Everyone, we’ve made it. After what felt like a long 30 game regular season, we’ve arrived at the 2025 USL Championship Playoffs. RIFC did enough to finish 7th in the Eastern Conference and are set for a meeting with the 2nd seed Charleston Battery on Sunday afternoon down in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

In this preview, we’ll take a look at some of the previous meetings between these two teams as well as how they got here and what to expect on Sunday. Let’s jump into it:

• RIFC Season Opener in Charleston
  • The two teams first met in 2025 7 & 1/2 months ago in what was RIFC’s season opener. Charleston were coming off a season-opening 2-1 loss at home to Louisville City the previous weekend. Two first half goals from Cal Jennings sent Charleston on their way to an easy victory. RIFC never looked liked they were getting a result. Both teams are of course different teams now. RIFC will likely start 4 or 5 players on Sunday who did not start in this one
• Tight Game at Tidewater
  • RIFC got what on paper is their best result of 2025. JJ Williams scored the lone goal in this one with a powerful header from close range with about 20 minutes to go. As with the first meeting, both teams should look different come Sunday. It’s pretty likely that four of RIFC’s starters from this game will not start this weekend. For Charleston, leading goal-scorer Cal Jennings only played the final half hour of this game and you have to think he’ll be getting a start in the playoffs

I think there are two main takeaways from these two regular season meetings. The first is that we’ll see lineups from both sides that we didn’t see in either of their regular season matchups. In Charleston’s case, it’s due to the Battery having a lot of depth. Particularly in attacking areas. For RIFC, it’s mostly because the team never settled on an 11 and have added players throughout the season.

The second takeaway is that these two teams play each other tough. We saw that in 2024 with 0-0 and 1-1 draws during the season and a 2-1 RIFC win in the Eastern Conference Final. And with the two games this year, even though RIFC didn’t look good in the first meeting, they were able to stifle Charleston’s attack in the second game. This should be a good one on Sunday.

How Did We Get Here?

I told myself I wasn’t going to sit here and go over the entire 2025 season in depth. Even I’m not that nuts. Plus if you’re reading this, there’s an extremely high likelihood that you lived those 7+ months following the team. However, I couldn’t really help myself here. Here’s what I’ve got:

RIFC never really got off the ground in 2025. Much of that has to do with a lack of goal scoring. The team finished with 29 goals on the season, good for 3rd fewest in the league along with Miami FC. Only Las Vegas and Monterey Bay had fewer. 5 goals in the home finale against Tampa Bay and 3 against Las Vegas late in the season are really what helped RIFC avoid an even more abysmal goal scoring record. Over 25% of the team’s goals came in those two games.

On the defensive side, only conceding 29 goals is what kept RIFC in playoff contention and ultimately made sure we got in. Only Lou City, Sacramento, and Pittsburgh conceded fewer goals in 2025. (As a side note on RIFC’s defensive record, on paper it’s actually 28 goals conceded due to the 3-1 win over Las Vegas turning into a 3-0 after the match was deemed a forfeit due to Vegas fielding an ineligible player. 28 goals conceded would leave RIFC tied with Pittsburgh for 3rd fewest conceded, but in my opinion the tiebreaker should go to Pittsburgh here anyway)

Lastly, a rotating cast of players in and out of the lineup really held this team back. Part of that is due to injuries and new players coming in and out throughout the season. But I would say the biggest factor was Khano Smith constantly tinkering with the team to try to figure out what works. Unfortunately, it doesn’t feel like things were ever figured out. However, over the last 9 games (going back to the Charleston win) RIFC have won 5, drawn 2 and lost 2. The two losses were 1-0 to Louisville City and the 2-1 loss to New Mexico United last time out, a game that RIFC clearly weren’t putting their best foot forward in having clinched the playoffs the previous week. So I suppose there is an argument to be made that this team did start to put things together. But the question remains: is it too little, too late?

The Big Question Heading into Sunday

Can RIFC stifle a potent Charleston attack?

If RIFC want to continue pulling off playoff upsets like we did in 2024, we’re going to have to rely on the one thing that’s been there all year: defense. I already pointed out that RIFC had the 4th best defense in the USL Championship this regular season. And for as much as we’ve been harping on RIFC’s need to get the attack going this entire season, I think come playoff time defense is more important. That’s especially the case with RIFC coming up against a loaded Charleston attack. The Battery have a plethora of attacking options. If whoever starts isn’t getting it done, Charleston can bring on players who are good enough to start for most teams in this league.

So do I think RIFC can do it? I think they’re capable but it’s going to be very difficult. I would expect Khano to start 5 or 6 recognized defenders on Sunday. You have your likely back 3 of Diop, Yao, and Stoneman. Diop brings a lot of physical talent to the left side of the defense having been a first overall pick in the MLS draft. Yao is your prototypical enforcer in the middle. And Stoneman brings veteran leadership. The other 3 defenders who could possibly start are Nodarse and Sanchez wide in midfield and Hugo Bacharach centrally.

This setup is what Khano Smith has mostly been going with recently and I think it’s the best way for RIFC to try to pull off the upset. If Charleston can’t get their attack going, I think they’ll be more likely to throw more bodies forward and RIFC can look to hit them on the counter. Getting players like Noah Fuson and JJ Williams in space is what carried RIFC in their run to the final last year and the team will need to try to do the same in 2025.

How Did They Get Here?

Charleston have been the model of consistency over the past two years in the USL Championship. They’ve been the best team in the league both seasons outside of the juggernaut that is Lou City. I actually thought going into the 2024 playoffs that Charleston were a better, more complete team than Louisville. I don’t think that’s the case for 2025, largely due to Louisville’s massive defensive improvement. Regardless, Charleston are going to be an extremely tough out.

The Battery finished the 2025 season on 62 points. They did this by quite simply being consistently great all season. They started by losing two of their first three games but then went on a 9 game unbeaten run that included a streak of 7 consecutive wins. Charleston lost 6 games all season (third fewest in the league) and every one of those was followed up with a win. Again, consistency.

62 goals scored (most in the league) to go along with 32 conceded (6th fewest) is very impressive. The goals are what stands out the most to me here. Charleston are led by Cal Jennings (17 goals) and MD Myers (15 goals), who collectively scored more goals this season than RIFC’s whole team. They finished 2nd and 3rd in the league respectively in the golden boot race. Charleston also have dangerous players in Juan David Torres, Rubio Rubin, and Arturo Rodriguez. I wasn’t joking when I said they have a plethora of attacking options.

The Big Question Heading into Sunday

Can the Battery’s attack overwhelm RIFC?

This is going to mirror the RIFC section but honestly, it’s the big key to this game. If Charleston can show intent early and create chances right away, they’ll put immediate pressure on RIFC. The Battery scored multiple goals in 18 of their 19 wins in 2025. Their only 1-0 win was over North Carolina FC back in July. Getting goals, particularly early, is going to be key for Charleston on Sunday.

On the flip side, if you look at Charleston’s four losses this season that didn’t come to teams named Lou City, there is a pattern. The Battery had at least 63% possession in each of those games but only scored once. That was in the early season 2-1 loss to North Carolina FC. The other three losses were all 1-0 to Miami FC, RIFC, and Sacramento Republic. While it is pretty obvious that if you score multiple goals you’re more likely to win, I think Charleston’s results show a pattern of a team that can be vulnerable is their attacking isn’t firing. The good thing for Charleston is, that hasn’t happened very often all year.

As much as it pains me to say, I have RIFC going out in the first round here. I definitely think the team is capable of pulling off a win. But I also think that Charleston are just too good going forward. I can see this one going into halftime 1-1 with the Battery scoring a dagger in the second half.

Up Next

We here at Tide Talk will have plenty of content surrounding this game, win or lose. I will be back here with the Riptide Report immediately following the game on Sunday evening. Timmy will have his player ratings and the Postmatch Pod is currently scheduled for Monday. Keep an eye on our socials for confirmation.

As I said at the top, it’s felt like a very long 7+ months in 2025. While all of us doing content are married to the grind, it can feel like a chore at times when the team isn’t producing on the field. That’s why I want to shout out anyone who consumes any of our content. It truly does mean so much to us to know that there are people out there who actually enjoy this nonsense we (mostly I) put forth week in and week out. And as always, I leave you all with a nice little UP THE TIDE!