Rhode Island FC kicked off the inaugural "Breeze Cup" with an emphatic victory over Charleston Battery, cruising to a 4-0 win in Pawtucket on Wednesday night. Two goals from JJ Williams highlighted a dominant second half that saw four goals from the Ocean State club, en route to a second straight USL Championship regular season win.

Despite the Battery controlling possession and dictating the flow of the game, RIFC was efficient and clinical on the counter, punishing the visitors from the Low Country with speed and precision. Though both sides were even with 13 shots each for the match, Rhode Island proved far more clinical, converting four of their six shots on target, while holding the Battery to just two shots on target overall.

This result bodes well for Rhode Island's chances at hoisting the Breeze Cup, awarded to the team that scores the most goals across both legs of this fixture between RIFC and the Battery. These sides will meet again in the Fall to determine who lifts the silverware, with the reverse fixture set for September 26th at Patriots Point Stadium in Charleston.

Following a less-than-eventful first half that saw both sides hit the target twice between them, RIFC came to life following the halftime interval. Williams opened the scoring in the 51st minute with a close-range header to beat Charlotte's Luis Zamudio between the sticks.

The initial cross from Jojea Kwizera took a heavy deflection as it was flicked on by Charleston's Joey Akpunonu, falling perfectly to Williams, who was left completely unmarked at the back post. The visitors pleaded for an offside flag to be raised, but the deflection made it null, handing Williams his first goal of the season on a silver platter.

Not long after, the flood gates opened for Rhode Island. Kwizera, deprived of an assist thanks to the Akpunonu deflection, bagged his third goal of the season, finishing off a lightning-fast counter with a cooly taken finish to double the lead after 61 minutes.

It was an excellent counter from back to front, with Kwizera winning the initial ball to spring the attack, and then using his pace to great effect, giving Agustín Rodríguez a perfect target to aim for on his final through ball ahead of the Rwandan's low-driven finish. It was Kwizera's second goal in three games, putting him top of the goalscoring charts for the Ocean State side so far in 2026.

Then, to cap off Rhode Island's flurry of offensive production over this 15 minute period, the hosts made it 3-0 in some style. Williams reached 50 career USL Championship regular season goals on the night, hitting the milestone with a brilliantly taken strike from the edge of the Battery penalty area, to effectively put the game to bed.

A long ball over the top from Rhode Island keeper Koke Vegas set Williams off and running into acres of space, but still with all the hard work to do in front of him. The American did well to bring the ball down and size up his defender, before twisting and turning into space and arrowing a strike into the top left corner past Zamudio. Struck with accuracy and venom, there was nothing the Mexican shot-stopper could do to keep it out, with Williams jogging to the corner to celebrate becoming the latest in a long list of USL Championship forwards to reach 50 career regular season goals.

Williams now leads Rhode Island in goal contributions, with seven goals and assists in seven games across all competitions to begin the year, just two shy of matching his total contributions from 2025, after scoring eight and assisting once in 25 games.

Rounding off the night, and to put the cherry on top of a delicious Breeze Cup first leg cake, midfielder Dwayne Atkinson made sure to get in amongst all the fun. Coming off the bench in the 80th minute, the Jamaican international stepped up to take a penalty for RIFC, after defender Clay Holstad was brought down by Zamudio inside the Battery penalty area.

Barely two minutes after getting brought in off the bench, Atkinson stepped up with poise and conviction, confidently rolling his penalty into the bottom left corner to seal a triumphant win in Pawtucket for Rhode Island.

The result was the second largest shutout win in franchise history and is the largest win of the season so far for Rhode Island, who've struggled coming out of the gates to begin the year. After starting 2026 winless through their first four USL Championship matches, RIFC has two wins on the bounce to propel them up from the bottom of the table.

Looking ahead, RIFC has a date with New England rival Hartford Athletic coming up in USL Cup on Saturday, April 25. Rhode Island will look to make it two straight wins over their northeast rivals before returning to Pawtucket for more USL Championship action, hosting Birmingham Legion FC at Centreville Bank Stadium on May 2nd.

Subscribe