The newly-expanded USL Jägermeister Cup is here! Beginning on Saturday, the group stage of the World-Cup style tournament will kick off, featuring all 24 teams in the USL Championship and all 14 teams in USL League One. The tournament marks the first time the U.S. Soccer Federation has established its own cup between two professional divisions. Rhode Island FC will compete in Group 4, joining regional rivals Hartford Athletic, Eastern Conference foes Detroit City FC and Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, as well as USL League One’s Westchester FC and Portland Hearts of Pine. The action for the Ocean State club begins on Sunday as it heads to the Empire State for a first-ever meeting with Westchester SC, concluding a seven-game road stretch ahead of its historic home opener on May 3 vs. San Antonio FC. Ahead of Sunday’s USL Cup action, here is everything you need to know.
AT A GLANCE
Date | Sunday, April 27
Kickoff | 2 p.m. ET
Location | Mount Vernon Memorial Field – Mount Vernon, New York
Broadcast | ESPN+
Radio | 790 The Score (790 AM)
Social | @rhodeislandfc (X, Instagram, Facebook)
Game Hashtag | #WESvRI
About the USL Jägermeister Cup
Following a successful inaugural tournament that featured teams from USL League One exclusively in 2024, the United Soccer League announced on Dec. 12, 2024 that all 24 USL Championship teams will join the newly-expanded Jägermeister Cup in 2025. In an effort to add more meaningful games to the schedule and promote attacking-minded soccer, the newly-expanded tournament will introduce a number of fan-first match modifications, including penalty shootouts to determine match winners during the group stage and goals scored as the first tiebreaker in the group standings. The group stage of the tournament – which consists of six regional groups, each consisting of six or seven teams assigned by league or conference affiliation – will kick off on April 26 and conclude on July 26. After the group stage, which will see six group winners and two wild cards advance to the single-elimination knockout rounds, a draw will set the knockout round matchups beginning three weeks later. The USL Jägermeister Cup will conclude with the Final on the weekend of Oct. 11.
WESTCHESTER SC
Roster
GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Dane Jacomen, 21-Andrew Hammersley
DEFENDERS (7): 2-Tobi Adewole, 4-Bobby Pierre, 12-Rashid Tetteh, 22-Stephen Payne, 35-Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 66-Noah Powder, 92-Kemar Lawrence
MIDFIELDERS (6): 5-Joel Johnson, 6-Conor McGlynn, 8-Daniel Bouman, 10-Dean Guezen, 11-Bryan Vasquez, 14-Mink Peeters
FORWARDS (6): 3-Prince Saydee, 7-Samory Powder, 9-Koen Blommestijn, 17-Jonathan Bolanos, 18-Ermin Mackic, 29-Juan Carlos Obregón
Solidify the Line
Westchester SC, playing in its inaugural season in USL League One, enters Sunday’s game in search of its first-ever win vs. USL Championship competition, having fallen 3-1 to Detroit City FC in the Third Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on April 16. After four regular-season league games and three games in the U.S. Open Cup, the New York club has kept one clean sheet and conceded multiple goals in each of its last four games. The club sits among the top five teams in the league in both goals conceded (eight) and goals scored (eight), having most recently shared the points with the Richmond Kickers in a dramatic 4-4 draw that currently stands as the highest-scoring game in League One in 2025.
Leaving it Late
In its last two games across all competitions, Westchester has conceded four decisive goals inside the final 20 minutes, extending the club’s winless stretch to three games. In its U.S. Open Cup loss to Detroit, Westchester conceded in the 71st, 85th and 90+4th minutes to bow out of the competition in the Third Round. Against Richmond, Westchester scored seven minutes into second-half stoppage time to take a 4-3 lead and all but wrap up three valuable road points, but conceded two minutes later and were forced to split the points after Richmond struck in the dying moments of the game. Against Rhode Island FC, who has not scored a goal in the second half this season, Westchester will need to find a way to solidify its late-game defense in order to see out a result.
Familiar Faces
Rhode Island FC is familiar with both of Westchester’s leading scorers this season. Sunday’s Jäegermesiter Cup game will see midfielder Conor McGlynn face Rhode Island FC for the first time as an opponent, after he made 15 appearances and scored two goals across all competitions for the Ocean State club during its inaugural season in 2024. McGlynn is tied with Juan Carlos Obregón for the Westchester team-lead with two goals in League One play in 2025. Rhode Island FC is also familiar with Obregón, who has four total goals this season across the Open Cup and League One play. Obregón, who is a league veteran that has played for six different teams across League One and the Championship since 2019, bagged a brace in RIFC’s penalty-shootout loss to Charlotte Independence in 2024, including a goal five minutes into extra time that gace Charlotte a late lead. Obregón and McGlynn played a crucial role in last weekend’s 4-4 tie, scoring the final two goals for Westchester to split the points.
RHODE ISLAND FC
Roster
GOALKEEPERS (3): 22-Jackson Lee, 1-Koke Vegas, 13-Will Meyer
DEFENDERS (7): 4-Hugo Bacharach, 14-Rio Hope-Gund, 15-Frank Nodarse, 2-Dani Rovira, 3-Aldair Sanchez, 5-Grant Stoneman, 24-Karifa Yao, 16-Cole Dewhurst
MIDFIELDERS (10): 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
FORWARDS (3): 10-Albert Dikwa, 11-Noah Fuson, 9-JJ Williams
League One Returns
Sunday’s game will be the second time Rhode Island FC will face a USL League One expansion team in the span of two weeks. RIFC is 1W-1L-0T all-time against League One competition, and is coming off the back of a dramatic 2-1 win against Portland Hearts of Pine in the Third Round of the U.S. Open Cup on April 15. After falling victim to its third shutout loss of the season, 2-0 at Detroit City FC in regular season play over the weekend, Sunday’s trip to Westchester will mark a valuable chance to get back into the win column and stay unbeaten in tournament competition against USL League One teams this season.
Score First
Rhode Island FC has won and lost its games in the first half of games this season, scoring all seven goals across the Championship and U.S. Open Cup and conceding seven of its nine goals against within the first 45 minutes. Rhode Island FC is unbeaten (2W-0L-1T) in all competitions when scoring first, but are winless (0W-3L-0T) when conceding first this season, and has performed best when it has scored early and given itself the opportunity to set the tone early in the game. The Ocean State club has struggled to score playing from behind this season, and will need to avoid having to chase the game early in order to finish out its seven-game road stretch on a high note. The formula is simple: score first.
Veteran Presence
In last week’s game at Detroit City FC, striker JJ Williams made his 150th appearance in the USL Championship and officially surpassed 10,000 career regular-season minutes. The forward has been instrumental to Rhode Island FC’s success as a club, scoring goals in both of the RIFC’s results in the league this season and becoming RIFC’s all-time leading goalscorer with 13 career goals in the process. Dating back to last season, Rhode Island FC has never lost a game (9W-0L-2T) when Williams has scored or assisted.