Rhode Island FC Earns First Win in Club History
Winning is cool
Rhode Island FC fans can relax and celebrate as the club has taken home all three points for the first time in its short history. The sixth match ever played by RIFC resulted in a clean 2-1 victory over the hosting Las Vegas Lights, and saw Rhode Island FC climb all the way up to 8th in the USL Championship Eastern Conference standings from their previous position near the bottom of the table in 11th place.
It was a night of other firsts for the young club as Stephen Turnbull and Noah Fuson each scored their first USL Championship goals for the club – the first Rhode Island FC goals scored by anyone not named Albert “Chico” Dikwa – en route to the club’s first ever two-goal lead which they took into halftime.
After Rhode Island FC lost their first-ever U.S. Open Cup match in penalties to the USL League One side Charlotte Independence midweek, RIFC fans were certainly looking to see their team bounce back against a Las Vegas Lights team that had already matched their win total from the previous season. Going into this match, Las Vegas had three wins, no draws, and three losses, to Rhode Island’s no wins, four draws, and one loss.
Rhode Island FC got off to a hot start, winning their first corner within the first 10 minutes of the match, and didn’t let their collective feet off the gas until half-time. The action picked up in the 25th minute when Dikwa played Fuson down the left-hand side with a great through ball, which Fuson low-crossed back through Dikwa’s legs to the far post and Turnbull smashed it past Las Vegas Lights’ goalkeeper Raiko Arozarena to make it 1-0 for the visitors.
Things got a little dicey just a few minutes later as Jackson Lee came up out of goal to make a play on a ball near midfield. The resulting play saw the ball spin off him and out of bounds for a Las Vegas throw-in.
With no other RIFC players around, Lee seemed to know he would be unable to get back to cover his own net before Las Vegas could play the throw-in and take a shot on his empty goal. His solution? He picked up the out-of-play ball and ran towards his own goal with it, only throwing it back towards Las Vegas’ players once he was a safe distance away.
The decision prevented a goal-scoring opportunity but it also cost him a yellow card. The resulting play still resulted in shot only barely missed by Las Vegas Lights’ striker Riki Alba, who had two other bad misses and a yellow card on the night.
Nearing the end of the first half, as stoppage time loomed, Rhode Island FC pushed another attack, this time with Turnbull down the right wing. The outside back sent a cross into the box that landed at the feet of Dikwa, whose shot ricocheted off the goalkeeper and into the feet of Fuson. he fired it past Arozarena and into the roof of the net to give RIFC its first-ever two-goal lead in the 45th minute. Fuson, Dikwa, and Turnbull were all involved in both of Rhode Island’s goals on the night, as RIFC took that lead into halftime.
Las Vegas — recognizing that they were in danger, made two changes at the half — bringing on Charlie Adams and Joe Hafferty. Rhode Island — recognizing that they were beating Las Vegas handily — made no changes. The results began to show quickly as Las Vegas enjoyed a nearly five-minute stretch of dominance beginning around the 50th minute, which included winning multiple corners, taking multiple shots, and ultimately scoring to cut RIFC’s lead to 2-1 as Las Vegas’ midfielder Valentin Noel put his head to a cross that came in from the left-hand side from teammate Gaoussou Samaké, burying it at the far post.
From there — although Rhode Island had a few more chances — Las Vegas definitely had the lion’s share of control of the game. At the half, Rhode Island FC had the lead in shots (6-3), shots-on-target (2-1), and corners (3-1). By the end of the match, Las Vegas led in shots (10-7), shots-on-target (5-2), corners (7-6), and had increased their control of the possession to lead 60%-40%. They also passed significantly more, 506 times to 344; and were significantly more accurate completing their passes 81% of the time to Rhode Island’s 70%. Rhode Island FC did, however, manage to keep the fouls down, committing nine to Las Vegas’ 12 and accruing just two yellow cards to Las Vegas’ three.
Rhode Island FC will bring those three points home to their first-ever Friday night match next week against last year’s USL Championship champions, Phoenix Rising FC. Phoenix has two wins, two draws, and three losses as of writing and are currently even in their match against Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC.
Finally a win for Rhode Island!