Rhode Island FC vs. Hartford Athletic Player Ratings - 10/24/2026

Rhode Island FC fell 2-1 at Hartford Athletic in the final match of the regular season on Saturday night.

Rhode Island FC dropped three more points from a winning position, after dropping two in the final moments against Pittsburgh just one week prior. We could have finished 4th place and hosted a home playoff match, but instead have finished 7th for the second season in a row, and will travel to Charleston for our first-round playoff matchup.

Honestly just a terribly disappointing night. It was a relatively meaningless game, but the way that we find ourselves limping into the playoffs is unacceptable. The seventh place finish highlights a stink that has been lingering in the background for the entire season, but nearly got cologned over through the final stretch of games.

I thought we would rotate heavily, and was pleasantly surprised to see that we were going full strength. Of course - in hindsight, we might as well have just rotated. The team never got out of first gear, even after a first half where we went to the locker room with a one-goal lead. Hartford were all over us in the second half, and deserved to win the game. We certainly didn't play like it was a derby match.

Shout out to Andrew Quadros - not only my travel buddy for several away days this year - but also a co-author of this blog post. Not only is he one of my favorite people to talk to (I think we discussed You Can See Everything for over an hour), but we reviewed the roster player-for-player on the drive home, and I've certainly passed off some of his opinions and insights here as my own.

So, if you disagree with something... it was probably Andrew.

Click below to see 2026 player ratings for the full season.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) - 5/10

It's difficult to give a goalkeeper much more than an average rating when he conceded twice without making any particularly memorable saves. That said, I don't think Koke did anything to deserve much criticism, either.

Aldair Sanchez (D) - 5/10

Aldair had a perfectly fine game, which is becoming a frequent description of his performances. I don't remember him getting beaten particularly often (or the ball coming down his wing at all), but he also didn't contribute much going forward.

Frank Nodarse (D) - 5/10

I thought Frank was pretty comfortably our best player on the night. He won his duels (a game-high 16 of them), read the game well, and rarely looked troubled by Hartford's attack. He makes defending look remarkably easy, and he's good enough on the ball to turn a defensive intervention into the start of an attack.

But then... 68th minute, he doesn't make much of an attempt to clear a looping cross into the box, which gets headed into the back of our net for the equalizer.

Karifa Yao (D) - 6/10

Like Frank, Karifa had a very strong game defensively. I don't remember him ever getting beaten, and he looked comfortable dealing with Hartford's attackers throughout the match.

Karifa also scored Rhode Island's opening goal... with his ass. But, they all count the same - a goal is a goal.

Nick Scardina (D) - 5/10

Scardina seemed to get forward a little more frequently than Aldair, but failed to directly create any memorable chances. He was integral to our build-up, as he led all players with 17 passes into the final third.

Hugo Bacharach (MF) - 5/10

Hugo did a good job of policing the middle of the field and breaking up play (with 15 duels won), but I didn't see as enough of the line-breaking carries or passes that typically make him so dangerous. He was good defensively, but we missed what he often brings to the attack.

Zachary Herivaux (MF) – 4/10

Zach continues to disappoint since returning from injury, as he once again looked a bit slow and hesitant in possession. Too often, he seems to recognize a run - or oncoming pressure - a moment too late, leaving him with little choice but to recycle possession rather than move the team forward.

He's not making glaring mistakes, but he's not helping much with our ball progression, either.

Osman Foyo (F) – 5/10

Foyo once again impressed with his ability to protect and progress the ball, even if he's not regularly beating his man with pace or dribbling. He is good at retaining possession (although...he did lose the ball a team-high 25 times), but doesn't consistently turn it into dangerous opportunities or contributions. Overall, I thought this was one of his better performances - but we need more.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) – 5/10

Amos was ok on the ball, and pretty good off the ball. I don't remember many particularly dangerous or progressive passes from Amos (he did complete just 59% of his attempted passes). With Hugo and Zach behind him granting him more freedom, I would have liked to see Amos do more to get forward and influence the game.

Stas Korzeniowski (F) – 4/10

Stas had a difficult evening, although the performance was not entirely his fault. He received very little service and was totally isolated for most of the match. He wasn't really able to hold up the ball, consistently win aerial duels, or drop deep and bring his teammates into the attack.

He wasn't necessarily bad, the team just did absolutely nothing to bring the best out of him.

Jojea Kwizera (F) – 5/10

Kwizera's assist on Karifa's goal is the biggest positive from his performance, but otherwise, I thought he was fairly underwhelming.

He's a much more dangerous player when operating on the right, where he's capable of taking on defenders, cutting inside, and creating opportunities for himself and his teammates. On the left, he seems to have lost most of his confidence from year one.

He also seemed reluctant to take on his man on his left foot, and too many of his possessions ended with a turnover or a backward pass that killed the momentum of an attack.

Subs

Leo Afonso – 5/10

Leo came on for Zach in the 75th minute, shortly after Hartford had equalized. Leo looked fine after coming on. He looked reasonably sharp, but he didn't have enough time to make a significant impact before Hartford took the lead and Rhode Island began throwing bodies forward.

Dwayne Atkinson – N/A

Yutaro Tsukada – N/A

Noah Fuson – N/A

The final triple substitution came in the 82nd minute after Hartford had taken the lead. At that point, Rhode Island needed a goal, but in typical Khano fashion, we simply threw every attacking sub that we had on the field without a particularly coherent plan on how to use them.

Following the subs, Rhode Island looked much more likely to concede a third than to score an equalizer.

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.