Niyongabire Earns Second Straight Team of the Week Selection

June 25, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Tampa Bay Rowdies News Release

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – The USL Championship revealed the Team of the Week for Week 16 of the 2024 season on Tuesday, with Tampa Bay Rowdies midfielder Pacifique Niyongabire earning his second straight selection after a stellar all-around performance in the 1-0 win at Hartford Athletic last Friday.

“Pacifique’s attitude and work rate is top level,” said Rowdies Head Coach Robbie Neilson. “He wants to drive forward, but he also wants to do the defensive work. When we brought him in, he’d played predominantly as a winger. We knew he had the attacking attributes out wide, we just wondered isf he’d have the defensive attributes that we ask of our wide players. He’s been doing all that really well, so we’re really pleased with him.”

Niyongabire earned his first Team of the Week selection of the year in Week 15 after providing the game-winning assist in the 87th minute of Tampa Bay’s 3-2 win over first-place Louisville City. He followed up that shift with terrific showing on both sides of the ball to help the Rowdies claim all three points in Hartford. The 24-year-old Burundi international won 4 of 4 tackles, 11 of 17 ground duels and recorded four chances created and three shots against Hartford.

After last week’s match in Hartford, Niyongabire is now tied with teammate Danny Crisostomo for a team-leading 22 chances created.

“The coaches have given me a lot of freedom out wide to do what I’m good at, or do what I like to do, which is dribble and take on players and try to create chances and help the team win,” said Niyongabire. “We always have plenty of players in the box, so I just have to pick out one of them.”

The Rowdies were the only team in the top four of the Eastern Conference standings to win last week. Louisville City FC (1st place, 35 pts), Charleston Battery (2nd place, 30 pts), and Indy Eleven (3rd place, 29 pts) all dropped points, allowing the Rowdies (4th place, 28 pts) to gain crucial ground in the standings race.

Next up for the Rowdies is another road matchup with Loudoun United FC on Saturday, June 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

USL Championship Team of the Week – Week 16

GK – Colin Shutler, Orange County SC: Shutler posted an eight-save shutout as Orange County SC earned a 1-0 victory on the road against Indy Eleven, posting a minus-1.46 goals prevented mark to hold the Boys in Blue scoreless for the first time this season.

D – Stephen Turnbull, Rhode Island FC:…