The Riptide Report: Rhode Island FC vs Loudoun United - 10/14/2026

Rhode Island FC beat Loudoun United 1-0 tonight. Nick Scardina scored the game's lone goal in the 3rd minute. The win means RIFC have clinched a spot on the playoffs for the third consecutive year. And with Hartford drawing Charleston tonight, RIFC find themselves 5th in the Eastern Conference and level on points with Pittsburgh in 4th. The chance for a home playoff game is still alive but there are still a lot of permutations that I'm not going to go through here. As for tonight's game, here are my takeaways:

Best 11?

If you follow Tide Talk in any way, whether it's the podcast or the blogs, you'll know we've universally had issues with the starting 11. But tonight, we finally got really close to what we pretty much all want:

Notice that Jojea is at RW. But also, we have Noah at the 10. I think that spot is still open, with Leo and Pity (when healthy) being options there. But Noah looked pretty good there tonight and I'd be good with him keeping his place.

Early Lead

Given the struggles that we've had coming back from deficits along with how important this game was, it was fantastic to see the team get ahead early:

You can always count on Hugo, who did well to intercept the loose touch. And Nicky "The Fish" Scardina provided a nice finish to the far post. The goalkeeper maybe could have done a better job getting to it but nonetheless it was a perfect start.

Foolish Red

Yutaro Tsukada was sent off in the second half after getting yellow cards in the 61st and 78th minutes. He needed to have more awareness after his first yellow but stupidly committed an obvious second yellow. He'll now miss the huge Pittsburgh game on Saturday. I'll get into that more in the Prematch blog for sure but needless to say, Khano has a decision to make in the attack.

Job 1 Done

The minimum we expect from this team is a playoff berth. And as I said at the top, that has been secured. The guys made us sweat it out though. The longer the game went on at 1-0, the more stressed I became. The performance deserved much more than a 1-0 but a win is a win. At this point in the season especially, I'll take it. Now we're on to Pittsburgh.

It was great to be back at Tidewater to see the guys play. The last home game of the regular season is coming up on Saturday and I can't wait for it. I'll be back here on Friday with a preview of that one. Until then, UP THE TIDE!