After falling 3-0 to regional rival Hartford Athletic on Saturday, Rhode Island FC will look to bounce back when it returns to Centreville Bank Stadium for the first of four-straight home games this weekend. On Saturday, the Ocean State club will welcome one of the USL Championship’s most dangerous attacks when it hosts the red-hot Charleston Battery in a rematch of the 2024 Eastern Conference Final. RIFC returns to a home field where it has not lost since late June and will look to capitalize on a string of impressive defensive performances in Pawtucket to pick up a vital result over one of the best teams in the league. Ahead of Hometown Heroes Night, here is everything you need to know.
AT A GLANCE
Date | Saturday, Aug. 30
Kickoff | 7:00 p.m. ET
Location | Centreville Bank Stadium – Pawtucket, R.I.
Broadcast | NESN+, CBS Sports Golazo Network
Radio | 790 The Score (790 AM)
Social | @rhodeislandfc (X, Instagram, Facebook)
Game Hashtag | #RIvCHS
Last Meeting | March 15, 2025: CHS 2-0 RI – Mount Pleasant, S.C.
CHARLESTON BATTERY
Roster
GOALKEEPERS (4): 0-Enzo Mori, 1-Christian Garner, 24-Daniel Kuzemka, 56-Luis Zamudio
DEFENDERS (7): 2-Mark Segbers, 5-Leland Archer, 7-Langston Blackstock, 16-Graham Smith, 22-Joey Akpunonu, 34-Michael Edwards, 62-Nathan Dossantos
MIDFIELDERS (9): 4-Chris Allan, 6-Aaron Molloy, 8-Emilio Ycaza, 10-Arturo Rodriguez, 11-Vigo Ortiz, 12-Diego Rodríguez, 29-Jeremy Kelly, 80-Juan David Torres, 91-Houssou Landry
FORWARDS (5): 9-MD Meyers, 14-Rubio Rubín, 26-Cal Jennings, 36-Jackson Conway, 42-Douglas Martínez
Scoring for Fun
Charleston Battery currently leads the USL Championship with 45 goals through 21 games, and is the only club that has multiple players scoring in double-figures. Cal Jennings is currently tied for the USL Championship Golden Boot lead with 12 regular season goals, and has 13 total in all competitions. The experienced USL Championship veteran ranks seventh all-time with 77 career goals in the Championship, and is enjoying his fifth-straight season scoring 10 or more goals. Charleston’s balanced attack does not end there, as MD Meyers has notched an impressive 14 goals across all competitions, and sits third in the Golden Boot race with 10 regular season goals. The forward has scored in double-figures in all three professional seasons of his career across the USL Championship and MLS Next Pro, and has registered a goal contribution in his last four games. Charleston’s Juan David Torres leads the USL Championship with eight assists. Both Jennings and Meyers scored in a commanding 4-1 win over Loudoun United FC last time out that brought the Battery within one point of league-leading Louisville City FC.
An Unstoppable Attack
Charleston’s win over Loudoun continued a dangerous theme for the South Carolina club: scoring in droves. The win was the ninth time across all competitions that Charleston has scored at least three goals in a game. On the attack, Charleston is absolutely ruthless, leading the league in shots (298) and shots on target (117) and ranking second in shot conversion rate (15.1 percent). The South Carolina club has lost just once in its last nine games across all competitions, with the lone loss coming against the USL Championship-leading Louisville City FC. Opposition teams have struggled all season long to contain Charleston, who has been shut out just twice in the regular season, and has only conceded more than two goals in a game once. Charleston’s 22 conceded goals is the fourth-lowest total in the USL Championship.
Loudoun: The Latest Victim
In Charleston’s 4-1 win over Loudoun United FC, it showed stability on both ends of the ball. On top of scoring two goals and seeing production from both of its top scorers, the Battery also stayed solid defensively, with goalkeeper Luis Zamudio turning away a season-high seven shots. Charleston’s goalscoring production was spread evenly, with Jeremy Kelly finding his first-ever goal for the club, Jennings scoring his first regular season goal since May 24, Arturo Rodríguez finishing the night with a goal and an assist and Rubio Rubín becoming the third Charleston player to register a multi-assist game this season. The club will head to Rhode Island on a roll, hoping to pick up its first-ever win in the Ocean State on Saturday.
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, 36-Matthew Corcoran, 7-Dwayne Atkinson
FORWARDS (3): 10-Albert Dikwa, 11-Noah Fuson, 9-JJ Williams
*Out on loan
Punished in Hartford
Although Rhode Island FC kept itself in the game after conceding an early goal in Hartford, it was punished for not taking its chances late in the game when Hartford continued to pile on the pressure. Prior to conceding the second goal in the 72nd minute – and another in the 89th – the Ocean State club had re-gained control of the game. Through 90 minutes, Rhode Island FC finished level with Hartford with nine shots, completed more than double Hartford’s passes (471-223), entered the final third 18 more times than Hartford, put in four more crosses and possessed 67 percent of the ball. It made 126 passes in the attacking third compared to Hartford’s 67, and won more than half of its aerial duels. Despite all of the stats suggesting that Rhode Island FC controlled the flow of the game, it only took one shot on target and struggled to generate dangerous chances, allowing Hartford to take full advantage in the second half.
Home Stretch
Although Rhode Island FC suffered a tough loss in Hartford, it has proven extremely difficult to beat at Centreville Bank Stadium ahead of a vital four-game homestand. The Ocean State club is unbeaten at home in its last seven games across all competitions dating back to late June, keeping three-straight clean sheets in front of the home fans for the first time in club history. It has been nearly one month since RIFC last conceded at home, and it has kept its opponents out of the back of the net at Centreville Bank Stadium for a club-record 277 minutes across all competitions. After conceding three goals in Hartford, an otherwise solid RIFC defense will look to get back to the form that fans at Centreville Bank Stadium have become accustomed to over the last two months in order to stop the league’s most dangerous attack on Saturday.
Scouting the Series
Rhode Island FC has earned some of its most historic moments against Charleston. The Ocean State club went unbeaten (1W-0L-2T) in three meetings with the Battery in 2024, including a historic road win in the Eastern Conference Final that saw the club win its first-ever trophy. In the first-ever meeting between the two clubs, and Charleston’s only other visit to Rhode Island, a hard-fought battle ended in a 0-0 tie at Beirne Stadium on April 6, 2024, marking the first clean sheet in RIFC history. In the 2025 USL Championship season opener, Charleston finally got its revenge over Rhode Island FC, defeating it 2-0 at Patriots Point Soccer Stadium on March 15 and leveling the all-time series.
