After concluding the 2025 USL Championship regular season and clinching its second-straight playoff berth with the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference standings, Rhode Island FC will kick off the postseason at Patriots Point Soccer Stadium in Mt Pleasant, South Carolina for an Eastern Conference Quarterfinal matchup with No. 2 Charleston Battery on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. The game will be a rematch of the 2024 Eastern Conference Final that saw the Ocean State club upset the Battery 2-1 on the road to lift its first-ever trophy. Although Charleston were dominant on its way to the No. 2 seed this season, the club has only defeated RIFC once in five all-time meetings. The Battery most recently fell 1-0 to RIFC at Centreville Bank Stadium on Aug. 30, setting up an enticing rematch between the two clubs with the season on the line. Ahead of Sunday’s Eastern Conference Quarterfinals clash, here is everything you need to know.
AT A GLANCE
Date | Sunday, Nov. 2
Kickoff | 2:00 p.m. ET
Location | Patriots Point Soccer Stadium – Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Broadcast | CBS Sports Network
Radio | Sirius XM Channel 157
Social | @rhodeislandfc (X, Instagram, Facebook)
Game Hashtag | #CHSvRI
Last Meeting | Aug. 30, 2025: RI 1-0 CHS – Pawtucket, R.I.
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-Viggo Ortiz, 12-Diego Rodríguez, 29-Jeremy Kelly, 80-Juan David Torres, 91-Houssou Landry
FORWARDS (6): 9-MD Meyers, 14-Rubio Rubín, 15-Wesley Leggett, 26-Cal Jennings, 36-Jackson Conway, 42-Douglas Martínez
Charging Into the Postseason
Charleston Battery’s 19W-6L-5T record in the 2025 regular season not only made club history, but was the second-best record in the league behind only Player’s Shield winners Louisville City FC. Despite playing four fewer games than previous seasons, Charleston’s 19 wins set a club-record in its USL Championship era for the third-straight season, and was the second-highest win total in the league behind Louisville. Its six losses were the third-fewest in the league, behind only the two No. 1 seeds in each conference, Louisville City FC and FC Tulsa. Since Charleston’s 1-0 defeat at Rhode Island FC on Aug. 30, it has lost just one of its final eight games, out-scoring its opponents 17-9 with a 4W-1L-3T record. The Battery has been near-unbeatable at Patriots Point Soccer Stadium, losing just once with a 12W-1L-2T record, including the club’s 2-0 win vs. Rhode Island FC on March 15.
Dynamic Duo Up Top
Although both fell just short in the Golden Boot race, Cal Jennings and MD Myers have combined to be the USL Championship’s most prolific scoring duo this season. Jennings, a seasoned USL Championship veteran, has proven to be a goalscoring machine throughout his career. He finished second in the league with an impressive 17 goals in 2025 – including a game-winning brace against RIFC in Charleston’s 2-0 win on March 15 – marking his fifth-straight season in the league scoring in double-figures. Jennings is third all-time among active USL Championship players with 81 career regular season goals. Myers was right behind Jennings in the Golden Boot race, netting 15 goals in the regular season and 19 across all competitions. Scoring in double-figures in all three seasons of his professional career, the 19 goals matched his career-high, which he set when he won the MLS Next Pro Golden Boot with New York City FC II during his rookie year in 2023. Myers is in red-hot form heading into the postseason, scoring five goals in his last seven games.
Home Sweet Home
Rhode Island FC’s win in the 2024 Eastern Conference Final marked just one of three times in the last two seasons that Charleston has lost at home. Across its last 32 regular-season home games in the last two seasons, it is 25W-2L-5T, taking 71 of an available 91 points in that span. Its last home loss dates all the way back to its 2025 regular season opener, where it fell in a narrow 2-1 loss to league-leaders Louisville City FC. Since then, it has not lost in 14-straight home games throughout the remainder of the 2025 season, and enters Sunday’s playoff game as one of the hardest teams to beat on the road across the entire USL Championship.
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
Finding Form When it Matters
Rhode Island FC finished the 2025 regular season with a 10W-12L-8T record, earning 38 points and advancing to its second-straight postseason with the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference standings. Despite its 2-1 loss at New Mexico United last time out, much of RIFC’s success came late in the season, as the Ocean State club has lost just one of its last seven games with a 4W-1L-2T record. Over the final seven games of the season, RIFC holds the third-best run of form in the USL Championship. The Ocean State club has scored 13 goals in that stretch, which accounts for 44 percent of its regular season goals. The uptick in scoring includes a trend of three-straight games from Sept. 26-Oct. 11 where it scored multiple goals, which is the longest such streak of the year. On the defensive side of the ball, goalkeeper Koke Vegas has kept five clean sheets in his last seven games, conceding just four goals. Vegas finished second in the league with 11 clean sheets, and is four saves shy of 250 career regular-season stops. The Spaniard finished the regular season second in the USL Championship Golden Glove race, conceding an average of just 0.86 goals per game.
Bacharach Gets His Goal
Despite falling 2-1 in New Mexico in its regular season finale, a bright spot for RIFC came in the 38th minute when it scored its lone goal off of a set piece. Down 1-0 in the 38th minute, Noah Fuson whipped a free kick from the left corner into a dangerous position, initially finding Aimé Mabika before it bounced off of Hugo Bacharach’s body and into the back of the net. Mabika was credited with the assist, tallying the first of his Rhode Island FC career. Bacharach, who scored in RIFC’s 3-1 win over Las Vegas Lights FC on Oct. 5, but later saw his goal wiped from the record after the game was declared a 3-0 forfeit win for RIFC, officially scored his first goal for the Ocean State club. The two defenders showcased their size and strength to force the ball into the back of the net, and will look to feed off of that momentum in Charleston on Sunday.
A Familiar Foe
Charleston Battery and Rhode Island FC are very familiar with each other. Rhode Island FC has the edge in the all-time series with a 2W-1L-2T record vs. Charleston in five meetings, making the Battery one of RIFC’s six most frequently-played opponents. During RIFC’s inaugural season in 2024, it went unbeaten against the Battery in three meetings. The two sides split a pair of regular-season ties on April 6 (0-0) and Oct. 19 (1-1) before the Ocean State club delivered Charleston a historic 2-1 upset on Nov. 16 to win the Eastern Conference Final and lift its first-ever trophy. In its second year, Rhode Island FC kicked off the 2025 regular season season with a 2-0 loss vs. Charleston at Patriots Point Soccer Stadium on March 15, before returning the favor on Aug. 30 with a 1-0 win at Centreville Bank Stadium. The win, which was RIFC’s second all-time vs. Charleston, made it just the second club to win multiple games vs. the Battery across the last two seasons.
