Indy Eleven vs Lexington SC - 04.08

Summary

- Opponent: Lexington SC
- Location: Lexington SC Athletic Complex
- Attendance: -
- Final Score: 4-0 L

- Starting XI: Phillips, Adam, Pinto (C), Kruer, Albert, Joyce, Yamazaki, Smith, Komori, Sochacki, May

- Substitution: Beasley 45' (Joyce); Satterfield 45' (Albert); Malin 60' (Kruer); Jennings 60' (Sochacki); Budish 70' (May); Pittman 70' (Smith) 

- Unused: Wyatt

Scoring Summary:
LEX - Mitchell 3' (assist ??)
LEX - Mitchell 35' (assist Snyder)
LEX - Mitchell 56' (assist ??)
LEX - Mitchell 68' (assist ??)

- Bookings:

None

- Referee: ??

- Adage goals: One.

Thoughts and Opinions

It's hard to beat a team three times in a season. It's harder to beat a team three times when the coach is a former member of your club. It's even more difficult when you're without some of your main cogs of leadership due to injury (or other life obstacles). That challenge gets even further exacerbated when the third game of the three games is on their home field, and you absolutely positively have to beat them. Indy's up or down season continued, and a 4-nil loss brought their playoff hopes to a definite and depressing end. For the first time in the history of the USL W League, Indy Eleven will not be a part of the playoff portion of the schedule. Putting the final FINISHED stamp on Indy's playoff hopes were some of the former players that followed Coach Dolinsky to Lexington. Natalie Mitchell scored a hat trick +1, with at least one of those being assisted by Hadley Snyder. 

With Edwards' callup to the US Soccer Talent ID camp, Kate Phillips picked up her first start of the 2025 season. However, that meant that the team was now without three of the main parts of the defensive spine of the team, with Edwards, Bahr, and Molloy all not making the trip to Lexington. Bahr's and Molloy's absences required some more shuffling of the starters by Coach Kim, with Pinto dropping back in the defense next to Kruer. 

At least I assume that was how they lined up. The camera feed for the game continued to show an empty field. Shortly after I questioned the empty field on X, the livestream stopped and Indy's Ian Gilmour responded back to me indicating:

"Sounds like they moved from normal field with the men’s game on ESPN2, assuming the broadcast was still routed to that camera. Hearing they are actively trying to fix it though."

From everything I didn't see, it looked like they didn't manage to get it fixed. The stream on sportsengine never restarted, and Lexington's X channel was silent throughout the entirety of the game. So the other teams in the division still lag way behind Indy when it comes to its telecast of the games. Even if they had been pointing the camera at the correct field, you could see from stream that it was just one of those cameras on a telescoping pole that tracks the action. Or no action in this case, and no commentary. 

Indy still have two games remaining, both at home, so fans still have a chance to root for the team to do well against Racing Louisville and Dayton Dutch Lions next Tuesday and Friday, respectively. The playoffs may be out of reach, but I'm sure I won't be the only one in Grand Park wishing the players well as they try to finish the season with a couple of high notes.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Given the lack of a stream, it's impossible for me to personally give out the GBGB.