After upsetting three of the four top seeds in the USL Championship Eastern Conference en route to becoming the first expansion team in league history to win the Eastern Conference title, Rhode Island FC will travel to Weidner Field to take on Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC with a chance to win it all on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 12 p.m. ET. After a 2-1 win vs. Charleston Battery at Patriots Point last weekend cemented RIFC’s first-ever trophy, the Ocean State club has the chance to become the second team in league history to conquer the USL Championship in its first season as it prepares to close out a historic inaugural campaign. Ahead of the 2024 USL Championship Final, here is everything you need to know.
AT A GLANCE
Date | Saturday, Nov. 23
Kickoff | 12 p.m. ET
Location | Weidner Field, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Broadcast | CBS, TUDN
Radio | The Score (790 AM)
SiriusXM | Channels 206, 209 and 968
RIFC Official Watch Party | Moonshine Alley
Social | @rhodeislandfc (X, Instagram, Facebook)
Match Hashtag | #COSvRI
Last Meeting | May 17, 2024: COS 3, RI 1 – Colorado Springs, Colo.
COLORADO SPRINGS SWITCHBACKS FC
Roster
GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Christian Herrera, 23-Joe Rice
DEFENDERS (5): 2-Koa Santos, 4-Delentz Pierre, 5-Matt Mahoney, 6-Matt Real, 14-Duke Lacroix
MIDFIELDERS (8): 7-Tyreek Magee, 10-Zach Zandi, 13-Steven Echevarria, 17 Jairo Henriquez, 18-Aidan Rocha, 20-Yosuke Hanya, 29-Cole Mrowka, 80-Devon “Speedy” Williams
FORWARDS (7): 8-Jonas Fjeldberg, 9-Ronaldo Damus, 11-Quenzi Huerman, 19-Marco Rios, Alex Andersson, 27-Juan Tejada, 77-Justin Dhillon
A Historic Run
Earning 52 points as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference heading into the playoffs, Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC’s 10th season in the USL Championship in 2024 marked its highest regular-season finish in club history, fourth consecutive trip to the USL Championship playoffs and third time making it past the opening round. The club’s advancement to the USL Championship Final is also a first, with its only other conference final appearance ending in a 2-0 defeat to San Antonio FC in 2022. Fresh off of its first-ever trophy after a 1-0 win vs. Las Vegas Lights FC, the Switchbacks have a chance to hoist the USL Championship trophy for the first time ever on Saturday in front of its home fans, at a venue where it has only lost four times all season.
Experience up Front
Colorado Springs striker Ronaldo Damus has been dangerous all year, finishing the regular season with a team-leading 12 goals and adding a 13th in the club’s 2-0 Western Conference Quarterfinals win over Oakland Roots SC. Damus had one of his most productive matches of the season in the last meeting with RIFC, scoring his second of two braces for the year. The Haitian national has tallied double-figure goals in all three of his seasons in the USL Championship, scoring 14 in a title-winning campaign with Orange County SC in 2021 before netting 11 with San Diego Loyal SC last season. Despite Colorado Springs never having won a trophy before last weekend, Damus has plenty of experience lifting USL hardware. Prior to claiming the USL Championship trophy with Orange County in 2021, the striker also won the USL League 1 title with North Texas SC in 2019, scoring a career-high 16 goals en route to a first-place regular-season finish and championship win. In total, Damus has recorded 66 goals and earned two championship trophies across five United Soccer League seasons.
Brick Wall in Back
In his second season as the primary starter, goalkeeper Christian Herrera has played every minute between the sticks for Colorado Springs this season. The 6’7” shot-stopper made four impressive saves to keep his 12th clean sheet of the year in the club’s 1-0 Western Conference Finals win over Las Vegas Lights FC. His 96 total saves rank fifth in the USL Championship and mark the most productive season in his three years with the club. In those three seasons, the 27-year-old has kept 22 clean sheets in 71 career appearances, making 206 saves for an average of three per match.
RHODE ISLAND FC
Roster
GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Koke Vegas, 22-Jackson Lee, 30-Nate Silveira
DEFENDERS (7): 2-Nathan Messer, 3-Stephen Turnbull, 4-Collin Smith, 5-Grant Stoneman, 6-Morris Duggan, 15-Frank Nodarse, 16-Gabriel Alves, 24-Karifa Yao
MIDFIELDERS (12): 8-Jack Panayotou, 12-Clay Holstad, 17-Jojea Kwizera, 18-Joe Brito, 19-Kevin Vang, 20-Zachary Herivaux, 21-Kofi Twumasi, 23-Marc Ybarra, 28-Conor McGlynn, 77-Amos Shapiro-Thompson, 80-Isaac Angking
FORWARDS (4): 9-JJ Williams, 10-Chico, 11-Noah Fuson, 14-Mark Doyle
Unstoppable
Rhode Island FC is unbeaten in each of its last 15 USL Championship matches in which it has scored first, including all three playoffs matches, and in its last nine total matches. RIFC has only lost twice all season when scoring first, with its last loss from a winning position coming at Weidner Field on May 18 in the first meeting between Rhode Island FC and Colorado Springs. The scoring trend has helped the Ocean State club to a club-record nine-match unbeaten streak dating back to mid-September, outsourcing opponents 25-7 in that span with a red-hot offense that has netted multiple goals in seven of its last nine matches, including five 3+ goal performances. JJ Williams, who has five goals in three playoff matches, is just one goal away from tying the USL Championship all-time single-season playoff goal record.
Rhode Warriors
Playing its entire playoff campaign on the road, Rhode Island FC has overcome three of the Eastern Conference’s four top seeds to advance all the way to the championship match. The Ocean State club became just the second team all season to win at Patriots Point Soccer Stadium, overcoming Charleston Battery 2-1 and shutting down Nick Markanich, who set the single-season goal scoring record with 30 on the season. In RIFC’s 3-0 win over Louisville City FC in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Ocean State club became the only team to win not once, but twice, at Lynn Family Stadium across 19 matches in 2024. The pair of wins marked the only two multi-goal losses for Louisville and the 3-0 conference semifinal defeat was the only shutout loss suffered by the league leaders at home. RIFC’s 5-2 win in June marked the most goals scored by a visiting team in the history of Lynn Family Stadium. In total, Rhode Island FC has fallen only five times on the road this season.
More History in the Making
After becoming the first expansion club to win the Eastern Conference in its first season in league history, Rhode Island FC has the chance to make more history on Saturday and achieve something that hasn’t been done by a first-year team in more than a decade: win the USL Championship Final. The last time a club advanced all the way to the championship match in its first year was Sporting Kansas City II in 2016, and only 2014’s Sacramento Republic FC was able to raise the trophy in its inaugural season.
The potential to make more history comes after RIFC finished fifth in the Eastern Conference, setting the all-time single-season record with 15 draws and finishing with the third-lowest loss total (seven) across the entire 24-team league. After defeating the top two league leaders on the road to become Eastern Conference Champions, RIFC is truly in unprecedented territory as it fights towards a first-ever USL Championship title.