Rhode Island FC advanced to the Fourth Round of the 2025 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in a 2-1 victory over Portland Hearts of Pine on a rainy night at packed Franklin Athletic Complex in Lewiston, Maine. A physical battle produced the first tournament win for Rhode Island and after a historic Cup run, the Hearts were eliminated.
Rhode Island FC were last year’s Eastern Conference champions in the USL Championship, finishing the season 12-7-15 with a 2-1 victory over runners up Charleston Battery. Based out of Pawtucket R.I. and founded in 2019, the club began play just last year, and are coached by Khano Smith.
The game started evenly without either side enjoying much possession due to the slick turf surface. After just twelve minutes, left back Jaden Jones-Riley fell to the ground forcing Portland head coach Bobby Murphy to make an early substitution for the Hearts. Midfielder Patrick Langlois took his place, shifting midfielder Mikey Lopez into an outside back position to support the defense.
While Rhode Island looked to target center forward JJ Williams, the Hearts looked to Titus Washington. Williams spent his first season with RIFC in 2024 finishing as the joint-leading scorer with 11 goals and seven assists lacrosse 30 appearances. He was selected 18th overall by Columbus Crew in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft and saw ten MLS appearances. Washington joined the Hearts of Pine after an impressive collegiate career at Seattle University where he scored eight goals with eight assists in 20 appearances.
After a back and forth start with both teams conceding multiple free kicks, RIFC finally broke the scoreless deadlock in the 35th minute. Midfielder Clay Holstad, who found the back of the net in the First Round of the US Open Cup, placed a well timed cross past the hands of goalkeeper Hunter Morse to make the game 1-0.
Just three minutes later, his teammate, defender Frank Nodarse, scored off a failed clearance, slotting another past Morse to make it a 2-0 game. Nodarse, a Cuban native scored six goals and finished as one of two players to start all 38 games in 2024 across the regular season and playoffs.
Yet the Hearts were not deterred. After a second half reset, Portland began to enjoy more possession, attacking down the flanks and looking to send through balls to forward Titus Washington, who was closely defended by center back Karifa Yao.
When asked about second half adjustments in a post-game interview, Portland manager Bobby Murphy said that he wanted his guys to “be brave.”
“We just tried to get guys to believe a little bit that they could play, that there were spaces to play … and I thought they were fantastic with it,” said Murphy.
In the 65th minute, the Hearts responded with a heroic effort by Washington, set up by teammate Michel Poon-Angeron who had been carefully defended by RIFC forwards Williams and Joe Brito until then. Washington beat Yao to place the ball in the back of the net in a composed finish.
The tides seemed to shift in the Hearts favor when Karifa Yao received his second yellow card for a foul on Washington in the 76th minute. As a result, RIFC made some defensive substitutions, allowing the Hearts majority possession and command of the midfield.
However, the Hearts’ man up advantage was short lived when Mikey Lopez was shown his second yellow of the day in the 87th minute. The Hearts continued to challenge with a strong shot from Nathaniel James who made his Hearts’ debut in the 72nd minute when he came in for midfielder Walter Varela. The shot forced a right handed save from goalkeeper Jackson Lee to maintain Rhode Island’s lead in stoppage time.
After running well over stoppage time, Rhode Island maintained a 2-1 victory. A scrappy game that ended with a total of five yellow cards, two red cards and 36 fouls marked the end of the Hearts US Open Cup run.
When asked about the game and the Hearts Cup run Washington reflected, “I think we shocked a lot of people, and we really wanted to get it done tonight.” Despite the loss, he noted the support from fans and the team’s desire to push forward.
When reflecting on Cup competition and a difficult few days of travel, Murphy replied that his players gained experience. “You can’t teach experience. It’s one thing you just have to go through. You just have to walk through fires and know you’ll come out the other side. You have to see how good you are. You have to see how competitive you are.”