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Rhode Island FC silences Hartford in home rivalry match
SMITHFIELD — It was the match Rhode Island FC imagined.
A packed Beirne Stadium, against the new rival, with clinical goals and chances in the run of play. Rhode Island curated its best home atmosphere of the season on a cool Saturday night against Hartford Athletic.
And it was the Ocean State club that rode set piece goals from Grant Stoneman and Frank Nodarse and a late icer from Joe Brito for a 3-0 win vs. neighboring Hartford.
Saturday’s sellout, 5,252 in attendance, was just the second of the season — Rhode Island also sold out the inaugural match in March. It had the feel that derby matches bring, albeit just two games into the newly minted rivalry. Albert Dikwa’s missed opening tally just five minutes into the match previewed Rhode Island’s tempo — a pace Hartford couldn’t match.
More: RIFC cofounder and Ocean State native Michael Parkhurst on the club’s turnaround season
“Really good night, special night,” Khano Smith said. “We talked about it as a team, making it a night to remember. And putting a bigger gap between us and [Hartford], so we felt like we achieved it. But so many people put in so much work into this day.”
Said Koke Vegas on the match: “This is special. I cannot say to you why it is different. I can only say that it’s special. The feel is different.”
It was Jojea Kwizera’s left-footed service from beyond the box that Stoneman headed low into the far corner for the game’s first score in the 29th minute. Five minutes into the second half and Noah Fuson sent in a volley from the end line. But it was Nodarse’s brilliance that doubled the advantage.
Nodarse timed his run from the center of the box perfectly as Fuson delivered the service. Nodarse, running in on the possession, rose for the header that was redirected to the far post. It was more clinical than the opening set piece score and came after Hartford had seized momentum near the end of the first half.
Hartford had misses in the 36th minute and in stoppage of the first half after Joseph Farrell’s header off a corner didn’t sneak inside the far post for an equalizer.
“We started the game in control, and then naturally a goal was scored,” Smith said. “They kind of grabbed control of the game and took a little bit of momentum from us. And ended the half with more of the ball. But I think overall, I think we were in control of the game.”
Rhode Island eased to the clean sheet in the second half behind Vegas. Despite the eight-game unbeaten run, Rhode Island only posted one shutout over that time. The offense carried the club through July after starting the year sluggish.
“That’s probably what makes me the most proud,” Smith said of the clean sheet. “I always feel like we’re going to score, but we noticed that, and we talked about it as a group, the last time we had a shutout was against El Paso. Again, if we want to be a really good team, you can’t go seven or eight games without stopping the opposition.”
Rhode Island (7-5-11) is now seventh in the Eastern Conference standings and a point behind Detroit City FC.
“I think everybody today deserved everything that we watched out there — we are very happy,” Vegas said.
The club announced on Friday that it acquired defender Morris Duggan on loan from Minnesota United FC. Duggan, who entered Saturday’s match in the 82nd minute, is just the second loan acquisition for RIFC this season.
The 6-foot-4, German native was drafted in the third round of the 2024 MLS SuperDraft by Minnesota. He made two MLS regular season appearances this season.
“He will add quality in and out of possession to our defensive unit,” Smith said. [Duggan] is a player we are excited to add to our roster.”
jrousseau@providencejournal.com
On X: @ByJacobRousseau
New East Bay Bike Path bridges are open and ready for bikes
What’s it like to ride over the new East Bay Bike Path bridges? We sent a reporter to try them out.
I’ve long thought bike paths are among Rhode Island’s premier attractions, up there with the beaches, the mansions and the bay.
We like to knock government, but credit where it’s due, the state has done an amazing job building out an incredible pedaling network.
It’s clearly a priority.
At least I thought it was.
But they’ve just dropped the ball on what should have been a beautiful new stretch.
The plan was to finish a mile-long connector from the East Providence end of the Henderson Bridge all the way to the East Bay Bike Path.
There was even $25 million set aside to get it done.
Except WPRI recently reported that it’s now been canceled.
The main fault lies with the Trump administration, which is no friend of bike paths, and moved to kill that $25 million.
But it gets complicated, as government funding always does.
To try to rescue that money, the state DOT reportedly worked with the administration to refunnel it into a road project. Specifically, the $25 million will now be spent helping upgrade the mile-long highway between the Henderson Bridge and North Broadway in East Providence, turning it into a more pleasant boulevard.
That totally sounds worthy.
But it’s insane to throw away the bike path plan.
Especially for a particular reason in this case.
They’d already put a ton of money into starting it.
When state planners designed the new Henderson Bridge between the East Side and East Providence, they included a bike path.
It’s a beauty – well protected from traffic by a barrier, a great asset for safely riding over the Seekonk River.
The plan was to continue it another mile or so along East Providence’s Waterfront Drive, ultimately connecting with the East Bay Bike Path, which runs all the way to Bristol. Which, by the way, is one of the nicest bike paths you’ll find anywhere.
But alas, that connector plan has been canceled.
So the expensive stretch over the Henderson Bridge to East Providence is now a bike path to nowhere. Once the bridge ends, the path on it continues a few hundred yards or so and then, just … ends.
Too bad.
We were so close.
Most of the stories on the issue have been about the complex negotiation to rescue the $25 million by rerouting it to that nearby highway-to-boulevard project. But I don’t want to get lost in the weeds of that bureaucratic process here because it loses sight of the heart of this story.
Which is that an amazing new addition to one of the nation’s best state bike path systems has just been scrapped.
You can knock the Rhode Island government for blowing a lot of things.
The PawSox.
The Washington Bridge.
But they’ve done great with bike paths.
And especially, linking many of them together.
Example: not too many years ago, Providence bikers had to risk dicey traffic on the East Side to get to the more pleasant paths in India Point Park and on the 195 bridge to the East Bay Path.
But the state fixed that by adding an amazing connector that starts behind the Salvation Army building and beautifully winds along the water of the Seekonk River for a mile or so.
That makes a huge difference – and no doubt has avoided some bike-car accidents.
We were close to a comparable stretch on the other side of the river – that’s what the $25 million would have done.
But it’s now apparently dead.
Online commenters aren’t happy about it.
On a Reddit string, “Toadscoper” accused the state of being “complicit” with the feds in rerouting the money from bikes to cars.
And there was this fascinating post from FineLobster 5322, who apparently is a disappointed planner who worked on the project: “Mind you money has already been spent on phase one so rejecting it at this point is wasting money and also against the public interest … but what do I know? I only worked on the project as an engineer … I didn’t get into this to build more highways. I do it … to give back to communities and give them more access to their environment.”
Wow. One can imagine the state planning team is devastated. That’s not a small consideration. Good people go into government to make life better in Rhode Island, and it’s a bad play to take the spirit out of the job by first assigning a great human-scale project and then, after a ton of work, trashing it.
A poster named Homosapiens simply said, “We just accept this?”
Hopefully not.
The first stretch of the path over the Henderson Bridge is done, money already sunk.
What a shame to leave that as a path to nowhere.
It doesn’t have to happen.
Between Governor McKee and our Washington delegation, there’s got to be a way to get this done.
There’s got to be.
mpatinki@providencejournal.com
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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