Rhode Island FC 3 - Hartford Athletic 0: 3 RIFC Thoughts
The first derby win belongs to Rhode Island.
After falling to Indy Eleven earlier in the week — its first loss in almost two months — Rhode Island FC looked to bounce back. What better opportunity to return to the win column than with the first home derby match against Hartford Athletic.
With Rhode Island playing its third match in just a week, head coach Khano Smith went with a starting XI that saw several changes from Wednesday’s loss; including the return of goalkeeper and team captain Koke Vegas.
After an impressive start to his RIFC tenure, which included being named the player of the week and scoring back-to-back game-winning goals for the Amber and Blue, Zachary Herivaux earned his first start.
With the first meeting between Rhode Island and Hartford ending in a somewhat boring, uneventful draw, seeing RIFC continue their current trend of good form and put three past their regional rival fans have a lot to look forward to as the rivalry continues to grow.
Here are three thoughts on the second-ever derby.
1 - Air Frank
Frank Nodarse has been a constant in the Rhode Island back line throughout the season, and at 6’4” it would only make sense that all five goals he’s scored so far have come in the form of headers off of set pieces.
As a fan of another local soccer team who notoriously struggled with finishing off of set pieces, I can now watch with optimism as RIFC sets up for a corner kick, knowing that Nodarse is somewhere in that box and the odds of him connecting with the cross are pretty high.
2- Goalkeeper Tandem
Rhode Island’s goalkeeper and captain Vegas has come up big for the Ocean State numerous times this season, including Saturday night’s shutout victory over Hartford. Still, fans can rest easy knowing they’re in good hands with backup Jackson Lee as the pair have both had opportunities to shine this season.
Vegas featured in the first two games of the season — both of which ended in a tie — before injury kept him sidelined for the next three matches.
The 28-year-old keeper has tallied 32 saves so far on the season and has conceded 16 goals and kept three clean sheets.
Meanwhile, Lee — who was first called into action after the injury to Vegas in that second game — has posted extremely similar stats with 30 saves, 16 goals conceded, and three clean sheets.
3 - Rhode Island Loves Soccer
If it wasn’t obvious before, Saturday’s game against Hartford just proved how much the Ocean State loves the beautiful game of soccer.
For the most part, RIFC has been drawing in impressive crowds despite early season bad weather and a not-so-ideal location while TideWater Landing is being built in Pawtucket. A sell-out crowd for the first home rivalry match was no surprise, but the energy inside of Beirne Stadium was next level.
From the very first whistle at kick-off, the crowd was electric. Defiance 1636 set the tone for the night as they unleashed their blue and yellow pregame flares, using megaphones to get the crowd chanting with them and air horns, creating an atmosphere that one could imagine might be similar come time for playoffs.
People were cheering non-stop, jumping out of their seats to celebrate with strangers after Rhode Island goals, and overall just having a great time at a soccer game as they came out to support the local club. RIFC rewarded the crowd with a hard-earned but deserved shutout win.
Capping off the night with the celebratory playing of Katy Perry’s Firework (which was only fitting, following a second-half firework incident with Hartford’s supporters), Rhode Island supporters lingered in their seats to cheer their boys in blue, who now get a week of rest before they have to play their next game.
How many games have Koke and Lee each played?