Rhode Island FC will round out its two-game road trip on Saturday when it travels to Protective Stadium to face Birmingham Legion FC at 8 p.m., where it will look to extend its win streak to three-straight games in the regular season for just the third time in club history. After falling 3-1 to Birmingham in its only home loss of the season on May 2, RIFC will look to level the score with the Alabama club in their second meeting this season as the Ocean State club continues its charge up the Eastern Conference standings. After a statement 1-0 win over defending champions Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on July 25, RIFC will look to finish its road trip on a high. Ahead of an important Eastern Conference game on the road, here is everything you need to know.
AT A GLANCE
Date | Saturday, August 1
Kickoff | 8:00 p.m. ET
Location | Protective Stadium – Birmingham, Ala.
Broadcast | NESN+, ESPN Select
Radio | 790 The Score (WPRV 790 AM)
Social | @rhodeislandfc (X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok)
Game Hashtag | #RIatBHM
Last Meeting | May 2, 2026: BHM 3-1 RI – Pawtucket, R.I.
BIRMINGHAM LEGION FC
Roster
GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Jassem Koleilat, 12-Trevor McMullen
DEFENDERS (6): 2-Leo Duru, 3-Phanuel Kavita, 4-Ramiz Hamouda, 20-A.J. Paterson, 26-Amir Daley, 27-Bryce Washington
MIDFIELDERS (6): 6-Samuel McIllhatton, 8-Kadeem Cole, 11-Dawson McCartney, 16-Peter-Lee Vassell, 18-Seth Antwi, 19-Gevork Diarbian
FORWARDS (8): 9-Ronaldo Damus, 14-Samuel Shashoua, 15-Tyler Pasher, 17-Romario Williams, 21-Sebastian Tregarthen, 23-Sebastian Saucedo, 77-Nico Brown, 81-Serge Ngoma
Regular Season Struggles
Ahead of a two-game week, beginning with a midweek clash vs. Louisville City FC, Birmingham Legion FC is 2W-5L-8T in the 2026 regular season, and has not won in eight games since its 3-1 victory over RIFC on May 2. In that span, it has scored just six goals and has been blanked twice. Its only other win on the season came in a 1-0 victory against Pittsburgh on April 12. In the regular season, Birmingham has scored 16 goals, which is the second-lowest in the league. While it has lacked firepower on the attacking side, the defense has been mostly middle of the pack, ranking 14th with 19 goals conceded and keeping three clean sheets. Goalkeeper Jassem Koleilat sits 4th in the USL Championship with 45 saves.
Pasher Leads the Charge
Tyler Pasher, a 12-year veteran, leads Birmingham with four goals. He most recently found the back of the net in Birmingham’s 2-1 loss to Detroit City FC on July 2. Despite leading the team in goals, Pasher has not yet scored in a win this season across all competitions. Sebastian Tregarthen and Peter-Lee Vassell are the only other players with double-digit goal totals: Vassell scored a brace in Birmingham’s 3-1 USL Cup win over FC Tulsa, while Tregarthen ranks second on the team with three goals throughout the season. In total, 10 Birmingham players have scored at least one goal this season.
Last Time Out
Due to its July 25 game vs. New Mexico United suffering a weather postponement, Birmingham Legion FC has not played since July 11, where it beat FC Tulsa 3-1 in the final group stage game of the Prinx Tires USL Cup. Peter-Lee Vassell recorded a brace, scoring goals in the 28th and 84th minutes, to lead Birmingham to a much-needed win. Romario Williams added an insurance goal in the 93rd minute to seal the win, which was not enough to keep Birmingham alive in the tournament. Despite Birmingham’s elimination, the win was its first across all competitions since June 9, when it defeated USL League One side Corpus Christi FC 3-0 in the Prinx Tires USL Cup. The Legion will look to carry over its cup momentum into the regular season, when it plays Louisville City FC on July 29 after an 18 day break before traveling home to host RIFC.
RHODE ISLAND FC
Roster
GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Koke Vegas, 13-Will Meyer, 29-Jacob Castro
DEFENDERS (8): 2-Dani Rovira, 3-Aldair Sanchez, 4-Hugo Bacharach, 5-Grant Stoneman, 15-Frank Nodarse, 22-Nick Scardina, 24-Karifa Yao, 25-CJ Williams, 32-Hamady Diop
MIDFIELDERS (7): 7-Dwayne Atkinson, 10-Agustín “Pity” Rodríguez, 12-Clay Holstad, 17-Jojea Kwizera, 19-Kevin Vang, 21-Zachary Herivaux, 77-Amos Shapiro-Thompson
FORWARDS (4): 8-Leo Afonso, 9-JJ Williams, 11-Noah Fuson, 20-Jamin Gogo Peters
Defensive Solidity
Koke Vegas recorded his second-straight clean sheet in RIFC’s 1-0 win over Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. The four-save performance brought his total to three clean sheets in the regular season and seven across all competitions in 2026. El Capitán is RIFC’s all-time leader in clean sheets, keeping 30 in three seasons for the club. Vegas’s consistency earned him a new contract with RIFC – he joined Hugo Bacharach and Amos Shapiro-Thompson in re-signing with Rhode Island FC ahead of the 2027 USL Championship season. Bacharach was named to the USL team of the Week for Week 21 for his two-way play on both the attacking and defensive ends of the ball, playing a vital role in leading RIFC to the shutout victory.
Building Wins
With its most recent win over Pittsburgh, RIFC has jumped into sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings, picking up back-to-back regular-season wins for the first time in 2026 and holding a 3W-1L-1T record in its last five regular-season games. In its last five road games, RIFC has improved its record to 3W-4L-0T, winning two of its last three games away from home. The win in Pittsburgh added to its 4-1 win at Loudoun United FC on June 13. RIFC has not won three regular-season games in a row since its inaugural season in 2024, and will look to break that streak going into Saturday’s matchup against Birmingham. The last time RIFC won three in a row was between July 13 and July 27, 2024, where it defeated Miami FC 3-2, Birmingham Legion FC 3-1, and North Carolina FC 2-1.
For the Recordbooks
RIFC and Birmingham Legion FC last met on May 2, 2026, where Birmingham came away with a 3-1 win at Centreville Bank Stadium, picking up its first and only win in the head-to-head series so far. After conceding a third-minute goal to go behind in that game, RIFC responded when Leo Afonso quickly evened the score at 1-1 in the 17th minute. After multiple close chances went missing for the Ocean State club, Birmingham stepped up its offensive pressure in the second half and scored two goals within ten minutes of each other. Birmingham held the hosts off for the rest of the game, picking up its second win of the season and first on the road. The loss was the only blip in an otherwise dominant all-time series for Rhode Island FC, who hold an all-time record of 4W-1L-1T in six meetings vs. Birmingham.
