After Albert Dikwa “Chico” bagged his 50th career USL Championship goal in the 86th minute of Rhode Island FC’s 1-1 draw vs. Oakland Roots SC to secure a dramatic late point at Beirne Stadium on Saturday, the Ocean State club will look to continue its momentum this weekend as it heads to Loudoun United FC for a first-ever meeting with the Eastern Conference club. With both teams in the thick of the race for a top-four finish in the Eastern Conference standings and just four points removed from fourth, Saturday’s matchup will be crucial for both sides as they near the business end of the season. Ahead of a huge Eastern Conference clash, here is everything you need to know.
AT A GLANCE
Date | Saturday, August 24
Kickoff | 7:30 PM ET
Location | Segra Field, Leesburg, Virginia
Broadcast | ESPN+
Social | @rhodeislandfc (X, Instagram, Facebook)
Match Hashtag | #LDNvsRI
LOUDOUN UNITED FC
Roster
GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Dane Jacomen, 23-Hugo Fauroux
DEFENDERS (7): 2-Keegan Hughes, 3-Keegan Tingey, 5-Yannis Leerman, 6-Kwame Awuah, 16-Cole Turner, 22-Robby Dambrot, 24-Jacob Erlandson
MIDFIELDERS (7): 4-Tommy McCabe, 8-Florian Valot, 12-Drew Skundrich, 13-Alex Nagy, 19-Surafel Dagnachew Mengestu, 30-Abdellatif Aboukoura, 44-Isaiah Johnson
FORWARDS (8): 7-Wesley Leggett, 9-Tommy Williamson, 10-Kalil ElMedkhar, 11-Isaac Espinal, 14-Zach Ryan, 15-Riley Bidois, 17-Christiano François, 18-Pape Amadou Wane
Winning Big on the Road
Loudoun United FC took the USL Championship by storm in Week 24, fighting to a 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies on the road to become the second team this season to shut out the Eastern Conference powerhouse at Al Lang Stadium. The historic win snapped a six-match unbeaten run for the red-hot Rowdies, and marked the first time in Loudoun’s history that it took all six points from Tampa across two meetings in a season. Despite the fact that Tampa Bay came out strong with 10 first-half shots to Loudoun’s two, the visitors made their opportunities count in the first half, taking the lead in the 34th minute through Wesley Leggett’s seventh goal of the year. Loudoun would eventually double its lead with its only other shot on target during the match in the 69th minute when leading scorer Zach Ryan netted his ninth of the season. Adding three saves between the posts from Hugo Fauroux, Loudoun preserved its seventh clean sheet of the season.
Staying Strong at Segra
After picking up a rare road win at one of the Eastern Conference’s toughest environments, Loudoun will look to bring that momentum to its home field where the club has earned 23 of its 33 points and all but two of its nine wins. In total, the club holds a 7W-3L-2D record at Segra Field and is unbeaten in seven of its last eight home matches with its last loss coming in a narrow 2-1 defeat to Charleston Battery on July 24. With both Loudoun and RIFC sitting just two points removed from the last playoff hosting position, another three points would prove instrumental in putting the Virginia club in a position to claim the number four seed.
Leading the Line
Zach Ryan and Wesley Leggett, Loudoun’s leading goalscorers, combined in Tampa for the club’s two goals, solidifying their positions inside the league’s top 25 goalscorers. In total, the club has four players who have recorded at least five goals. Leggett’s goal was his eighth goal contribution in the last eight matches, including both shutout wins vs. Tampa. The uptick of production has earned him a starting spot in the last seven matches, and his impressive streak includes four goals in that time. Leggett is now up to seven goals and four assists on the year, which is the most productive season of his professional career. As for Ryan, who has a team-leading nine goals to go along with three assists, one more goal would mark a second-straight multi-goal season in Loudoun colors, after the forward tallied 10 in 2023.
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, 15-Frank Nodarse, 16-Gabriel Alves, 24-Karifa Yao
MIDFIELDERS (11): 12-Clay Holstad, 17-Jojea Kwizera, 18-Joe Brito, 19-Kevin Vang, 20-Zachary Herivaux, 21-Kofi Twumasi, 23-Marc Ybarra, 25-Kevin Orduy, 28-Conor McGlynn, 77-Amos Shapiro-Thompson, 80-Isaac Angking
FORWARDS (4): 9-JJ Williams, 10-Chico, 11-Noah Fuson, 14-Mark Doyle
Leaving it Late
Trailing 1-0 with less than five minutes remaining in regulation on Saturday, Rhode Island FC once again benefited from a late goal to come back from behind to claim a result. In the 86th minute, Albert Dikwa “Chico” headed home his team-leading seventh goal of the season for RIFC, and 50th career USL Championship goal, to tie the match at one and preserve a point at home. The goal marked the third time in the last five matches that the Ocean State club has fought back late in the second half to secure a result and was the 10th goal scored by RIFC in the final 10 minutes of matches. In total, RIFC has scored more than half of its 37 goals in the second half, netting nine during second-half stoppage time.
Attacking Dominance
Chico’s goal complimented a dominant attacking performance on Saturday that saw RIFC outshoot Oakland Roots SC 21-7, including a 16-3 advantage in the second half where the visitors didn’t manage a single shot on target. RIFC also held an 11-3 advantage for shots inside the 18-yard box and forced five saves out of Oakland goalkeeper Paul Blanchette. The 21 shots matched the highest single-match total in club history, tying the total output from the club’s inaugural 1-1 draw vs. New Mexico United. It was also the second-straight match the Ocean State club blasted 20 or more efforts. Having put four goals past its opponents in that time, RIFC now sits fifth in the USL Championship with 37 goals scored, and will look to continue to pose an overwhelming threat in the attack at Segra Field.
Brito Finding His Form
Another heavy contributor to the production of RIFC’s efficient attack has been Joe Brito, who has tallied three of his five total goal involvements this season in the last four matches. After scoring the third and final goal in the club’s dominant 3-0 win over regional rivals Hartford Athletic on August 10, the 25-year-old midfielder got back in the action just one week later, assisting Chico’s match-tying goal with an inch-perfect cross to the head of the squad’s leading goalscorer. The assist was his third of the season, matching the highest single-season tally of his career, and marked the first time in USL Championship play that the midfielder contributed to goals in back-to-back home matches. As Brito’s impressive attacking vision continues to cause headaches for defenders, the New England native is finding his stride at the perfect time as Khano Smith’s squad prepares for the final stretch of their playoff push.