Game Preview: Rhode Island FC vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies: Oct 11, 2025
USL Rhode Island FC

Game Preview: Rhode Island FC vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies: Oct 11, 2025

Published on October 7, 2025 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Rhode Island FC News Release


With just three games remaining in the 2025 USL Championship regular season and the race for the playoffs as tight as ever, all eyes will be on Centreville Bank Stadium on Saturday when two of the conference's most in-form teams will look to continue their respective late-season resurgences with the postseason on the line. For both Rhode Island FC and Tampa Bay Rowdies, who will meet for the fourth time in two seasons on Saturday, anything but a win could spell the end of an inspiring push for the top eight playoff spots with very little time remaining to make up ground. Ahead of a do-or-die game for both teams in Pawtucket, here is everything you need to know.

AT A GLANCE

Date | Saturday, Oct. 11

Kickoff | 7:00 p.m. ET

Location | Centreville Bank Stadium - Pawtucket, R.I.

Broadcast | NESN, ESPN+

Radio | WPRO 99.7 FM (AM 630)

Social | @rhodeislandfc (X, Instagram, Facebook)

Game Hashtag | #RIvTBR

Last Meeting | May 17, 2025: TBR 0-3 RI - St. Petersburg, Fla.

TAMPA BAY ROWDIES

Roster

GOALKEEPERS (2): 24-Bill Hamid, 41-Ethan Bandré

DEFENDERS (7): 2-Robert Castellanos, 3-Forrest Lasso, 5-Paul Marie, 14-Thomas Vancayezeele, 26-Joey Skinner, 27-Laurence Wyke, 33-Aaron Guillen

MIDFIELDERS (9): 4-Lewis Hilton, 7-Pacifique Niyongabire, 8-Ollie Bassett, 10-Leo Fernandes, 11-Blake Bodily, 17-Danny Crisostomo, 19-Alex Mendez, 20-Nick Moon, 47-Luis Álvarez

FORWARDS (6): 9-Manuel Arteaga, 15-Juan Carlos Azocar, 21-Endri Mustali, 25-Charlie Sharp, 28-Woobens Pacius, 36-Alex Rodriguez

Surging Back into Form

For Tampa Bay Rowdies, who have made the playoffs for seven-straight seasons, the 2025 season has been one defined by uncharacteristic struggle. The Rowdies' 3-0 loss to RIFC in May marked the tail end of a streak that saw Tampa Bay take just one win from their first 11 games of the regular season, digging themselves into an unfamiliar hole at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. However, the Rowdies have refused to give up, showing a resurgence in the last month. Tampa Bay is now one of just two clubs in the entire league without a loss in its last five games, and sits just four points behind Rhode Island FC with its season-best run of form keeping its playoff hopes alive. It has scored 15 goals in its last five games - nearly 40 percent of its total production on the season - averaging a stellar three goals per game in that stretch. The Florida club is coming off the back of a resounding 4-0 home win vs. Monterey Bay FC last weekend, and has shown that it will not go down without a fight. It will need to continue its inspired momentum on Saturday to keep its postseason hopes alive.

Stepping up When Duty Calls

Despite boasting a free-flowing attack through the month of September, Tampa Bay will be without its leading scorer, Woobens Pacius, on Saturday. Pacius, who leads the team with 12 goals, has scored five times in his last seven games and bagged his first brace of the season in the team's win vs. Monterey, will miss Saturday's contest after earning his first career international call-up for his native Haiti in the upcoming October World Cup Qualifying window. Luckily for Tampa Bay, Manuel Areaga is in equally hot form, following closely behind Pacius with eight goals in the regular season. The seasoned USL Championship veteran, who is nearing 150 career regular season appearances, has four goals and one assist in his last four games, and will hope that his best run of form since July 2023 will help fill in the absence of Pacius. Additionally, USL Championship September Player of the Month nominee, Paul Marie, has made an instant impact since joining the club on loan from Major League Soccer club San Jose Earthquakes at the end of August. He has registered three goals and two assists through his first five appearances, tying the most of any player in the league in the month of September. In Tampa Bay's win vs. Monterey, Marie added another assist to his quickly-growing Rowdies account.

Improvement in the Back

Tampa Bay's win vs. Monterey was not only its largest margin of victory in the 2025 season, and its second time in four games scoring four goals, but it also marked its second shutout of the season. It had struggled to keep opponents out of the back of the net up to that point, with its only other shutout coming in a 1-0 win over Hartford Athletic on July 16, and has often relied on its newfound offensive firepower to out-score its opponents. Veteran goalkeeper Bill Hamid made a pair of important saves in the win as the Tampa Bay defense weathered 15 crosses, six corners and 11 shots, seven of which were taken inside Tampa Bay's penalty area. The 42 goals conceded by Tampa Bay are the sixth-most in the USL Championship, and its two clean sheets are the fewest in the league. The Rowdies hope its win vs. Monterey will be a springboard for more defensive stability as it approaches a do-or-die final stretch of the regular season.

RHODE ISLAND FC

Roster

GOALKEEPERS (3): 22-Jackson Lee, 1-Koke Vegas, 13-Will Meyer

DEFENDERS (7): 4-Hugo Bacharach, 6-Aimé Mabika, 14-Rio Hope-Gund, 15-Frank Nodarse, 2-Dani Rovira, 3-Aldair Sanchez, 5-Grant Stoneman, 24-Karifa Yao, 16-Cole Dewhurst

MIDFIELDERS (12): 80-Isaac Angking*, 18-Joe Brito, 20-Zachary Herivaux, 12-Clay Holstad, 17-Jojea Kwizera^, 8-Taimu Okiyoshi*, 21-Maxi Rodriguez, 77-Amos Shapiro-Thompson, 19-Kevin Vang, 23-Marc Ybarra, 7-Dwayne Atkinson|

FORWARDS (3): 10-Albert Dikwa, 11-Noah Fuson, 9-JJ Williams

*Out on loan

^International duty

Heating Up

Although Rhode Island FC's come-from-behind 3-1 win over Las Vegas Lights FC was ultimately scratched and declared a 3-0 forfeit win due to the Lights' fielding of an ineligible player, the performance showed signs of life that RIFC fans had sorely missed. Facing a 1-0 deficit with just 13 minutes remaining in the game, the RIFC attack exploded for three goals to turn the game on its head and put itself back above the playoff line in the Eastern Conference standings. It marked the first time the club had come back from a losing position to claim all three points in more than a year, dating back to the 2-1 win over FC Tulsa on Sept. 24, 2024, and the first time in club history it had come back from behind to win by multiple goals. A first professional goal from defender Hugo Bacharach leveled the contest in the 77th minute, before Noah Fuson delivered a killer blow in the 90th minute, capitalizing on a deadly counter-attack to put the Ocean State club in front. JJ Williams put the nail in the coffin with a skillful solo goal deep into second-half stoppage time, completing RIFC's first-ever three-goal performance in the regular season at Centreville Bank Stadium. The last time RIFC has scored three goals in a game this regular season was its first meeting at Tampa Bay Rowdies in May, and it has now scored multiple goals in back-to-back games for the first time all year. Nearly one-fifth of RIFC's total goalscoring across the entire season has taken place in the last two weeks with five goals in two games.

Fuson, Williams Linking Up

Despite the stats being declared null and void as a result of the forfeit, Fuson continued his recent form with his first multi-contribution game of the season vs. Las Vegas. Scoring the game-winning goal before assisting Williams in stoppage time, Fuson brought his total to one goal and two assists in his last two games. Fuson has assisted Williams in two-straight games, marking the first time all season that two players have combined for a goal in back-to-back games in 2025. Williams has now scored in consecutive games for the first time all year, and has three goals in his last six regular season games. For an attack that has struggled to score more than one goal per game, doing so just four times prior to the win vs. Vegas, the Ocean State club seems to have finally opened the floodgates at just the right time.

Clinching Scenarios

It is officially that time of year! Although Rhode Island FC cannot officially clinch a spot in the postseason this weekend, a win vs. Tampa Bay could bring the team within a single result of securing a playoff spot for the second-straight season. The Ocean State club sits two points clear of ninth-place Indy Eleven, four points clear of 10th-place Tampa Bay Rowdies and just one point behind seventh-place Detroit City FC with three games remaining for each team. If Rhode Island FC wins this weekend, Tampa Bay Rowdies could face elimination from postseason contention if Detroit City FC also wins vs. Loudoun United FC. For RIFC, a win this weekend, coupled with an Indy Eleven loss or tie at Pittsburgh, would bring it within two points of clinching a postseason berth with two games remaining - meaning a win the following week at North Carolina FC would officially secure its spot. If Tampa Bay can secure a win, it would bring itself within a single point of Rhode Island FC, almost completely closing the gap between the two clubs. For both teams on Saturday, a win would be monumental, while a loss could spell the beginning of the end.

Check out the Rhode Island FC Statistics

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from October 7, 2025


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