Rhode Island FC are traveling down to Kentucky for the second time this season as they’re set to take on Lexington SC on Saturday night.  The first was RIFC’s trip to Louisville just a few weeks ago.  Speaking of firsts, this will be the first ever meeting between RIFC and Lexington.  Lexington joined the championship in 2025 but the teams weren’t on each other’s schedules.  As we head into this one, here’s what to look out for from both sides.

Last Time Out

RIFC head into this one having drawn Detroit City FC at Tidewater 0-0 last time out.  It was a disappointing result given the balance of play.  And that gets to my main takeaway: RIFC are doing a lot right but can’t get the results over the line.

Against Detroit, RIFC controlled the game until about the last ten minutes.  Detroit created nothing on their own.  All of their significant chances came from RIFC errors.  Those definitely need to be corrected.  And RIFC got the ball into the attacking third often enough to easily get 3 points but lacked the quality required.  All of this is to say I don’t think things are as doom and gloom as they seem early on in the season.  Hopefully RIFC can continue to control games but actually add the finishing touch.

Players to Watch

• Frank Nodarse (DF)
  • I can already feel the eyes of my fellow Tide Talk brethren rolling back into their heads.  But I thought Frank was superb last game, outside of a bizarre incident where he touched a dead ball and walked away.  He provided great defensive cover behind Jojea Kwizera and his positioning was spot on.  I’m interested to see where Khano plays him in Lexington
• Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF)
  • The word on the street is that Amos will be available for this game.  The 2025 Defiance player of the year has missed the start of this season due to injury.  If he is available, I wouldn’t expect him to start.  But hopefully we see him on the bench and he can  get a good 15-20 minutes to start getting himself back to full fitness
• Agustin Rodriguez (MF)
  • I think it’s about time for Pity to step up and provide some end product.  This will be his 5th league game and 7th overall for RIFC since joining on loan ahead of the season.  He has no goals and one assist in his 6 games this year.  The assist was a good delivery from a corner against Hartford in the open cup.  The eye test shows that Pity has the physical tools to be a difference maker.  He needs to start doing it

Key to the Game

Convert Your Chances

In their 4 league games this season, RIFC have taken 67 shots with just over a third of them on target (23).  Only 4 of those ended up hitting the back of the net, meaning just 6% of RIFC’s total shots have resulted in goals.  That’s the third worst rate in the league, only above Brooklyn and Monterey Bay.  Clearly, it’s not good enough.  And it’s the reason RIFC find themselves 12th in the Eastern Conference on 2 points.  That has to change if they want to have any success in Lexington.

Last Time Out

Lexington are coming off a 1-1 draw in Colorado Springs last weekend.  They went ahead 10 minutes in but conceded a late penalty to only come away with a point.  Given the balance of play, it was probably a fair result.  Lexington looked good early but Colorado Springs were the better team in the second half.

The takeaway from this game, and really Lexington’s season overall, is that they’re a very talented team who haven’t yet put it all together.  Lexington made some marquee signings this offseason (some of whom we’ll get to soon).  On paper, they have the ability to be one of the best teams in the league.  But they currently sit 7th in the West with a 1-2-2 record.

Players to Watch

• Oliver Semmle (GK)
  • The last time RIFC saw Semmle, Albert Dikwa put two past him in the Eastern Conference Semifinal in North Carolina.  The second of those was a comical goal where Semmle misplaced a pass near midfield and Dikwa rolled the ball slowly halfway down the field and into an empty net.  That incident aside, Semmle is actually one of the better goalkeepers in the league with the ball at his feet.  Expect him to be an important part of Lexington’s build up
• Aaron Molloy (MF)
  • Molloy has consistently been one of the best midfielders in the league for years now.  He was arguably the biggest signing in the league this past offseason.  RIFC saw a lot of Molloy over the past two seasons, which he spent in Charleston.  In addition to being the conductor in the midfield, he also leads Lexington in goals this season with 2
• Phillip Goodrum (FW)
  • Another of Lexington’s big signings, Goodrum arrived this offseason from rivals Lou City where he led the team with 13 goals last year.  He was obviously brought in to lead the line for Lexington but he hasn’t scored yet in the league this season.  Still, Goodrum is a dangerous forward and one to keep an eye on

Key to the Game

Create Chances for Goodrum

For as talented as Lexington are, they’ve struggled to score goals at times in league play.  They’ve hit the back of the net 5 times in as many games.  3 of them came in their only win so far, a 3-0 at home against Brooklyn.  The one goal a game ties Lexington with 6 other teams for 16th in the league. 

As for why Lexington haven’t been scoring more, it comes down to chance creation.  They’ve created only 5 big chances, which is only better than Loudoun and Brooklyn who each have 4.  Meanwhile, they’re 5th in the league in touches in the opposition box and 6th in accurate passes per match.  My conclusion with all of this is that Lexington are good at moving the ball around and even getting it into the box but it’s not yielding good chances to score.  That will need to change if they want to come away with 3 points on Saturday.

Analysis and Prediction

Given what we know about both teams, this should be a close one.  They both have talented squads but haven’t put together the results early on that they would like.  I say this often but I think this one will come down to who wins the midfield battle.  Both teams want to control games through possession.  My guess would be that Lexington will have more of the ball on Saturday.  Given that they’ve struggled to create big chances and the fact that the Clay/Hugo partnership should return in RIFC’s midfield, I think Lexington might struggle to score again.  I could also see RIFC getting a goal in transition.  Therefore….

Final Thoughts

It’s still early in the season but it feels like we need to see RIFC break out.  I’m on record saying that I believe in Khano and the boys and that things aren’t nearly as bad as they seem.  I’m just hoping the team can prove me right soon.  They may not have a dominant performance on Saturday but at the very least I expect a lot better than their last away game down in Miami.

I’ll be back right after the game with the Riptide Report to share my immediate reaction.  As always, Timmy will have his player ratings out on Sunday and the postmatch pod will follow on Sunday night.  Until next time, UP THE TIDE!