Indy Eleven vs Lexington SC - 04.01

Summary

- Opponent: Lexington SC
- Location: Grand Park
- Attendance: -
- Final Score: 2-0 W

- Starting XI: Edwards, Albert, Bahr, Molloy, White, Smith, Komori, Pinto, Yamazaki, Sochacki, Abbe

- Substitution: Satterfield 45' (White); Williams-Osswald 63' (Sochacki); Joyce 63' (Joyce); Guthrie 72' (Komori); May 72' (Abbe); Malin 83' (Albert)

- Unused: Wyatt, Kruer, Touhey

Scoring Summary:
IND - Bahr 8' (unassisted freekick)
IND - Williams-Osswald 90' (assist Guthrie)

- Bookings:

IND - Williams-Osswald 83' (Yellow)

- Referee: Dana Hackney

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

As soon as it was announced that Lexington was in the Valley Divisionwith Indy Eleven, I became concerned about this game. When the schedule was released and it was announced that the home opener was against Lexington, my concern was elevated. When the rosters for teams were announced, the concept of Indy's first home opener loss looked to be a real potential. Lexington's coach is Paul Dolinsky, Indy's former coach. Coach Dolinsky poached some of Indy's last year roster and brought 5 of them with him tonight to face his and their former club. Coach Dolinsky knows everything about this club, from how current Coach Kim wants to play to how many of the Indy players play since he has coached many of them on this USL W League team and during their youth careers. It's impossible to discount the advantage for Lexington of having an inherent knowledge of Indy, when the teams face each other three times this year.

The league, and specifically this conference, is getting better and Indy's recent stranglehold on the lone playoff spot for the Division could be in jeopardy this year. Not today(s) though as Indy scored an early goal and a late insurance goal to get a 2-nil victory in one of the more unique matches in the team's history.

A few minutes into the game a storm passed over the facility, knocking out part of the power, then all the power. With the field partially bathed in about 1/4 of the normal LED lighting, the referee and the club decided that for the safety of the players, the game would be temporarily delayed. Temporarily turned into long, which turned into a delay that lasted approximately 13 hours. When it became apparent that the battery back-up for the lighting might not last much longer, the stands were evacuated. However, the teams both decided to wait until 10:00 PM to see if Duke Energy could get the power going again. At 10:00 PM, both teams headed to homes and hotels, to get some rest before an 8:30 AM restart on Saturday morning.

Bright and early Saturday morning, both teams kicked off again with 3 minutes and 38 seconds on the clock that they had been able to play before the previous night's delay. While sitting around Friday night hoping to get restarted, I asked Coach Kim if he was able to get anything out of the first 3-1/2 minutes? "I think I know how Pauly wants to play." Coach Kim continued his back four arrangement from the night before, while Coach Dolinsky stayed with his back three arrangement that often felt like it transitioned to a back two when Lexington was in attack. 

Minutes after the restart, the Lexington defense had a miscommunication and lost their location on the field, resulting in a handball by former Indy goalkeeper Nona Reason. From the sideline, you could hear Coach Dolinsky yelling to his keeper to get back in goal, fearing a quick restart before his team was prepared. The teams set up for a typical restart, but it was Indy stalwart Grace Bahr who stepped up and put a perfect left-footed shot around the Lexington wall and out of the reach of Reason to get the scoring started. The atypical mistake from Reason put her current team in the hole behind her former team.

Lexington, as previously mentioned, is a good squad and dominated portions of this game. Indy had some moments in the 1st and 2nd halves, but the home team officially had half as many shots (my unofficial stats were a little different) going into the halftime break. 

Photo: Matt Schlotzhauer

In the 70th minute, there was a shot from Lexington that looked destined for the upper 90, but Edwards stretched and knocked the ball away for a corner kick. Even at the time, that felt like a difference maker in the game. Had Lexington scored there with 20-minutes left to play, this might have been a different game. As it was, Indy's substitutes that had come on at the 63rd minute (Williams-Osswald & Joyce), and then shortly after Edwards' save in the 72nd minute (Guthrie & May) did exactly what you want your substitutes to do; they affected the game. Williams-Osswald (and yes, I know that they team is officially just referencing her by her married name, but I want a distinguisher in my stats to show that Williams and Osswald are the same person, so for me, she gets the hyphen...I hope she doesn't mind) immediately showed her ability and IQ, getting called for both of Indy's offside calls. Both were either really close or completely wrong. From my angle, the second one was an incorrect call, and Maddy was upset enough about it that she picked up a yellow card for her dissent. Elise May came on and quickly, literally and figuratively, became at thorn in the Lexington defense's side. She had pace, skill, and a desire to attack. Guthrie eventually won a ball that got to Williams-Osswald for the insurance goal in the 90th minute. 

What stood out for me in the game were the tactics from both coaches. We all know Dolinsky likes to play attacking soccer. Coach Kim has also stated he wants to play the same kind of style. However, in this game, Coach Dolinsky's lineup and back 3 (or 2) defenders caused a drastic overload in the midfield. With Bahr and Malloy anchoring Indy's back four, Indy was athletic enough and disciplined enough to weather the efforts. They kept almost everything in front of them, switched players as Lexington moved across the field, and made good defensive interventions when required. By the end of the game, the Lexington players looked like they were unsure how to find the key to unlock the Bahr-led defense, and Coach Kim released his subs to attack over the top. 

Knowing these teams will face each other two more times, the chess match has been started. Both coaches have now seen some of what the other wants and can do, and both are going to have to adapt and provide some wrinkles. Coach Kim made a Star Wars padawan/master reference in the post-game, so he understands it's difficult to face the person has been your mentor the past three seasons. With the weather delay, the mentor/apprentice relationship made for a very interesting game and storyline.

Indy head to Dayton next week to face the new kids in the Division, a team who Racing Louisville beat 9-0 on Wednesday. Long-time Indy fans are familiar with the Dayton Dutch Lion organization as their men's team was Indy Eleven's first U.S. Open Cup in 2014, when Blake Smith scored Indy's first hat trick in a 5-2 win. With goal differential being a part of the tiebreakers, hopefully Indy can keep pace with Racing when Indy faces Dayton.

It was good to see Coach Dolinsky. It was good to see some old players. As an Indy Eleven fan, it was good to see the home squad get the win over our former players and coach. Now we're back to #IndyEleven. At least until June 6th when the two teams face each other again, also at Grand Park. 

Hopefully, it only takes one day to play that game though.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Oh Captain, My Captain! Game-winner. Defensive anchor. There were some good performances by a few players, including the aforementioned Edwards and Williams-Osswald, but Bahr's effort and leadership is a good portion of the reason Indy managed to withstand the Lexington offensive effort. For the first GBGB of the season, Bahr showed why she has been so important to the team in its now four seasons.