RIFC Recap: Rhode Island FC 2 – Providence College 0
“It’s not often in your career you get to be a part of a club’s first game, first win, first goal."
Rhode Island FC concluded their preseason tour as they faced Providence College in what would be a special event open exclusively to season ticket members under the lights of Beirne Stadium on Friday night.
Fans in attendance were not only treated to a sneak peek behind the curtain of what the season had in store from an event perspective, but they also got their first chance to watch the boys in Amber and Blue secure a commanding 2-0 win against the Friars.
The formation, in what could be best defined as a 3-4-3, saw familiar faces in the starting XI as well as a few surprises.
Koke Vegas manned the net and wore the captain’s armband. Karifa Yao, Grant Stoneman, and Clay Holstad anchored the back line as Stephen Turnbull, Gabriel Alves, Marc Ybarra, and Jojea Kwizera held down the midfield. The triangle of Joe Brito, Noah Fuson, and Albert “Chico” Dikwa made up the bulk of the attack.
Interestingly, the formation showed a change in tactics for Coach Khano Smith who focused efforts around a 4-3-3 for the majority of the preseason. This shape allowed RIFC to play with a majority of the possession as they probed a compact and defensively-minded Providence College side.
“We could have created more, credit to Providence and Head Coach Craig Stewart, who’s an experienced coach. They made it difficult for us tonight,” Smith said after the game. “It was hard for us to break them down. I feel like we could have spread them out a bit more and been a little more patient to create real goal scoring opportunities.”
Those opportunities arrived right before half time, when a perfectly weighted pass from Chico found Fuson on a breakaway resulting in a historic goal for the first time in front of fans to give RIFC the lead.
“It was an electric moment to hear the roar from the crowd and to be able to put one in the back of the net for fans, it was everything,” Fuson said.
The second half saw a shift in attack for RIFC as they moved from wing play into finding more central buildup highlighting impressive linkup play between Ybarra, Alves, and Brito who sat in a more attacking midfielder role. The change in shape destabilized the Friars’ game plan allowing RIFC to pepper the PC goalkeeper with shots from the top of the box, with absolute screamers coming from Fuson and Yao who hit the crossbar and post respectively to keep the score 1-0 for a majority of the game.
That would all change when former Friar now turned historic native Rhode Island signing Kevin Vang entered the pitch in the 78 th minute. Six minutes later he collected a loose ball in the box to elevate RIFC’s lead to 2-0 and secure his place in history scoring his first goal in front of both RIFC and PC fans alike.
“He’s a good kid, he earned his opportunity when he came in at preseason and he wasn’t guaranteed anything,” Smith said as he reflected on Vang’s signing and performance on the night. “Life just presents chances for you and at that time, we had a couple of injuries; it just made sense to offer him a deal.”
Those injuries were made apparent on the night with the notable absence of Connor McGlynn, Mark Doyle, Prince Saydee, Kofi Twumasi, and JJ Williams all in attendance, but not dressed for the scrimmage.
“Kofi, Mark, Connor, and Prince will all be in contention for the home opener next week,” Smith said.
When discussing Williams, it was a bit more unclear.
“JJ has an issue that carried over from last year that needed to be corrected and it has been,” Smith said. “Ultimately the timeline is not really sure.”
Overall the coach doesn’t seem worried walking away from the game with a clean sheet and a win. For him and his team, it was about getting ready for the real work ahead as they prepare for the home opener.
When asked what was the focus for the week, Smith’s game plan isn’t changing.
“Being better with and without the ball,” he reinforced. “Trying to score more goals than we give up is what the game is about.”
The efforts extend beyond the pitch as the culmination of the soccer talent will finally combine with the transformation of making Beirne Stadium ready for RIFC fans.
“It’s not often in your career you get to be a part of a club’s first game, first win, first goal,” Smith said. “We want to credit Brett Johnson and the front office. They put in a lot of hours making sure we have an environment that will ultimately help us be able to perform our best and that’s having a sold-out crowd of people that are fired up and ready to support their home team.”
And fired up they will be as the club announced ahead of the final friendly that the first game in club history has been officially sold out against New Mexico United on Saturday, March 16 at 4 p.m.