Rhode Island FC showed a lot of heart in Saturday’s match against Oakland Roots SC, a team that seemed determined to push the boundaries of the referee, the crowd, and their opponents beyond all reasonable limits.

From the earliest moments, they grabbed, shoved, kicked, and harassed Rhode Island’s players. Perhaps RIFC’s own reputation for foul play gave the referee pause in handling the situation with less hesitancy, but Oakland was content to exploit that and the Tide responded with considerably more restraint than perhaps they would have earlier this season.

Ultimately — although Rhode Island came away with a slightly disappointing draw — they continued to demonstrate the incredible growth that they have shown over the latter half of this season and should be proud of the restraint and effort they displayed against Oakland.

The first half started with a cross that nearly found RIFC winger Noah Fuson in only the 3rd minute, skipping just behind his heels; only a scant few yards from Oakland’s goal. Oakland responded with a near miss only seconds later. The 13th minute saw Fuson attempt to make up for his earlier blunder with a curled shot from the center of the box that only a sharp dive from Oakland’s Paul Angelo Blanchette could stop from scoring. 

Blanchette became the center of much controversy and even scorn when he brought down RIFC striker Albert “Chico” Dikwa in the box. Chico had the ball and was one-on-one with the Oakland goalkeeper when it appeared that Blanchette tripped Chico as Dikwa attempted to round him. The referee let the match play on and gave neither a penalty nor a card.

Just a few moments later, Blanchette committed another similar act, tripping another Rhode Island FC player as they trotted back towards center-pitch for a goal kick. Although the referee gave him what I’m quite sure was a very stern talking to, Blanchette’s behavior did not improve.

In the 29th minute, RIFC winger Mark Doyle had a shot deflected that screamed just inches wide of the right post and out for a corner. That corner was wasted— Rhode Island had fourteen such corners on the night – and Oakland responded with a corner of their own in the 33rd. Oakland winger Baboucarr Njie took the corner and lashed it in, where it found the head of defender Neveal Hackshaw, who buried it past RIFC goalkeeper Koke Vegas and put the visitors up 1-0. It all happened so fast that there wasn’t much Vegas could do and Rhode Island allowed its 33rd goal on the season.

Rhode Island nearly responded just a few moments later with a header from defender Grant Stoneman that went just over the bar and RIFC winger Jojea Kwizera took a shot from inside the box that also skimmed the crossbar in first-half stoppage-time.

As a result, the teams went into the half with Oakland leading the Tide 1-0.

Rhode Island FC came out of the locker room hungry and ready to play. In the 47th minute wingback Stephen Turnbull burst through and free on a beautiful counterattack. The resulting shot, however, was ultimately easily saved by Blanchette. Only a few moments later Rhode Island FC took its 10th corner of the match, which led to further controversy from Blanchette.

It’s rare that I feel I have a journalistic duty to impugn the character of a player, and not only their effort or even their ability but Oakland goalkeeper Paul Angelo Blanchette was so poorly behaved all night that eventually the entire stadium burst into boos whenever he touched the ball. In this instance, Blanchette started not just one, but two scuffles while medical trainers treated injured players nearby.

While waiting for RIFC’s eleventh corner kick. Both scuffles resulted in a lot of shoving, and while Blanchette seemed to feel plenty comfortable giving punishment, the moment he was shoved in return he flopped to the ground in an almost comical display, like something out of an old cartoon. He performed these egregious flops twice in a row.

Rhode Island FC 3 – Hartford Athletic 0: 3 RIFC Thoughts

Two Rhode Island players, Dikwa and defender Frank Nodarse received yellow cards for those shoves. I, for one, hope the apparently-easily-bruised Blanchette wasn’t too badly harmed by what must have been quite powerful shoves. As Dikwa said in the press conference after the game, ”if you want to start a fight, you need to be a big boy.”

In the 72nd minute, Oakland Roots SC’s poor behavior finally caught up to them, as Oakland captain, defender, and goalscorer Hackshaw pulled down RIFC striker JJ Williams by the neck just outside of the Oakland box, and earned a red card for his efforts. Still up 1-0 — and already facing relentless pressure from a Rhode Island side that would ultimately tally 22 total shots on the night — Oakland suddenly found themselves in the unenviable position of having to hunker down with only 10 men. Given Blanchette’s play throughout the match, they were quite lucky not to be down to 9 men.

RIFC couldn’t make anything happen with the resulting free kick and Blanchette made a couple more saves against Rhode Island set pieces –holding the ball for agonizing seconds that the crowd counted off amid a chorus of boos every single time – but Oakland could no longer weather the storm forever.

Finally in the 87th minute, RIFC midfielder and super-sub Joe Brito – who scored late last week against Hartford Athletic assisted by Dikwa – found Dikwa with a beautiful long ball which the striker headed past Blanchette’s right to tie the game up at 1-1. The goal was the 50th USL Championship goal of Chico’s career and his 10th goal involvement on the season (7 goals and 3 assists), as well as his first goal since July 13.

After that, RIFC kept the pressure on, but despite some great headers and more controversy involving Blanchette – who may have caught a headed shot from Doyle after the ball passed over the line – Rhode Island was unable to secure the win and three points.

The draw was Rhode Island’s twelfth of the season and came despite their dominance of the stats. They outshot Oakland 22-7, with six shots on target to Oakland’s one. Rhode Island also bested Oakland in corners taken (14-4) and possession (61% to Oakland’s 39%).

The red card gained by Oakland’s Hackshaw was also the first ever shown to an opponent of RIFC. With ten matches left in Rhode Island’s USL Championship season, only three more draws will see them take the USL record for draws in a season. The draw also saw them fall back to 8th place in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference, as they fight for their first-ever playoff berth.

Rhode Island FC are back in action next Saturday night, August 24, as they play away to Loudoun United FC, just outside of our nation’s capital, at 7:30 pm ET. Loudoun United are presently tied with Rhode Island FC on points, with 33 each, although Loudoun have a game in hand.