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The new team is playing in the USL Championship league, the second tier of American menâs soccer, a notch below Major League Soccer.
On Saturday, hundreds of fans crowded the parking lot grilling burgers and chicken wings and sipping beers as they waited for Rhode Island soccer history. Then, thousands more filed in as the 4 p.m. game time approached. The roughly 5,000-seat stadium was packed by the time people had a chance to navigate the challenging parking situation at the university campus.
Fans who came from around Rhode Island said they were there to watch a game they enjoy, to support a state that took a big hit with the loss of the Pawtucket Red Sox, or just to have a good time on a mild spring-like day.
As the competition against New Mexico United neared, the anticipation built: fireworks shot off in the distance, kids squirmed on metal bleachers, and the merch line inched forward under partly cloudy skies. The fan section drummed and chanted âRI! FC!â Then the whistle blew for kickoff.
It took 67 minutes, then New Mexico United netted the gameâs first goal.
The Rhode Island soccer project has seen its fair share of setbacks over the years. Construction on the soccer stadium in Pawtucket was delayed, so the team is now playing in a temporary home this season in Smithfield. The permanent stadium has also gotten much more expensive for Rhode Island taxpayers, leading one economist, Victor Matheson of Holy Cross, to describe the deal as âpure insanity.â
Governor Dan McKee, a supporter of the project, came out on Saturday in a Rhode Island FC jersey. âI guess Iâm going to learn soccer,â McKee joked. âI guess weâre all going to learn soccer.â

Despite the difficulties getting the stadium built, as well as other problems hampering the state, McKee said heâs looking forward, not backward, putting the stateâs issues â from 38 Studios to âCooler and Warmer,â a disastrous tourism campaign â âin the rearview mirror.â
The controversy, the cynicism, the âpure insanityâ over the soccer stadium â they were all in the rearview, too, at least at Beirne Stadium on Saturday.
Standing nearby was team owner Brett Johnson. With his characteristic sunny southern California demeanor, Johnson said the stadium, when itâs done, will transform Pawtucket. Until then, theyâd try to win in Smithfield.
As for the housing thatâs supposed to come along with the stadium, Johnson said he expected some âtractionâ on that subject in 90 days. Saturday, though, was about Saturday â not 90 days, but 90 minutes of soccer. He pointed to the lines of fans that were growing outside.
âPulling up and seeing a packed parking lot, seeing a sold-out crowd â whatever my expectations were, they were exceeded,â Johnson said.

Even after the local team went down a goal, they kept pressing, with big chance after big chance. Headers went into New Mexicoâs keeperâs arms. Shots blasted into the crowd. One wayward ball nearly hit peopleâs beers and flew past a man carrying a baby strapped to his chest.
âNevermind the baby,â the man said, presumably joking. âNot the Modelos!â
As the game entered the 90th of 90 minutes, then into stoppage time, Mark Doyle scored the first ever Rhode Island FC goal in the 92nd.
The crowd exploded as Rhode Island FC drew level, earning what would ultimately end in a 1-1 draw. Rhode Islandâs soccer team ran over and celebrated with each other, and also with the Rhode Island fans, including 13-year-old Michael Denham, from Lincoln, who was nearby.
Michael was out of breath as he described the scene: âThat was insane!â

Brian Amaral can be reached at brian.amaral@globe.com. Follow him @bamaral44.
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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