Rhode Island FC begins its 2025 USL Championship campaign oN Saturday evening with a match against the Charleston Battery. Here are the things to know heading into the first leg of RIFC’s season.

It was a busy transfer season for a majority of clubs in the USL, but RIFC focused on a strategy of quality over quantity retaining 10 players from its starting XI in the USL Cup Final and only losing one to a loan recall. It’s a big deal in a league that just a few years ago struggled to sign a significant number of multi-year deals, especially as an expansion side.

While RIFC did not win the cup, coming in second bore contract extensions for many players including Zachary Herivaux, Karifa Yao, Frank Nodarse, Clay Holstad, Noah Fuson and even head coach Khano Smith. This is in conjunction with the longer-term commitments of JJ Williams, Albert Dikwa, Jojea Kwizera, and Koke Vegas who were all already on multi-year deals in the inaugural season

Keeping a core spine of players with a proven track record of success is no easy task in the USL. Stephen Turnbull being traded to Birmingham Legion is evidence of that.

Not counting the loan recalls and retirees, RIFC failed to extend contracts to just five players providing them an 80.7 percent retention rate, which is light years ahead of the average USL Championship rate of 62 percent.

What does this mean?

While other teams retool, build chemistry, and establish how to be contenders, RIFC can hit the pitch running, continuing to build on established fundamentals and perfect what was already working. Similarly, with the addition of Maxi Rodriguez as well as new defensive depth pieces on the wings in the form of Aldair Sanchez and Dani Rovira, RIFC will be able to continue to evolve its tactics as a team that loves quick transitions and maintaining a high press.

Let’s face it, playing your first six games away is never easy. The last time that comes to mind when a club faced a lengthy road trip was the 2016 Toronto FC which played its first eight games away as BMO Stadium went through renovations.

The result?

An 11-point jumpstart that would carve a path to a home MLS Cup showdown against Seattle. Toronto lost in penalties, but it proved that good teams can get it done away.

Despite the stacked deck, RIFC have already demonstrated their scrappiness and determination to get results outside of the Ocean State after an incredible USL Playoff run that saw them beat three teams in a row including teams considered favorites to win the cup and scoring eight goals along the way.

Judging from the results of last season and the quality of each team’s respective offseason, the schedule ahead for Rhode Island isn’t as big of an obstacle as it could have been. Yes, the season is kicking off with a rematch of the Eastern Conference Final against a Battery side who has only somehow become better this offseason with the signings of Houssou Landry (one of the toughest No. 6’s in the league) and Cal Jennings, a proven goalscorer who has tallied 69 goals since joining the Championship in July of 2020.

But after that?

RIFC heads off to take on a Phoenix Rising side that completely retooled in the offseason under new Head Coach Pa-Modou Kah, an Oakland Roots team that was completely gutted with the late trade of star forward Johnny Rodriguez to the Las Vegas Lights, the unpredictable dark horse that is Loudoun United who did little to improve their roster in the offseason, and Detroit City FC who lost Rodriguez and will be running through the gauntlet against the toughest opposition in the league to start their season.

The final game? A Jagermeister Cup match against a team that only existed on paper 60 days ago.

Anything can happen, but given the tenacity this team showed in its run to the Cup Final, it’s not unrealistic to imagine RIFC can take ten points from this stretch to solidly position themselves near the top of the table and almost a fifth of the way to their projected 56.3 points (courtesy of John Morrissey).

If things don’t go well? They’ll have been battle-tested in preparation of making Tidewater Landing one of the most difficult places to play in the league.

While the majority of the starting XI has returned for the 2025 campaign, there is one looming question that Smith will be searching to answer. How does he replace Morris Duggan? The loaned defender is having a breakout beginning to the MLS season with Minnesota United.

While it’s true that the momentum within Rhode Island FC changed before Duggan’s mid-summer loan, his addition to the squad helped solidify a back line that had allowed 32 goals across the first 22 games of the regular season. Once Duggan arrived, debuting in El Clamico no less, RIFC would go on to win or draw 10 of their remaining 12 games and only being scored on eight times, with one of the losses being a match in which Duggan did not play.

And it wasn’t just Duggan’s defensive prowess that helped improve this team as RIFC was already a difficult team to break down. Duggan excelled at chance creation and crosses, establishing himself as a defender comfortable with the ball at his feet to distribute in a style of building possession from the back that hadn’t been seen earlier in the season.

Meanwhile, former Minnesota United defender Hugo Bacharach may be Smith’s answer in attempting to fill the hole Duggan left behind. With recent injury news that Bacharach will be sidelined for the next 30-60 days, it brings us back to an early 2024 rotation that likely sees Frank Nodarse resume his responsibilities as the left center back.

Nodarse had a career defining season with the Amber and Blue and while he is no stranger to the role, the results did not always reflect as such on the scoreline as the team battled through similar injuries early last year. Nodarse deserves to be on the pitch, but it will leave questions when Bacharach returns as to exactly what role the Cuban defender will find himself in around the home opener. Plus questions remain with Turnbull’s departure as to exactly who will play on that right side.

As a statement of intent, RIFC secured the talents of Rodriguez. The signing came relatively early into the offseason as the team was still wrapping things up from their Cup run showing that Rodriguez was a player that had been sought after as early as last summer to bolster Rhode Island’s attack.

Having scored 37 goals and earning 15 assists in over 140 appearances is impressive on its own, but the real numbers are in his conversion rates. Last season Rodriguez had a 25 percent goal conversion rate and a 50 percent shooting accuracy. The attacking midfielder, who due to lack of a striker in the DCFC system often masqueraded there, was clinical in his attack leading his former Le Rouge in goals (10) and assists (5).

But the key to Smith’s system is a total high press that involves movement on and off the ball as well as in defense and it’s in the not-so-subtle abilities of Rodriguez to also defend where he shines as a complete player. The midfielder ranked in the 90 percent range in defensive actions and aerial duels last season winning 176 duels and earning 137 recoveries.

These are the kind of stats you expect out of a player who earns the USL’s All-League First Team honors. What’s next is for Rodriguez to integrate into this squad in a rapid fashion. Probably the only signing in the offseason that will start, Rodriguez will need to quickly adapt to Khano ball to make meaningful contributions during this away stint. Judging by his history in the Championship so far, this shouldn’t be a problem.

With all the good that Rodriguez brings, it does complicate roster composition as room will need to be made for the attacking midfielder. Marc Ybarra, Clay Holstad, and Zachary Herivaux were one of the best midfield combinations in the league last year, showcasing Smith’s faith in their flexibility and dynamism.

While none of the three were flashy in terms of XG, goals, or assists. It was their ability to maintain RIFC’s shape on the field to to support in the defense or help contribute to the attack.

That being said, it will take the first few games to identify if Smith intends to have Rodriguez work within the same successful trio as last season or if he’ll position slightly higher up the pitch allowing the other two midfielders to move into a more traditional double pivot. Regardless it means that one of the aforementioned midfielders will most likely become an impact sub or a specialist to be rotated depending on the opponent.

That probably impacts Ybarra whose defensive numbers don’t quite match the production rate of Herivaux and Holstad. In any other team he’d be a starter, but in a team as stacked as RIFC, he’ll have to fight for every minute of playing time.

Similar to the problem in the midfield, congestion at the top of the formation will also make it tough on gameday when Smith looks to select his forwards. Both of the primary forwards in JJ Williams and Albert Dikwa suffered from issues of form last season with Williams only finding his shooting boots late scoring eight of his 11 goals in the final five games of the season including the playoffs. Those goals came at the right time helping propel RIFC to the biggest stage in the League and was only one goal off from his prior season with the Rowdies.

Dikwa, who also scored 11 goals, had a steadier goal contribution but was staggered with injuries and relegated to an impact sub as Williams started to take off.

There is no reason to not play the two as Williams’ physicality and aerial threat compliments the runs and poaching Dikwa is capable of, but it comes at the expense of excluding Fuson who was a breakout star last season and one of the biggest surprises in Smith’s evaluation.

Fuson scored nine goals and contributed to a league-high 10 assists, almost becoming the first RIFC 10/10 player in club history. His work rate, speed, and profile makes him a danger in a lot of different places on the pitch. For Smith to put the most talent on the pitch in his current system, that would require the need to play Fuson as a wingback similar to Kwizera on the right side. Smith , a former winger himself with the Revolution, knows the value of that role but it’s unclear yet if RIFC’s production numbers suffer with Fuson deeper.

New this season to the USL Championship is the Jägermeister Cup (JC) which merges competition across the different levels of competition within the USL pyramid similar to the FA Cup. While the good news is that this format change does not come at the expense of additional minutes on players’ legs, it does spark a curiosity as to how serious teams take the challenge of a new trophy.

The only miss of the offseason for Rhode Island FC was securing talent to replace forward Mark Doyle who logged over 1,100 minutes last season. While only scoring two goals (three if you count the infamous inaugural New Mexico United own goal). Doyle still provided to the attack in other ways that may be missing now as both depth pieces for the regular season and certainly for competitions such as the JC or US Open Cup, where Rhode Island enters in mid-April making it technically its seventh away game of the leg. With that in mind, determining where the goals come from in these games will be a critical factor.

RIFC’s first opponent in the regional group stage of this new tournament will be the newly constructed Westchester SC from New York who signed RIFC (and Hartford Athletic) Alumni Connor McGlynn and Prince Saydee to the squad. Westchester is no slouch of an opponent having drawn against Greenville Triumph in USL1 League play and showing they can go the distance. Also in the first round of JC play will be the Hearts of Pine who was the only team RIFC could not beat in their preseason despite multiple looks at Maine’s new team.

While some of the starters will have to play in these games, it’s unclear if Smith uses these games to build trust with depth pieces like Taimu Okiyoshi, Cole Dewhurst, Will Meyer or gives starting nods to his utility players on the bench like Joe Brito and RI native Kevin Vang. Expect Amos Shapiro-Thompson to be a X factor after recovering from a knee injury and only playing just 45 minutes in the regular season.

With all of these additional trophies on the line, Smith will want to rinse away reminders of the first round exit in the USOC and make a strong appearance in the JC. The question will be if this squad has the depth to go the distance in any deep cup run.

For Smith? He’d tell you they’re going to take it game by game.

That test starts this Saturday, March 15th at 7:30 PM at Patriots Point in South Carolina. You can watch the game for free on WPRI’s myRITV or stream the match on CBS Sports Golazo Network.