Rhode Island Needs Its Goal Scorer

The struggle to score continues in the Ocean State.

Photo By Sam Nichols

Rhode Island FC returned to Centreville Bank Stadium on Saturday night to host Sacramento Republic FC — a side who had been unable to score a goal in their last three matches — and were dealt a 2-0 loss.

Since opening the stadium back on May 3, Rhode Island have played seven matches at home posting a 1-4-2 record across all competitions and only scoring four goals. Of those seven games played, RIFC have been shutout in four of them and the team currently have the third least amount of goals scored across the entire league.

There is currently a four way tie amongst players for the team’s leading goal scorer: Albert Dikwa (13 app), Clay Holstad (14 app), Maxi Rodriguez (14 app), and J.J. Williams (5 app) have all scored two goals each.

In comparison during the 2024 season Dikwa was Rhode Island’s leading goal scorer, finding the back of the net ten times in the regular season and once during the playoffs. Holstad, a consistent presence in the Rhode Island midfield, tallied four goals in the team’s inaugural season. Rodriguez, who played with Detroit in 2024, also scored ten goals in the USL regular season.

Williams was able to provide a spark to the RIFC offense in 2024 scoring ten goals over the span of thirty appearances in all competitions, six of which came in USL regular season play and five during Rhode Island’s playoff run. The six regular season goals put him second in team scoring, trailing only Dikwa.

Williams hasn’t played a match for Rhode Island since their April 27 Jägermeister Cup victory against Westchester SC. Since the striker has been sidelined Rhode Island has struggled to find success in the offensive third, often times looking clunky and unorganized as it fails to convert opportunities.

Fans have been asked to be patient and allow the team time to work through the growing pains as they adjust to new dynamics amongst players, but with just under half of the season over and done with it seems that patience is beginning to wear extremely thin.

When asked for an update on Williams’s status following Saturday’s loss coach Khano Smith stated that Williams had begun training once again, and it would be a matter of regaining his strength before fans see him return to the pitch.

It shouldn’t be expected that Williams return will serve as a fix all for the currently struggling team, but having the striker back in the eighteen and available for Smith to use on match days could help to return the team to its run of good form it displayed at the beginning of the season, before being hit by injuries left and right.