The Prematch Lookout: Charleston Battery vs Rhode Island FC - 10/30/2026

For the third year in a row, Rhode Island FC are in the USL Championship Playoffs. And also for the third year in a row, we're travelling down to Patriot's Point to take on the Charleston Battery. I'm here to preview tonight's matchup and for the second pre-match blog in a row, I'm going to veer from the usual format. It's been a long season and a little variety never hurt anyone. So without further ado, let's jump into it:

Matchup History

This will be the 9th meeting between the two teams since RIFC's inaugural 2024 season. And as I already mentioned, it'll be the third time the teams will meet in the playoffs. The 6 regular season matchups have been even. Each team earned a draw in 2024 and home wins in 2025 and 2026. The playoffs are where RIFC have had the advantage. 2024 saw RIFC win 2-1 in Charleston in the Eastern Conference Final. And last year, RIFC were able to get a 0-0 draw at Patriot's Point and win 5-3 on penalties in the first round. Charleston will certainly be looking for revenge.

How Did We Get Here?

Charleston Battery

• Charleston had another fantastic regular season under coach Ben Pirmann, finishing 2nd in the Eastern Conference on 53 points. They secured the 2 seed on the final day of the season by beating Indy Eleven 1-0 and getting help from Louisville City's 0-0 draw against Detroit. For me, the most impressive thing about Charleston this season is what they were able to do after losing so many of their best players from 2025. They lost their top goalscorers in Cal Jennings (17) and MD Myers (15), as well as some key defensive pieces and arguably the best midfielder in the league in Aaron Molloy. And yet Charleston kept on going. The goals have been more spread out this season with two players on 9 (Colton Swan and Maalique Foster) and two players on 8 (Miguel Berry and Emilio Ycaza). That attack is good enough for 2nd best in the league with 56 goals scored, just one behind Lexington in first.

Rhode Island FC

• It was another up and down season with RIFC finishing 7th in the Eastern Conference for the second consecutive year. We went into the final night of the season in 6th but blew a 1-0 halftime lead at Hartford to lose 2-1 and land in 7th. One of the major narratives from this season is the loss of midfielder Clay Holstad (loan to FC Dallas) and forward JJ Williams (transfer to Heart of Midlothian). They departed within a month of each other (late July for Clay, late August for JJ) and were obviously both extremely important players. But the fact of the matter is, the team wasn't in great shape before their departures. So in my opinion, it's really not an excuse for this team finishing the regular season below expectations for the second year in a row.

Prediction

Charleston Battery 2-0 Rhode Island FC

I'm just going to get right to it. I would love to go into this game with confidence. But there are two main reasons why I can't. The first is how we ended the season. We blew a 1-0 lead in the home finale against Pittsburgh by conceding on virtually the last kick of the ball. And then the following weekend....well we already went over that. Two results that don't instill much confidence.

The second reason is that unlike the previous two seasons, I don't see RIFC as having the mentality to be a tough out in the playoffs. We saw two games in the latter part of the season where we went on the road against one of the best teams in the conference and tried to be defensive. Both resulted in losses (2-0 at Charleston and 1-0 at Detroit). The tactics just haven't worked.

So for those reasons I can't see RIFC advancing to the next round. As with all of my predictions like this, I hope I'm completely wrong. I'd love for us to flip a switch and make us forget all about the season so far. We'll find out tonight if that happens.

As always, I'll be back here after the game with the Riptide Report. It'll either have a similar tone to this blog or be a complete 180. Check in later to find out. UP THE TIDE!