‘A point of pride’: Rhode Island FC barrels its way to the USL title game

PROVIDENCE — Ervin Vargas of Pawtucket was one of about a hundred soccer fans who spent the weekend in South Carolina for one reason: to support the Rhode Island FC. 

Turned out their trip down south was worth it. 

Rhode Island FC beat the Charleston Battery, winning the club its first Eastern Conference title and securing its place in the United Soccer League title game on Saturday.

“We came out victorious and it was just the best moment for us,” Vargas told the Globe.

The win propelled Rhode Island FC to within a whisker of making history in the team’s inaugural season in the league. On Saturday, they’ll face the Colorado Springs Switchbacks for a chance at winning the USL championship.

The team’s success is a validation of sorts for uber fan Vargas, president of the team’s official supporters group Defiance 1636. Vargas, along with his fellow Rhode Island FC supporters, chanted songs and beat their drums, never wavering, even as the match tightened toward the end as hosts Charleston pushed for an equalizing goal.

“It’s something that we’ve been wanting to show people, like, this isn’t just going to be another expansion team where they’re just here to play soccer,” Vargas said. “They want to win, they want to win trophies. And so far, they’ve fulfilled their promise."

Vargas and Defiance 1636 weren’t the only fans rooting for Rhode Island FC.

Congressman Gabe Amo kept refreshing his social media feed to get updates as the team battled Charleston Battery and eventually beat their hosts.

“I felt a point of pride,” said Amo, who represents Rhode Island’s First Congressional District. “They wear Rhode Island on their shirts, literally, and they are bringing forth success at a time when I think, you know, we need things to root for, especially at home in Rhode Island.”

Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee was hyped up too, congratulating the team on X and posting a photo of himself holding the team’s jersey. Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien, who declared Nov. 16 Rhode Island FC day, also took to the same platform to exclaim how “incredibly proud” his city was of the club.

After clinching a berth in the playoffs right before the end of the regular season, the team has played all its post-season matches away from home. On the way to the final, the team has defeated some of the top teams in the USL, which is a tier below Major League Soccer in the US.

The victory on Saturday could help establish Rhode Island FC as the team to support in the Ocean State.

Kevin McNamara, a longtime sports columnist in Rhode Island, said the team is new and still building its brand among local residents.

“Little kids don’t wear the jerseys, they don’t know the names yet,” he said. “All that stuff, you know, we would associate with a championship level team. It’s just not there yet...just because it’s so new.”

But the team’s success on the field could help it grow its support among the locals, especially as they get ready to move to a new stadium next year. The team has been playing its home games at the 5,252-capacity Beirne Stadium at Bryant University in Smithfield. Officials plan to move to a new $130 million facility in Pawtucket. The project has faced construction delays, and its official opening is scheduled for April.

Winning a title ahead of that move would be the stuff of fairytales, McNamara said.

“Could you ask for anything more going into a new stadium...I mean, they’ve been trying to sell tickets for next season already,” McNamara, who hosts a sports show on Providence-based radio station WPRO, told the Globe. “As a marketing person, this is a dream.”

Some followers of the team see in Rhode Island FC a chance for the state to cheer for its own, homegrown, unaffiliated sports franchise.

Most fans in the state tend to gravitate toward Massachusetts-based teams like the Boston Celtics, New England Patriots or the Boston Red Sox. Rhode Island is host to the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins and, before they moved to Worcester, the baseball team Pawtucket Red Sox.

This reality has contributed to some people seeing Rhode Island as being just another part of Massachusetts, said Stephen Gadbois, a Providence native who writes about Rhode Island FC for The Blazing Musket, a platform that covers soccer in New England.

But Rhode Island FC can change that.

“It’s really great to have our own sports team, a sports team that it’s not just some farm team for another team up in Boston,” said Gadbois. “It’s not something I ever thought I’d see really in my lifetime, especially with the new soccer specific stadium coming. I’m really excited about that.”

Ahead of Saturday’s championship game, Vargas and his fellow supporters plan to travel to Colorado to cheer for their Rhode Island FC. He is confident his team can win the whole thing.

“The goal right now, the mentality is, we’re going to win the championship,” he said. “We want it. We want it bad. We want it more than the other guys.”