When the Rhode Island FC roster announcement dropped in early December, the most surprising name in the “Out of Contract” section was Marc Ybarra. The glimmer of hope was that there were rumors of discussions behind the scenes with Ybarra and the club on a new deal.
Flash forward a month and a half and Ybarra surprised everyone with a goodbye to RIFC Instagram post on January 11. I’m going to write a bit about his impact in Amber and Blue below, but the comment section on that post will give you a good glimpse into the fond feelings of how fans view his time in the Ocean State.
The final piece of the puzzle was where will he end up? We now know that Marc will ply his trade in Sin City with the Lights, a team looking to rebuild after a bottom of the league performance in 2025.
What is RIFC losing?
In his time with RIFC, Ybarra racked up 66 total appearances with 1 goal and 5 assists. While not lighting up the stat sheet, Ybarra was a core piece of the 2024 championship appearance run, combining with Clay Holstad and Zachary Herivaux to form The Adult Midfield – an all-action unit who platformed an elite level of performance and an Eastern Conference title. Again, quoting myself in these damn blogs, from a pre-season post last year:
One of the catalysts for Rhode Island FC’s scorching form down the stretch and through the playoffs was a change to how Khano Smith deployed his midfield. Coming off an uneven run of two draws, two losses and two wins, Coach Khano made a tweak to his midfield ahead of the match against San Antonio on September 28th. While this match is remembered mostly for the asinine refereeing performance from star of the show Sergei, this was the first time that we saw the trio of Ybarra, Holstad and Herivaux deployed in the midfield.
From that day on, the trio, affectionately known as the Adult Midfield™️, started the final nine games of the season with RIFC winning six, drawing two and losing just one match which happened to be the USL Championship Final. Over these nine games, RIFC outscored their opponents by thirteen goals (shoutout to Miami), had an average expected goal difference three times higher than when the trio wasn’t together and gave up 32% less big chances.
After a stellar 2024, it was a slow start to the 2025 season with Taimu Okiyoshi being preferred by Coach Khano for the beginning of the campaign and an injury that took away most of the midfielder’s spring.
However, even with the introduction of Maxi Rodriguez and Amos Shapiro-Thompson, Ybarra was a mainstay in the midfield throughout the summer, amassing the majority of his 1,598 minutes played from July – September until a lingering foot injury derailed his season.
After making minimal appearances through October and November, Ybarra was entrusted by Coach Khano to start in the Eastern Conference final, regrettably receiving a second half red card in what was his last match for The Tide. It’s an incredibly unfair final memory of a player who should be known for his work ethic, leadership (even donning the armband on occasion) and the ability to be the glue of an elite team. He wasn’t the flashiest player but was always in the right place at the right time to help his team.
So now what?
This has been an interesting offseason for the midfield. The team initially brought back Clay Holstad, Maxi Rodriguez, Hugo Bacharach, Zachary Herivaux, Kevin Vang and Amos Shapiro-Thompson. Maxi was then sent back to Detroit with the club bringing in creative midfielder Pity Rodriguez on loan.
With the role that Ybarra played, it would be likely that we’ll see the likes of Hugo Bacharach, Amos Shapiro-Thompson, Zachary Herivaux and Clay Holstad splitting time in the midfield pivot (yes, I’m manifesting Clay Holstad in midfield well in advance of the season starting). Players like Pity Rodriguez and Noah Fuson could bolster the midfield as more of a creative option.
However, with such a long season, watch this space for another midfield signing to underpin this talented group.
Thank you for everything Marc and, as always, Up The Tide!
Tide Talk 
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