulsa penalty area.

I think myself and many other RIFC fans are open to the idea of starting Clay and Herivaux together as the two holding midfielders next match.

Marc Ybarra (MF) – 6/10

Ybarra put in a solid shift on both ends of the pitch. He even took a couple of shots in this match, which is something I’d like to see more of from Ybarra.

On set pieces, Ybarra seemed to mostly deliver to the center and top of the 6-yard box – it did lead to some dangerous opportunities, so they were not bad efforts. In the 34th minute, Ybarra put in a corner kick which led to a double penalty shout, followed by his own shot attempt which he hit the cross bar with.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 6/10

It’s tough to score Clay’s performance because I thought he was largely invisible in the first half. It was not Clay’s fault, as most of the play in the first half was happening down the opposite flank. However, Clay gradually became more involved from the RWB position as the game went on, and he certainly became a factor after he was moved into the midfield alongside Zach Herivaux.

Here is a gorgeous piece of build up play through our midfield that leads to a double chance for Clay and Marc Ybarra.

Jack Panayotou (MF) – 5/10

It’s certainly not been all bad from Panayotou since his return, but it’s not been good enough. He continues to look like the most technically gifted player on the pitch in every match with the way that he handles the ball, but it is still seemingly not all coming together and translating into meaningful opportunities.

With some of the other individual performances around the pitch in this match – I personally would lean towards having Jack be a high-impact substitute in the next game.

Noah Fuson (MF) – 8/10

MLS and/or European teams, stop reading here. There’s nothing to see here. (I know this applies to a sizable chunk of the audience for these posts.)

Fuson had his best game – or at least best half – of the season. Rhode Island was knocking on the door for almost the entire second half, and Fuson was at the heart of nearly every attacking move.

There have been very few performances from RIFC this year where a single player put the entire team on their back and said “we’re not losing this match”. Clay Holstad may be the only other player who has done it. I believe Fuson also will have cemented himself with this match as the primary number 10 for this team.

Enjoy this video of him scoring one of Rhode Island FC’s most important goals of the season:

Jojea Kwizera (MF) – 7/10

Kwizera was spectacular in this match and was only out-shined by Noah Fuson, as the two were constantly linking up to create chances and progress the ball up the field. Kwizera remains one of the USL’s most consistent “everyone knows exactly what he’s going to do, but he’s still going to beat his man”-players. His arsenal of dribbles, crosses, and cutback passes was absolutely lethal in this match. As a result, he led all players with 10 touches in the opposition box and created a game-high five chances.

It appears that we may be entering a second post-Rwanda-international-duty Jojea Kwizera era.

JJ Williams (F) – 6/10

I’m surely a bit biased because many of the long balls that JJ received were directly in front of my seat, but you can’t help but tip your hat at the way that he battles for every single ball that comes his way. He was 5/7 on aerial duels in this match, which is exactly what we’ve come to expect from JJ- though it wasn’t nearly as effective of a route as the Kwizera / Fuson interplay.

Again, I’d personally like to see us return to a strike partnership between Williams and Dikwa (instead of one replacing the other, as they did in this match) as I think our best run of form this season has come with the two of them playing together.

Subs

Stephen Turnbull (MF) (65th minute) – 6/10

Turnbull came on while RIFC was already putting Tulsa under immense pressure – and he added to that with a couple of dangerous crosses into the box, resulting in two chances created.

Turnbull has played the fifth most minutes on the team, so his omission from the starting lineup was likely just some rotation.

Albert Dikwa (F) (65th minute) – 6/10

Dikwa’s appearance was initially frustrating as he squandered his first two big chances of the game. However, it really doesn’t matter much since he eventually buried the big one. In second half stoppage time, Dikwa found himself in the exact right spot off of a scrappy play by Zach Herivaux, kept his composure, and fired a hard, high shot past the keeper at a tough angle.

Mark Doyle (F) (76th minute) – 6/10

Solid appearance for Doyle – he was involved in some tight passing in the box with Kwizera and Dikwa, and he ultimately was the one who got his head on Fuson’s cross, which Doyle headed back into a dangerous area that led to the game-winning goal.

Joe Brito (MF) (82nd minute) – 4/10

Brito has had a real renaissance coming off the bench over the last several weeks, but this was his weakest performance in awhile. He came on and was almost immediately dispossessed by getting muscled off the ball. Otherwise, he only had six touches so not a huge impact on the game.

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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.