With its third-straight playoff berth confirmed, the Ocean State club will continue to chase history in November
PAWTUCKET, R.I. (Oct. 19, 2025) – In just two seasons, the Ocean State club has put on a postseason show few other USL clubs have matched. Batting to two-straight Eastern Conference Finals on the road in its first two seasons, including wins against three of the Eastern Conference’s top four seeds en route to the 2024 USL Championship Final, the Rhode Warriors have proven that they are worthy of their 2026 playoff theme: Built to Defy.
In 2026, Rhode Island FC is primed to kick off its third-straight postseason run, heading into its regular-season finale with a chance to win a club-record 13th league game. The Ocean State club booked its postseason ticket in 2026 with room to spare, clinching earlier than it ever has before after a 1-0 win vs. Loudoun United FC on Oct. 14.
The historic moment came in the midst of an exciting 2026 season for Rhode Island FC, who came alive on the attack. The club’s revamped front line leads the league with 153 shots on target, ranking second with 449 total shots and ninth with 41 goals. It has scored in 22 of its 29 league games, with 16 different players finding the back of the net – more than half of the club’s active roster.
In a season defined by new faces and mid-season adjustments, RIFC’s newest signings have hit the ground running in pursuit of more postseason history. Eight of RIFC’s last 13 goals have included contributions from RIFC’s trio of midseason acquisitions, with Yutaro Tsukada, Stas Korzeniowski and Osman Foyo combining for nine goal contributions in RIFC’s last eleven games since Aug. 22. A new era of Rhode Island FC talent has established its presence in Pawtucket at the perfect time, and the front line will have one more chance to flex its muscles in the regular season before kicking off its postseason campaign at the end of the month.
Despite the changes and the bumps along the way, RIFC’s sense of brotherhood has remained at the forefront of a locker room that never lost sight of its postseason ambitions. That ambition has been on full display in the club’s young history, which RIFC will look to draw on as it gears up to play deep into November once again.
Since the USL Championship gained Division II status in 2017, 24 different expansion clubs have joined the league’s ranks. In that time, less than half of those teams qualified for the USL Championship Playoffs in their first season. On Oct. 14, Rhode Island joined an elite group of just four teams that have done so in their first three seasons in the league’s modern era.
The history began in 2024, when Rhode Island FC became the first-ever Eastern Conference expansion team to claim the conference title in its inaugural season, riding a nine-game unbeaten streak during an unprecedented run all the way to the USL Championship Final. In 2025, it repeated the magical feat, becoming the first expansion club in the league’s modern era to advance to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals.
The Ocean State club boasts a 5W-1L record against top-four Eastern Conference teams in the playoffs, and that record alone speaks for itself: Rhode Island FC is back and Built to Defy.
For information on Rhode Island FC’s upcoming playoff push, including any potential postseason home games, visit rhodeislandfc.com/playoffs.
