Rhode Island FC Dominates Club’s First-Ever USL Jagermeister Cup Match
Westchester SC taste four Jagerbombs courtesy of RIFC
Rhode Island FC’s first match against new USL League 1 expansion side Westchester SC resulted in exactly the kind of win you’d expect the USL Championship club to notch against a potential regional rival from a lower league. Not everything has worked so well for RIFC this season, but Rhode Island secured an important victory in the last match of its seven-game away run before returning home to Pawtucket, Rhode Island for the grand opening of their new soccer-specific stadium, Centreville Bank Stadium at Tidewater Landing, and its inaugural match on Saturday, May 3rd.
All that said, Rhode Island FC didn’t dominate quite as much as I felt the announcers suggested. 4-1 is a comfortable score by any stretch of the imagination, and although Westchester SC never really looked in the game, there were many moments where it didn’t quite look out of it, either. Westchester managed five shots on target, and only RIFC goalkeeper Jackson Lee’s multiple great saves prevented a much closer score despite the otherwise evident gap in quality. This is a match that could conceivably have ended 4-3 without looking much different in any other way.
Of course, that’s not how it happened, though I’m sure that Westchester SC, including RIFC alumni Connor McGlynn and Prince Saydee, certainly wish that it had.
Rhode Island FC led 3-0 before the 40th minute, despite striker JJ Williams missing shots he should have scored, and that he generally does. Still, Williams did add two more goals to his tally today alone and he showed great attacking instincts in doing so.
Rhode Island FC scored their first goal in the 25th minute, which was also the game’s first major event after kickoff — other than missed chances — as defender Frank Nodarse nodded a header sent in from the corner by attacking midfielder Maxi Rodriguez (who played his best match for RIFC so far). The shot hit the ground below Westchester goalkeeper Dane Jacoman, who looked badly caught out by his defenders, with Nodarse making the header uncontested within the six-yard box.
Only moments later, Rodriguez caught Westchester SC on the break. His shot was parried wide by Jacomen, but Williams got on the ball (if awkwardly) and sent it just past Jacomen’s outstretched hands to make it 2-0 in the 28th minute, as Jacomen’s defenders let him down for the second time in mere minutes.
Finally, RIFC winger Noah Fuson and Rodriguez once again beat Westchester on the fastbreak, and Fuson found Rodriguez with a silky through-pass between defenders that Rodriguez easily buried into an open net. Westchester head coach David Carton must have laid into his defenders at the half, who were largely responsible for all three first-half goals that Westchester conceded.
With that last goal being scored in just the 37th minute, RIFC had gouged their opponents defense and destroyed Jacomen’s faith in his defenders over less than a seventh of the match. After that, Rhode Island put its play into cruise control and went into the half with a lead that looked all but insurmountable.
When play resumed after the half, Rhode Island FC kept their play in cruise control, but it wasn’t until after Williams’ second goal, coming in the 65th minute, and assisted by midfielder Zachary Herivaux, that Westchester began to create truly dangerous chances. Ultimately, some profligate shooting cost them the goals they needed to catch up.
Finally, Westchester’s midfielder Jonathan Bolanos broke through in the 85th minute.
No one celebrated. Too little, too late.
He perhaps should have seen red for a dangerous tackle on RIFC’s forward Jojea Kwizera (Bolanos received a yellow after Kwizera nearly started a fight in response to the tackle), but then Williams looked to be offsides on his second goal, so perhaps it’s a wash. Rhode Island FC saw off the remaining minutes of the game and extra time with several rotations via substitutions.
Frankly, Westchester SC shouldn't feel as poorly about the result as the scoreline suggests. They were able to shrink the deficit in the table a skosh by clawing a goal back, and conceivably could have done even better. For a team that was announced less than a year ago and in a lower league, that’s really not bad, which is as much praise as my personal distaste for everything between the western Rhode Island border and the far side of Westchester county will permit me to give.
Take it or leave it.
The result skyrocketed Rhode Island FC to the top of Group 4 in the cup, and it will hopefully give the team a much-needed boost before their inaugural home match next Saturday, May 3 at 4:00 PM ET against San Antonio FC. They’ll have a second home match only days later, as they face their local MLS rivals from perhaps only 20 miles away (as the crow flies) in RIFC’s first U.S. Open Cup match this season, the New England Revolution. That will be a tough day here at The Blazing Musket, and there will be plenty of coverage.