All in all this wasn’t a bad performance from Rhode Island FC, as they pulled a goal back in the 77th minute to draw with Monterey Bay, the now-second place team in the western conference.

Rhode Island FC out possessed, outshot and outplayed Monterey Bay for the majority of the match – particularly the second half – but once again lacked the creativity and finishing touch in the final third.

It’s not a bad result in a vacuum, but at a certain point (which has already passed, by my measure) we need to start turning these draws into wins and climbing up the league table. I’ve said it before and will say again, the slow start is disappointing considering we brought back 12 of the top 14 players in minutes played from 2024.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 6/10

I was impressed with Koke’s handling of this ball over the top in the 58th minute. It feels like a situation that we’ve seen Koke make a bit of a meal of in the past, but he got it just right yesterday.

Otherwise, he was quick off his line and made a couple of comfortable saves, and his distribution was simple but nearly perfect. The Monterey Bay goal was a complete defensive breakdown – absolutely nothing he could’ve done about that one.

Grant Stoneman (D) – 4/10

Stoneman was fine in this match other than Monterey Bay’s opening goal. As mentioned above, it was a total defensive breakdown for Rhode Island FC, and Stoneman was right there in the thick of it.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 6/10

Frank picked up where he left on Wednesday with another strong performance. He was defensively sound, solid on his duels and tackles, and crucially helped with ball progression again tonight. Frank was tied for the lead with 68 completed passes, including nine into the final third.

Rio Hope-Gund (D) – 6/10

Another very solid showing from Rio. He seems to always be in the right place defensively – and was “rewarded” for it by saving a goal with a big clearance in the six-yard box with no Koke behind him in the second half.

Rio also led all players with 11 defensive actions and did a good job in build up to get the ball up to Noah Fuson or Jojea Kwizera. This performance was more like a 7, but penalized due to his involvement in the Monterey Bay goal (broken down above).

Aldair Sanchez (D) – 6/10

Aldair continues to be among our most reliable and promising avenues of attack this season, and is not a slouch defensively either. If anything, Aldair’s teammates let him down once again by failing to get on the end of any of his great crosses (he finished the match 0/5).

Zachary Herivaux (MF) – 5/10

Zach was perfectly fine, but I could immediately feel the lack of Clay in the midfield. It’s also only Herivaux’s third start as he’s been slowly reintegrated after an injury, so a bit of rust (winning just 3/8 ground duels, for example) is to be expected as he gets up to match fitness.

Maxi Rodriguez (MF) – 5/10

This could be considered a slightly more pedestrian performance for Maxi after being excellent in both games over the last week – which makes this still a solid performance.

The thing that continues to impress me the most isn’t the technique, or the ball progression, or the creativity… it’s the drive to win that simply emanates off him at all times on the field. It’s something that I can only remember seeing a couple of times from other players for us last season, including JJ (Indy Eleven playoff game comes to mind), and Clay Holstad.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) – 4/10

One of my knocks on Amos after Wednesday’s match was that he doesn’t always make himself available to receive the ball or as an outlet pass. I think this was even more evident today with just 32 touches in 59 minutes. Clay, for comparison, had more touches in about half as many minutes after coming on.

To be fair, Amos put in two mighty shifts this past week, and his legs are probably bordering on simply being Jell-o at this point. Give him a rest and I bet he’s back winning every ground duel again in no time.

Jojea Kwizera (F) – 6/10

I said on Wednesday that with the amount of chances Kwizera gets to create something, you have to take the good with the bad. Today there was certainly more good than bad, as he led all players with five successful dribbles, 11 touches in the opposition box, and tied Maxi with two chances created. Taking stats out of it, he was a constant threat on both the right and left wing at different points in the game.

Kwizera also swung in the ball that leads to Brito’s game-tying goal. The cross itself doesn’t do much of the heavy-lifting here, but Jojea deserves some credit for generating the opportunity.

Albert Dikwa (F) – 4/10

Chico’s hold up play here was certainly better than it was on Wednesday, but he continues to squander goalscoring opportunities constantly. It’s very concerning for a player who is barely more than one season removed from winning the Golden Boot award for scoring the most goals in the league.

I mean what is going on here? It’s a beautiful, textbook striker’s turn from Chico to open up this opportunity. But how does he not get a clean shot on goal out of this? Sure, it’s well defended but… is it a confidence issue? is he still carrying a knock?

Noah Fuson (F) – 6/10

Noah was once again lacking killer instinct and a final ball in attack (to be fair, it mostly ran down the opposite wing through Jojea Kwizera), but is adjusting and picking up other areas of his game – leading all Rhode Island players with eight duels won.

Joe Brito, who replaced Noah after 60 minutes, had more touches in the opposition box in about half as much time.

Subs

Joseph Brito (F) – 6/10

Fascinating performance from Brito – I saw him waste three good scoring opportunities right in front of me when he was playing on the right wing. He and Kwizera switched sides, and then moments later Brito scored this absolute banger.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 5/10

I mentioned that when the game started I could tell that we missed Clay in the midfield. Well, when he came on I could tell that he looked tired. It didn’t stop him from gliding around the pitch, but it was clear that he needed (and probably still needs) a rest from this run of games the team has been on.

Aime Mabika (D) – 6/10

Mabika came on and, before the ball was even put in play, gave me a terrible flash back to Frank’s red card in Detroit a few weeks ago as he tussled with a defender on a set piece. After that, he was sound defensively.

And on top of the defensive work; rewatch the build up to Brito’s late game-tying goal – the move starts with not one, but two line-breaking passes from Mabika. Exactly what you want to see from a center back while chasing the game.

Taimu Okiyoshi (MF) – 5/10

Good cameo for Taimu – I liked seeing him push up the field as we continued pushing for the game winner. He chased a ball down and won it back deep in the Monterey Bay half, which got a big cheer from my section.

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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.