Rhode Island FC Puts on Dominant Display in Home Finale
"That was fun. That's our team. That's what our team looks like when they perform at their best." - Khano Smith
Rhode Island FC welcomed the Tampa Bay Rowdies to Centreville Bank Stadium for the final regular-season home match of 2025, looking to continue the momentum from their last match as the playoffs draw near.
J.J. Williams got the scoring started early for the Ocean State, putting his team on the board in the 8th minute with a well-placed shot from the top of Tampa Bay’s box that beat the keeper to the bottom right corner.
In the 28th minute, the hosts saw their lead doubled after Williams was able to play a ball over the Tampa Bay defensive line to Noah Fuson, who calmly slotted the ball past the keeper just before his defender could apply pressure to his run.
“For him, I think one of the biggest things was to see the ball hit the back of the net,” Williams said of Fuson. “Once it does, all that happened earlier in the season, all the rough patches that you have, they kind of get forgiven and forgotten. I think that that’s kind of the biggest part for him is, how he was going to not just follow up that form, but get into those really good spots that he was finding last year, and doing that consistently and often. I think that where he is right now, especially seeing the ball hit the back of the net last week. He’s back.”
Rhode Island looked to extend its lead to three in the closing minutes of the first half after Clay Holstad was able to draw a penalty kick, being taken down just inside of Tampa Bay’s box after a ball in from Williams. It was Williams who stepped up to take the penalty, striking the ball with confidence to score his second goal of the night and give Rhode Island a commanding lead heading into halftime.
Rhode Island made one substitution to start the second half, replacing Williams with Albert Dikwa. In the 67th minute, RIFC made their second change of the evening as Marc Ybarra entered the match for Amos Shapiro-Thompson.
Rhode Island had its fourth goal of the game just two minutes later after an initial cross from Fuson found Aldair Sanchez waiting on the edge of Tampa Bay’s six-yard box, his attempted shot taking a bounce off of the turf before Dikwa buried the header into the back of the Rowdies’ net.
The Ocean State made their final changes of the match in the 76th minute, making a triple substitution that saw Maxi Rodriguez, Aimé Mabika, and Dwayne Atkinson replace Hugo Bacharach, Grant Stoneman, and Frank Nodarse respectively.
In the 88th minute, it was Rodriguez who sealed the match, after an awkward high ball that Dikwa was able to get a touch on fell to him, and he was able to chip the keeper for Rhode Island’s fifth goal of the match.
“Coming into the game I was like, “Yeah, I’ll probably score this game.” I just get lucky sometimes when coming off the bench and the game is wide open,” Rodriguez said. “I think [Tampa Bay] knew their season was potentially over after the fourth goal, so I kind of just wanted to capitalize. Maybe I got a little bit of confidence from that.”
After Saturday night’s 5-0 win, Rhode Island FC currently sits in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 37 points, trailing Pittsburgh (40 points) and North Carolina (41 points). With just two regular-season matches remaining, RIFC will hit the road to take on North Carolina FC on Saturday, October 18.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” Williams said. “That’s just the truth behind it. For me, in the big picture, I don’t think we’ve done anything at all. You can say last year, but it doesn’t mean anything until you do it this year. We just had a great performance, but it doesn’t mean anything until we lift some hardware. That’s the moment that we could talk about what we’re doing, but before then, you have to have a solid performance week in and week out. We have two more to make sure that we’re securing a spot in the playoffs. Once we get to the playoffs, it’s game by game, 90 by 90. That’s just kind of where we’re focused at and making sure that we’re staying grounded through each and every week, each and every performance.”