Rhode Island FC secured their first league win of the season with a 3-1 victory on the road at Lexington SC on Saturday night.

Rhode Island were impressive, as their pressing and ability to win the ball back in dangerous areas completely stifled Lexington in the first half. Rhode Island scored in the 21st and 26th minute with long-range shots, and ceded a lot of possession to Lexington after that.

Lexington was more dangerous in the second half, but Rhode Island defended with great composure. I would’ve loved to see a clean sheet – and I think Koke and the defense deserved it – but I really cannot complain about the performance or the final score. We really needed three points, and on the road at Lexington is a great place to get them.

Click below if you’re interested in seeing 2026 historical ratings.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) – 8/10

Great, great performance from Koke. It’s a real shame we couldn’t keep the clean sheet, because he absolutely deserved it. He wasn’t tested much in the first half, but snuffed out countless Lexington chances in the second half with punches, full-stretch diving saves, and charging out to the top of his box. Incredible showing from the captain.

Aldair Sanchez (D) – 7/10

Aldair is in amazing form – following up his goal-scoring performance against Hartford in the Open Cup with another sensational goal against Lexington. Not only did he score the go-ahead goal with a great individual effort in this match (a long-distance shot that he caught perfectly with his left foot), but he also made some heavy tackles and important interventions in the defensive half.

Hamady Diop (D) – 7/10

Best performance of the year so far for Diop, as he was crucial to Rhode Island’s buildup play in the first half (he led all Rhode Island players with 35 passes and 55 touches), and then was busy defensively in the second half while under siege from Lexington.

Karifa Yao (D) – 6/10

A good but unremarkable defensive performance from Yao on the night. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that our most reliable defender over the past two seasons has adapted very seamlessly to the new back four system.

Frank Nodarse (D) – 8/10

Another really impressive performance from Frank at right back. He had one or two shaky moments in the first half, but he hardly put a foot wrong in the second half. He was absolutely impenetrable defensively down the right flank and showed calm, intelligent defending inside the box as well – two words that I historically wouldn’t always have associated with Frank Nodarse.

2026 so far has been a Nodarsessaince.

Clay Holstad (MF) – 6/10

Another good Clay performance where his best work is coming off the ball. His tenacity in recovering the ball and off-ball positioning and pressure made things really difficult for Lexington. At times in the first half (when our press was really getting at Lexington), he would be up with JJ and Pity applying pressure on the Lexington central defenders.

Hugo Bacharach (MF) – 5/10

Nothing too noteworthy in the performance for Hugo. Maybe a slight step down from his very good showing against Hartford last week – and he was a bit sloppy at times on the ball – but ultimately his defensive work and cover both for Clay and the defensive unit (more important now than ever, with just two central defenders in this set up) always outweigh any negatives.

Pity Rodriguez (MF) – 6/10

Pity’s performance was mixed again, but mostly promising. At times his touch and/or decision-making were imperfect, and he slowed down a couple of Rhode Island counterattacks in the first half as well.

But he continues to impress with his skill on the ball and his work rate away from the ball. The press – led by a variety of players but especially by Pity and JJ – was a real problem for Lexington. Pity also led all players with three chances created, from just 22 touches.

Pity was rewarded in the first half when he helped to win the ball back along with Aldair Sanchez. The goal was really a great individual effort by Sanchez, but I’m glad to see Pity credited with the assist for the work that he did to recover the ball and start this move.

Leo Afonso (F) – 6/10

Absolutely thrilled to see Afonso score tonight, especially following the positive coverage of him by the USL Championship this past week.

Anyone who has been watching the games (well, almost everyone…) knew that it was coming. And he was sniffing around the goal tonight even before scoring. But it did come in spectacular fashion, as Afonso had a perfect finish into the bottom right corner off of some nice combination play from JJ Williams and Noah Fuson.

JJ Williams (F) – 6/10

Solid work from JJ as he made an impact in all areas of the pitch. Most notably, of course, his assist on Kwizera’s goal – which required a nice bit of hold-up and vision from the Number 9 to make the pass. JJ also arguably had more to do with Leo Afonso’s goal (to go up 3-0) than Noah did, with some more great hold-up play.

JJ also managed three shots on target of his own – but is still being tasked with a LOT of dirty work to help create chances for the rest of the team. And that’s perfectly fine when the rest of the team is scoring – as they did tonight.

Jojea Kwizera (F) – 6/10

Kwizera had a strong first half, where he managed to beat his man a couple of times and get a cutback cross into dangerous areas in the Lexington box. He scored a great goal in the first half to make it 2-0. The goalkeeping certainly was suspect, but the more times I watch it back… Kwizera put a lot of mustard on that shot. You’d expect a professional keeper to make the save, but it wasn’t easy by any means.

Subs

Noah Fuson – 6/10

We were panic-defending for the majority of the time that our substitutes were on the field… but Noah did manage to get an assist on Leo’s insurance goal to go up 3-0. As mentioned above, JJ did most of the work here, but Noah takes a touch that leads the ball directly into Afonso’s path.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson – N/A

No score, but wonderful to see Amos back on the pitch tonight. Looking forward to seeing more minutes for him in the near future.

Nick Scardina – N/A

Grant Stoneman – N/A

Logan Dorsey – N/A

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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.