We’re back! Rhode Island FC opened their season with a 1-1 draw against Sporting Club Jacksonville at Tidewater on a windy Saturday.

The score line may cause flashbacks to last season, but this was a significant improvement for Rhode Island FC compared to the frequent scoreless matches of last year. In fact, Rhode Island were very unlucky not to get all three points. I can’t remember us dominating a team this much at Tidewater for all of last season (excluding Tampa Bay).

Rhode Island boasted 58% of the possession and 23 shots compared to just six for Jacksonville. But even those numbers may not do justice to how much of the match Jax spent under siege. Jacksonville’s Jordan Rossiter was sent off in the 88th minute with a second yellow card – but you might have thought they were down a man for the entire match.

On the Rhode Island side, we saw four debuts from new players who were signed in the offseason, and the return of several familiar faces.

It’s the first game of the season, but you’ll be able to track historical ratings for the year using this document:

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 6/10

Characteristic Koke performance where he made a handful of good saves. On the Sporting Jax goal, he made a great save on the initial shot and was unlucky that it was parried into a dangerous area.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 7/10

A strong, competent defensive performance from Nodarse, although Sporting Jax really didn’t test the back line all that much. He led all players with 14 duels won (7/10 on the ground, 7/8 in the air).

Two funny Frank moments – which probably aren’t that exceptional in a football match, but got a chuckle out of me.

1. A Sporting Jax player “changed” out of their undershirt, and Frank was working the sideline refs to give the player a yellow card for taking off their shirt.
2. Right after Dorsey’s goal, he came running over to the bench to eat half of a banana (which he pretty unceremoniously ripped off with his bare hand and just shoved straight in his mouth).

Karifa Yao (D) – 7/10

As he often does, Yao led all Rhode Island players with 11 defensive contributions – and made some crucial, crushing tackles in the 2nd half.

Not a knock on Karifa, but more on the defensive unit as a whole – I thought the short passing out of the back was a bit slow and uninventive, and would’ve benefited from Hamady Diop (on the injury report), or Aime Mabika (who departed the team this offseason).

Grant Stoneman (D) – 6/10

Nothing that jumped off the page – besides nearly assisting what should have been the opening goal for JJ Williams – but Stoneman was part of the unit that limited Sporting Jax to just five shots on target.

Jojea Kwizera (MF) – 4/10

Oftentimes, you can tell within the first few possessions when Jojea is going to get his way on the left flank or not. He failed to beat his man or get in a threatening cross on his first couple of attempts, and it really didn’t improve significantly from there. He ended the night 0/6 on crossing attempts and with no touches in the opposition box.

Zach Herivaux (MF) – 5/10

You’d like to see him more involved than just 33 touches as a midfielder – but part of his role was connecting the play to Pity Rodriguez (playing as the more advanced midfielder in front of him), which he did effectively in addition to his defensive and off-ball contributions.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 7/10

The highly anticipated return of Midfield Clay. We got a full 90-minute shift of Clay in the midfield, and it looked just like you’d expect: 2nd highest touches on the team (77), game-high passes into the final third (10), a game-high seven tackles.

Nick Scardina (MF) – 4/10

Safe to say this was not the debut for Scardina that we’ve all been dreaming of through the offseason. No reason to believe he still won’t be the signing-of-the-offseason, but he was honestly off right from the start in this game – he failed both of his dribble attempts, lost 5 out of 6 ground duels, and attempted 0 crosses in the match.

The most memorable moment from his debut will be the blown opportunity in the first half where he got caught somewhere between a shot and a pass on a 3-on-2, ended up shooting well wide of the net, and earned himself a firm talking-to from JJ Williams (who was open at the far post).

Pity Rodriguez (MF) – 6/10

Pity, on the other hand, had a very bright debut as one of the four new signings who played. I was impressed with his offensive tenacity – always driving forward – and his exceptional ability to retain the ball (as a 21-year-old, objectively little guy, he used his body remarkably well). There were flashes of creativity and technical skill that I’m excited to see more of.

I’ll just get this out of the way. Matt Hands was 100% right. He’s been banging the Pity drum all offseason long, and we’ve all been telling him to take a cold shower. Not only was he right about Pity starting, but he was right about his impact as well. Make sure to check out Hands’ Post-match Riptide Report for more ball knowledge.

JJ Williams (F) – 6/10

A standard hard-working JJ performance where a lot of his best contributions are him taking abuse from the other team’s centerbacks to knock on aerial balls for his teammates.

He did have a handful of opportunities, especially in the first half, that he was a combination of unlucky and perhaps lacking some killer instinct not to finish.

Leo Afonso (F) – 7/10

Leo played mainly as a second striker off of JJ, and was the primary beneficiary of JJ’s hard work. He’s definitely not afraid to shoot, and I actually think we need some of that. Afonso had a game-high three shots on target (six total), and 15 touches in the offensive box. The next highest player – JJ Williams – had only four.

He won’t technically be credited with the assist since there’s a miscue on Sporting Jax’s part – but Afonso largely creates Dorsey’s goal with a great turn, carry, and through ball to Dorsey from the midfield.

Subs

Noah Fuson – 6/10

Great shift from Noah off the bench, as he generated two chances in just 26 minutes. He entered the match playing as a 10 – and made an immediate impact – before transitioning seamlessly to the right wingback position. For reference, he attempted three more crosses (completing one) than Scardina did in 69 minutes.

Logan Dorsey – 6/10

What a debut for Logan Dorsey, as he scored the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute. Unfortunately, the lead would last for less than five minutes… but I thought Dorsey offered a different, complementary look to JJ Williams as he looked to make quick, angled runs in behind the defense.

Hugo Bacharach – 5/10

Presumably Hugo is nursing an injury, because the staff seemed hesitant to bring him in even during/after Zach Herivaux’s injury. His shoulder was wrapped up pretty good, so that’s my best guess.

Other than one lapse where Hugo got the ball easily picked off of him, he looked solid. Here’s hoping he’s fully healthy and ready to start soon.

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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.