Rhode Island FC vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Player Ratings - 07/25/2026

Rhode Island FC defeated Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC 1-0 on the road on Saturday night, winning two consecutive matches for only the second time this season.

Even better than the "win streak" - this is our first league win, and first league goal in Pittsburgh since our inception in 2024. It certainly felt like Pittsburgh was one of our boogie-teams, but I was optimistic that with the departure of Eric Dick in the offseason, perhaps we could sneak a result here.

And that's exactly what happened. It wasn't our most inspiring offensive game - with the lone goal coming from our only shot on target - but the team defended admirably to get this one over the finish line. It was a thin Rhode Island squad with six players on the Availability Report (mind you, we had just two injured players at the start of June), including core players like Clay Holstad, Karifa Yao, and Leo Afonso.

Click below to see 2026 player historical ratings.

Rhode Island FC Player Ratings:

Koke Vegas (GK) - 8/10

One of Koke's best performances of the season, with four huge saves (each better than the last) to keep Rhode Island in this match and ultimately secure all three points - and amongst the saves, there were also some great claims and punches away on dangerous deliveries into the box.

Aldair Sanchez (D) - 7/10

All of the Rhode Island defenders had to dig deep in this match, and Aldair may have been the most crucial of them all. With the injury to Karifa Yao pulling Frank into central defense, Aldair was back starting in his preferred LB position. He was solid defensively - winning seven out of his 10 ground duels - but also integral to our build up play with a team-high 68 touches and a team-high 13 passes into the final third.

Frank Nodarse (D) - 8/10

Nodarse was pulled back to his "best" position (Khano's words, not mine) at center back, and proved to the fans that he is a very capable pair of hands - even in a pair, rather than a back three - to hold this spot in Karifa Yao's absence.

Nodarse led all players with 14 defensive contributions, including 11 clearances. To put it simply - for the second time in as many matches, Frank is one of the primary reasons we are walking away with all three points.

Grant Stoneman (D) - 8/10

On paper, Grant Stoneman had a few less defensive contributions than Frank - but he was every bit as important to us maintaining our second clean sheet in back-to-back matches.

Nick Scardina (D) - 7/10

Seven may actually be a bit low here - but I can only give out so many eights for a 1-0 victory without totally breaking my own rating scale.

Just as the center backs had similarly strong defensive matches, Scardina had a very similarly strong game to his fullback counterpart in Aldair Sanchez. Scardina was strong on both sides of the ball, but of course no better moment than his lofted cross in the 62nd minute that JJ Williams heads into the back of the net. Scardina did very well - especially the first touch - in this entire sequence to make the finish relatively comfortable for JJ.

Hugo Bacharach (MF) - 8/10

Tonight, we saw the Roman Walls of Hugo. It was literally not possible for Pittsburgh to play through the midfield anywhere near Hugo. He was not only involved in 22 total duels, but he won 19 of them - an all-time team high (confirmed by none other than Tyler Hatch, official Tide Talk Quant) - as well as a game-high five successful tackles. Easily one of the most dominant midfield performances I've seen by a Rhode Island FC player this year.

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (MF) - 7/10

In all fairness to Amos, he was not far behind Hugo in a lot of similar categories. He was absolutely everywhere tonight as far as breaking up play and recovering the ball for Rhode Island. He also played a beautiful cross-field pass to switch the play to Jojea Kwizera, leading to the JJ Williams game-winning goal.

I will call out the tenacity of Amos's press and off ball work every single time - the nearest player to him will never have more than a second to breathe on the ball, and the player always catches a little nibble from Amos after moving the ball on - just to let them know that he was there.

In the dying minute of the game, Amos beat three Pittsburgh players to a loose ball and dribbled it down to the corner before winning a throw-in, and immediately pounding his chest - knowing that he had secured the victory. Just beautiful stuff.

Noah Fuson (MF) - 3/10

A performance that was mostly characteristic of the Noah that we've seen this season (as much as it pains me to write that). There was a loose touch on what should've been a chance early in the first half, and a lot of slow decision making in the final third trying to decide between pass/shoot/dribble, etc.

Pity Rodriguez (F) - 5/10

A lively - although mostly ineffective - performance from Pity. As usual, he was great on the ball and always looking to drive forward with varying degrees of success. He picked up a justified yellow card for a very intelligent tactical foul in the 45th minute.

JJ Williams (F) - 7/10

The offense was disturbingly ineffective in the first half of the match, and JJ certainly is a part of that (although, he did have one great headed chance in the 3rd minute that hit the side netting).

But then, not only did he score the game-winning goal on a cross from Nick Scardina in the 62nd minute, he also chipped in with seven defensive contributions to help keep the clean sheet, and was second only to Hugo with his 11 duels won.

Jojea Kwizera (F) - 6/10

Kwizera was pretty much the only somewhat promising point of attack for Rhode Island in the first half, and was ultimately involved in the game-winning Rhode Island goal. He doesn't have a huge amount to do with it, but Kwizera takes down the cross-field pass from Amos and plays a good through ball for Nicky the Fish that sets him up for the eventual cross to JJ Williams.

Subs

Dwayne Atkinson - N/A

Dani Rovira - N/A

CJ Williams - N/A

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.