Rhode Island FC’s 2025 campaign in the USL Championship kicked off with a whimper in a 2-0 loss at Charleston Battery. I wouldn’t necessarily call the performance lackadaisical, but at the very least it was disjointed.

Several players were asked to play outside of their primary position and we looked out of sorts as a result. JJ Williams, Grant Stoneman, and Zach Herivaux were all presumably not fit to play a full 90 minutes, which required Clay Holstad, Jojea Kwizera, and Marc Ybarra to play out of their primary positions and pulled players who may not be regular starters for the team (Taimu Okiyoshi and Aldair Sanchez) into the starting XI.

I’m still down in South Carolina and my next bowl of She-Crab Soup is calling to me like the green goblin mask, so let’s get into these player ratings. I have not had the benefit of seeing the broadcast of the game, and Paramount+/Golazo don’t make it easy to get a replay – so I’d love to hear where folks saw things differently.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 6/10

This game could have gotten out of hand if not for some great saves from Koke. At least twice he was quick off his line to thwart a Charleston player who got in behind our defense. Juan David Torres’ set piece delivery was absolutely lethal, so there’s really nothing Koke could’ve done to stop the two goals.

Clay Holstad (D) – 6/10

Clay as an individual played characteristically well. He’s a very competent defender, BUT – not his fault – Rhode Island FC’s defense as a unit felt out of sorts and you have to think his insertion back there had something to do with it. Nonetheless, he was our most involved player nearly any way that you look at it, and had a goal line clearance in the 8th minute to keep the score 0-0.

Karifa Yao (D) – 4/10

Picking up right where he left off, Karifa won 7/7 of his aerial duels against Charleston. Let’s talk about the first Charleston goal though… first, it looks like Yao takes a clear touch off his head and then lets the ball roll out of play thinking it will be a goal kick?

Next, Yao is among the several guilty players (but perhaps he is the most guilty?) who were caught flat footed after Koke’s diving save off of the initial corner.

By the way, look at how pissed Maxi is… I love it.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 5/10

Frank played decently well for large chunks of the game – made some sound defensive plays, and made some of his famous galloping runs forward (especially later in the game), but I can’t ignore the second Charleston goal.

Did he… duck out of the way, at the near post? Anyway, if nothing else, his and his teammates body language after the goal suggests that he was at fault.

Jojea Kwizera (MF) – 4/10

Playing Jojea on the right flank simply did not work – it robbed us of his most crucial ability to get to the end line and play a cross or a low cutback pass. Kwizera had just two touches in the opposition box – Joe Brito had as many in just a 12 minute cameo. The repeated slipping on the grass thing was hard to watch up close.

Aldair Sanchez (MF) – 4/10

Aldair played most of his minutes on the opposite wing as my seat so I didn’t get a great read on his technical ability. But, similar to Kwizera on the night, the ball never really seemed to progress or move forward when it went out to Aldair on the left.

Marc Ybarra (MF) – 4/10

Ybarra was slotted into one of the two more progressive midfield roles with the inclusion of Taimu Okiyoshi, and it didn’t really work out in our favor. As a result, Ybarra was mostly cut off and not involved in play – putting up lower than average defensive statistics and not contributing to the attack either.

Taimu Okiyoshi (MF) – 4/10

Taimu started off interestingly – he was flying into challenges with a tenacity that I appreciated, but was also making me a bit nervous. A couple of times he lost the ball cheaply, but then won it back convincingly. After the first 10 minutes or so, he was largely a non-factor.

Maxi Rodriguez (MF) – 6/10

I know this was far from the best we will see from Maxi – but there was plenty to like about his performance even if it was a bad showing from the team overall. Maxi pressed hard, flew into every challenge, and evaded defenders with his technical skill. He played an outside of the boot pass in the midfield that was a level above anything I saw from our midfield in the entirety of last season.

Just as important to me – Maxi was barking orders at his teammates almost the entire evening – long before we were down two goals, Maxi was showing his frustration at the way the team was playing.

Another great Maxi anecdote – around 10 minutes after he was subbed off in the 78th minute, a ball came out of play about 20 feet beyond the RIFC bench. When none of the players on the field were showing much urgency to retrieve the ball and get it back in play, Maxi got up off the bench and SPRINTED, full speed (as if he was still in the game) to retrieve the ball.

Noah Fuson (F) – 4/10

Ryan summarized it best on the Tide Talk pod with a great, illustrative stat… Noah had the least touches (43) of any outfield player to play the full 90 minutes. It’s not that he was bad, he just wasn’t involved at all.

Albert Dikwa (F) – 4/10

Dikwa was quite underwhelming as well, with just 22 touches in 78 minutes played. I almost have a hard time even blaming Dikwa… why were we booting the ball long when it’s not Dikwa’s strength to win possession or create scoring chances for us this way?

Subs

JJ Williams (F) – 6/10

JJ played just over 30 minutes and it was immediately obvious how crucial he is to the way that we play. We felt more dangerous in front of the Charleston goal as soon as he came on. He was tied for leading all RIFC players with three shots and four touches in the opposition box.

Zachary Herivaux (MF) – 5/10

Neither a good nor bad performance from Herivaux – just average. His versatility was welcomed as he played his first 10-15 minutes at center back, before shifting into his primary position as a midfielder.

Grant Stoneman (D) – 5/10

Like Herivaux, it’s hard to say how much Stoneman specifically impacted the game. We certainly looked more composed once he came on – but was it him personally, or the fact that he moved us one step closer to what should be our regular starting XI?

Joe Brito (MF) – 7/10

Brito is one of the few players who can really hold their head high after this match. Brito picked up where he left off last season as a live wire off of the bench. He had both of Rhode Island’s only two shots on goal during his 12 minute appearance.

I know the commentators imply Brito should’ve done better here. I think it was a fine shot to win a corner, and the keeper made a solid save.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) – 5/10

Didn’t get time to see much of Amos – but I will say his two corner kick deliveries looked considerably better than Kwizera’s.

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Rating Scale:

• 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 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.