COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Utah Valley men's soccer alum and Rhode Island FC midfielder Jojea Kwizera will be playing for the USL Championship title on Saturday at Weidner Field against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. 

The USL Championship final is scheduled for a 10 a.m. MST kickoff, and the game will be broadcast live on CBS, in Spanish on TUDN, and on SiriusXM radio on channel 157. 

RIFC, which is in its inaugural season competing in the second tier of US soccer, rolled through the Eastern Conference playoffs with three road wins as the No. 5 seed to secure the Eastern Conference championship, capped off by a 2-1 win over Charleston Battery last Saturday. 

Kwizera — who missed the Eastern Conference final due to being on international duty with Rwanda — has played a pivotal role in the midfield for RIFC this season, appearing in 29 games with 25 starts in 2,211 minutes played. In his first season in Pawtucket, Kwizera has scored three goals and assisted on six more. 

In June, Kwizera made his international debut with Rwanda, and has since earned eight caps and seven starts. Kwizera scored his first international goal against Lesotho on June 11 in a 1-0 victory, and assisted on a goal in Rwanda's 2-1 win over Nigeria on Nov. 18. Kwizera is the first Utah Valley player to earn a cap for a senior national team. 

Kwizera spent three seasons at Utah Valley, from 2019 to 2021. In his final year in Orem, Kwizera scored five goals and contributed a WAC-leading 11 assists, the fifth-most in the country. Kwizera was UVU's first-ever MLS SuperDraft pick when he was selected with the 15th overall pick in the first round by CF Montreal in the 2022 draft.