JJ Williams Named to USL Championship Week 3 Team of the Week

Sports stats



USL Rhode Island FC

JJ Williams Named to USL Championship Week 3 Team of the Week

March 25, 2025 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Rhode Island FC News Release


PAWTUCKET, R.I. - Rhode Island FC announced today that forward JJ Williams has been named to the USL Championship Team of the Week for Week 3. Williams earned the recognition for his performance in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Phoenix Rising FC, where he scored the first RIFC goal of 2025. The weekly honor is Williams' third over the last two seasons.

Making his first start of the season in Phoenix, Williams quickly established himself as an aerial threat just six minutes into the game. After Albert Dikwa "Chico" found space with the ball at the top of the box, Chico quickly sent an inch-perfect ball to a leaping Williams, who drilled a header home from close range to power the Ocean State club to an early 1-0 lead.

Minutes after RIFC conceded an equalizing goal late in the first half, Williams sprung into action again in the 43rd minute, this time challenging for a dangerous set-piece delivery into the box and forcing Phoenix defender Pape Mar Boye to attempt a dangerous clearance at the goalmouth. Although Boye won the header, his attempted clearance ended up in the back of his own net as Rhode Island FC re-took the lead.

The opening goal for Williams was the 12th of his Rhode Island FC career, and ninth in his last seven games dating back to last season. After being sidelined for the first half of 2024 with an injury, Williams quickly burst onto the scene for the Ocean State club during its historic playoff run, registering back-to-back hat tricks as part of three-straight multi-goal performances to help propel RIFC to the 2024 Eastern Conference Final.

Prior to his time in the Ocean State, Williams enjoyed a prolific goal scoring career spanning multiple teams across the USL Championship and Major League Soccer. With 147 USL Championship regular season appearances to his name, 10 in MLS and more than 11,000 minutes of action since his professional debut in 2019, Williams spent time with Columbus Crew (2019), Birmingham Legion FC (2019-20), Atlanta United FC (2020-21), FC Tulsa (2022), Phoenix Rising FC (2022) and Tampa Bay Rowdies (2023). In total, Williams now has 43 career regular-season goals and 26 assists across the USL Championship.

Williams and the rest of the team returns to action on Saturday, March 29 when RIFC heads to Leesburg, Va., to take on Loudoun United FC at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.

Check out the Rhode Island FC Statistics

• Discuss this story on the United Soccer League Championship message board...

United Soccer League Championship Stories from March 25, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central