Rhode Island FC have done it again with a 3-0 road victory at Louisville to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Rhode Island is the only team to beat Louisville at home this entire season, the only team to hold them goalless at Lynn Family Stadium since July 12, 2023, and the team to end their streak of nine consecutive semi-final appearances.

There was nothing flukey about this win, as Rhode Island went toe to toe with Louisville City and looked like the better side.

Once again – I have nothing but respect for the traveling Rhode Island fans. For any readers over the age of 25, I’m not joking at all when I say that you know the physical and mental toll that the lack of sleep and 30 hours in the car over the course of one weekend can take on your body.

From the folks who I’ve spoken with who made the trip – including two of our own from Tide Talk – I think they would do it all over again tomorrow if you gave them the chance. I genuinely believe that the Rhode Island players seeing this many fans in Louisville will have inspired them for this outstanding performance.

Here are my player ratings for Rhode Island FC’s playoff game against Louisville City FC on Saturday, November 9, 2024.

Koke Vegas (GK) — 8/10

This was Koke’s best performance in a Rhode Island kit – and I don’t think it’s particularly close. While he only faced four shots from Louisville, none of them were routine saves. They were all fairly high degree of difficulty saves, and Koke dealt with each one perfectly.

If Koke didn’t make this incredible first save to protect our 1-0 lead just three minutes after our first goal, we could’ve seen a very different match on Saturday night. He wasn’t really tested again until late in the first half when he made another excellent diving save on a free kick attempt.

Then, with the clean sheet on the line, Koke makes another diving save on the last kick of the game. It was a poorly taken penalty kick – but he did much better than the Louisville goalkeeper to hold on to the ball.

Grant Stoneman (D) — 7/10

Stoneman was our most consistent defender over the course of the full match. He did not have quite the same defensive numbers as Yao and Duggan, but he made just as much of an impact. His two blocked shots were the most of any player in the game, and none was more important than this in the 51st minute:

Karifa Yao (D) — 6/10

This game was perfectly on brand for Karifa Yao. He was excellent defensively all night long, and led all players with 15 defensive actions – including a ridiculous 10 clearances (the next highest was Ybarra with five).

Then, deep into second half stoppage time, he was beaten by a long ball over the top and had to foul Phillip Goodrum in the box. Yao only gets a slight pass for this because 1. we were up 3-0 with just seconds left to play, and 2.) Koke did make the penalty save to preserve the clean sheet.

Morris Duggan (D) — 6/10

Duggan was very reliable at center back, per usual. In the first 10 minutes of the game, in particular, he comfortably bailed Rhode Island out of several dangerous situations.

I’m not worried about his injury suffered in the 65th minute – it looks like he wasn’t substituted because he couldn’t continue, but rather because Coach didn’t want to be down a man for ANY amount of time (while Duggan was treated) while holding on to a one goal lead at Lynn Family Stadium.

Frank Nodarse (MF) — 6/10

The Nodarse revelation at right wing back continued in this match. Like against Indy Eleven, Frank wasn’t really there to get forward but more for the defensive security that he offers – and he did offer quite a bit of it. He finished the match with 12 defensive actions (the second most on the team) and 3/3 tackles won.

He picked up a yellow card in the 11th minute for a relatively soft foul – but the ensuing free kick was a golden opportunity for Louisville to equalize after our opening goal. Speaking of the opening goal… Frank was credited with an assist even though JJ did most of the hard work – but Nodarse did get the poke on a loose throw-in pass from Louisville that started the move.

Clay Holstad (MF) — 5/10

I expect to get run out of town by an angry mob for this, but I actually thought this was a less-than-stellar Clay performance… and not entirely inconsistent with his recent performances.

Of course there are a lot of things that Clay will do well every time. Energy and effort are at 110% no matter what. His pressing helped lead to turnovers in the midfield, and deep into the game he made at least two ridiculous recovery runs that had Providence Brewing Company erupting with applause.

I actually thought Clay was much more impactful off the ball than he was on it. On the ball there were some moments of sloppiness – including a couple of long ball or field-switching pass attempts that were pretty far off the mark, holding the ball too long and being dispossessed, and two shot attempts that were also not particularly close to the goal.

Zachary Herivaux (MF) — 5/10

It wasn’t an especially flashy performance from Zach, but it was perfectly functional. He was probably the most quiet out of our three midfielders – but our midfield as a unit looked like arguably the best in the league, and Zach is obviously a significant part of that. He had a deflected shot sail just barely over the cross bar one to two minutes before JJ’s second goal. We really were knocking on the door in the moments leading up to that goal.

Jojea Kwizera (MF) — 6/10

Kwizera was as effective as ever getting up and down the wing, as he caused Louisville problems all night and led all players with four out of five successful dribbles. He was, however, less impactful in the final third as he failed to register any touches in the opposition box. His delivery on the three corner kicks that he took were also a bit of a mixed bag.

Arguably his best moment of the match was a warning shot straight across Louisville’s bow – as he fired a low shot from outside of the box, through traffic, barely wide of the Louisville net just seconds before JJ William’s goal to go up 2-0.

We do have a problem at left wing back for this weekend against Charleston. Kwizera will surely be re-joining the Rwanda National Team for their qualification matches on November 14 and November 18. We don’t currently have a like-for-like replacement for this position, which leaves Khano with no choice but to make multiple changes to the starting XI that has gelled so well for its last few games.

If recent substitute appearances are any indication, I would expect to see Kofi Twumasi slot in at left center back, with Morris Duggan moving up and to the left to fill Kwizera’s spot at left wing back. There are other options such as moving Holstad or Fuson to a wing back position – where they’ve played during this season – but I think it’d be best not to disrupt the midfield chemistry at the moment.

Marc Ybarra (MF) — 8/10

Koke and JJ Williams will rightfully receive most of the attention for their performances in this game, but there were a lot of defensive and midfield performances that were wildly important as well – none more than Marc Ybarra.

We were playing with a lead from relatively early in the game, and Ybarra was very smart in possession with the ball. He seemed to constantly make the right decision when to look up or push the ball forward, but also when to put his foot on the ball, invite a bit of pressure, and then pass backwards or laterally. He was a calming presence in the midfield, and it’s evident in his 92% pass accuracy.

Perhaps most importantly, Ybarra also intervened in several Louisville attacking moves – he finished the game with nine total defensive actions and seemed to constantly be making tackles or winning the ball back in areas that could have been dangerous for Louisville.

His corner delivery was decent too, as he kept Louisville on their toes with a few different deliveries.

JJ Williams (F) — 8/10

JJ Williams is essentially unplayable right now. While he did win 10/17 aerial duels – which is just an unbelievable amount of determination and commitment – I would say his overall game was not as strong as the performance in Indy. But it really doesn’t matter because he scored these two ridiculous goals.

First, he makes this goal happen almost single handedly. I will say in no uncertain terms, we have not seen him take on defenders like this all year, period.

Next, he makes a good read (well… actually, it was more just an embarrassingly bad pass), again dribbles at the Louisville defender, takes a good touch to get to his left foot, and rifles this past the keeper.

Noah Fuson (F) — 5/10

There’s a lot to unpack here going into this score. Several of the team’s best chances that did not result in goals did come through Noah. He may not have hit the same highs in chance creation as last week at Indy Eleven, but it was never going to be as easy at Louisville. His game was lacking in other areas, including only one out of six successful dribbles, and losing 12 out of 16 total duels.

His biggest moment of the game was the penalty kick in second half stoppage time. I would say the placement on this attempt (bottom left corner) was an improvement over his attempt in Charleston, but ultimately there was still not nearly enough power to get it past the keeper.

Subs

Kofi Twumasi (D) (67th minute) — 5/10

Kofi entered the game and almost immediately made a bad read that led to a numbers advantage for Louisville. Just moments later, he made a great challenge at the edge of our box – and was fouled – to relieve pressure. It was a bit up and down for Twumasi – he mostly defended well, but also completed only three out of his seven attempted passes.

In any event, I hope he’s up for it next weekend, as I expect to see him play a larger role with Kwizera out on international duty.

Albert Dikwa (F) (74th minute) — 7/10

What more can you really ask for in a 20-minute cameo from a forward substitution entering a game with a 2-0 lead? Dikwa did well to get fouled in the box and win RIFC a penalty. He did even better to kill the game by getting on the end of the rebound on Fuson’s penalty miss and burying it in the back of the net.

Mark Doyle (F) (86th minute) — 7/10

We’ve all always rated Mark Doyle at Tide Talk, and really never said a bad word about him on record that I can think of…

There wasn’t too much for Doyle to do by the time he entered this match – but he absolutely made the most of it with this amazing interception, run, and ball into Dikwa that led to our penalty shout.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) (87th minute) — 5/10

I saw one great tackle from AST deep into stoppage time to win the ball back!

Joe Brito (MF) (87th minute) — 5/10

Not enough to evaluate on here – but I think there will be more minutes for Brito next week as an indirect impact of Kwizera’s absence. Sign me up!

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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.