Indy Eleven vs North Carolina - 12.16

Summary

- Opponent: North Carolina FC
- Location: First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park 
- Attendance: 2,383
- Final Score: 4-2 L

- Starting XI: Sulte, Musa, O'Brien, J., White, Quinn (C), Rendon, Murphy, Lindley, Blake, Williams, R., Amoh

- Substitution: Hogan 45' (O'Brien, J.); Collier 63' (Amoh); Bryneus 63' (Murphy); Kizza 64' (Williams, R.); Neidlinger 76' (Lindley)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, McRobb

Scoring Summary:
NC - Mentzingen 20' (uassisted)
IND - Murphy 43' (assist Amoh)
NC - Servania 48' (assist Perez)
NC - Conway 55' (assist Maldonado)
NC - Dolabella 73' (assist Perez)
IND - Blake 90'+3' (Penalty Kick)

- Bookings:

NC - Mentzingen 16' (Yellow)
IND - Rendon 18' (Yellow)
IND - Blake 41' (Yellow)
NC - Martin 58' (Yellow)

- Referee: Joshua Encarnación

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

There's so much history between these two clubs. The very first Indy Eleven game in 2014 in the NASL. Indy's very first league win. The Miracle at the Mike in 2016. The W-League final in 2023. All that mattered to this iteration of Indy Eleven players was the last time these two teams met. Indy held a lead, but conceded in the 90'+3' for one of the proverbial "draw that felt like a loss" result. Indy has had an up-and-down season, but Indy knew coming into the game that with a win, and a Pittsburgh/Detroit draw, Indy would find themselves in 4th place in the table thanks to the Head-to-Head points tiebreaker. If you had said a month ago that Indy would even be sniffing a home playoff game, I would have thought you were crazy, but that's what a better run of form and a very even Eastern Conference can do for perception of how the season is going. 4th place sounds a lot better than the 10th place Indy was sitting after Week 12.

Instead, Indy's poor defending reared its head again and Indy gave up 4 goals to get the loss on the road. Detroit and Pittsburgh drew their game and depending on how Birmingham and Miami do this weekend, Indy could drop back down to 9th. Indy took a prime chance to climb the table and laid an absolute rotten egg with some of the worst defending I've seen out of them in several games. 

The first North Carolina goal happened in the 20th minute when a kick from NC's goalkeeper Mulqueen went over everybody. Sulte started out toward it before Musa had an absolutely atrocious clearance that went a total of 3-ft off of Mentzingen, which ricocheted off of him towards Indy's goal. Sulte was way out of position and couldn't outrun Mentzingen who tapped the ball under Sulte and into the goal. It's difficult enough to beat teams in this league on a good day. When you give up a self-inflicted goal, in a stifling heat, you make life exponentially more difficult for yourself.

Indy found a first-half adage goal in the 43rd minute when Amoh pushed a ball back to the center of the field towards Murphy. Murphy took a touch before curling the ball around the NC defenders and into the side netting. Indy's only shot on target in the half found the goal and the teams went into the locker room even at one apiece. 

Indy had clawed their way back only to concede again with minutes of coming back out of the locker room. Servania pushed the ball towards the center of the field and from nearly the same spot as Murphy in the first half, put the ball beyond Sulte and into the side netting. With their lead reestablished, the route was underway. NC doubled their lead less than 10 minutes later, when Conway did the same thing but from the opposite side of the field. Dolabella finished the scoring when nobody stopped him and he took a worm-burning shot from outside the 18-yard box that went under the outstretched Sulte. North Carolina scored 3 goals in the second half and based on the 9 shots on target, might have been able to score more (admittedly, a couple of those were right at Sulte). Indy, contrarily, put 2 shots on target for the entire game; both shots resulted in goals (Murphy's 1st half goal and Blake's stoppage time penalty kick). 

Full time - Goals

Not counting the Mentzingen goal from inside the box after the ball deflected to that spot, all of North Carolina's goals were from around 18-yards away. Normally, letting a player shoot from distance is an acceptable alternative with Sulte's range and reach, but the NC attackers had so much time on the ball that they could pinpoint and rip their shots. I'm not sure I can blame Sulte on any of the goals. Maybe the first one where he was so far out from his goal when Musa made a mess of his clearance? Maybe he could have done better there. Maybe. 

Or maybe the team defending was absolute garbage.

Indy return to Carroll Stadium next weekend for their final game of the Jagermeister Cup group stage. While Tulsa has been eliminated from advancing in the tournament, Indy will likely need to get the win to guarantee their advancement in the tournament since 2nd place Birmingham face Forward Madison. If you're not table watching like I have been, Tulsa sit at the top of the Western Conference. So yeah, if tonight's effort is duplicated next week, Indy likely won't be making it out of the group stage of the Jagermeister Cup. At least Indy still control their fate, but it's not going to be easy.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Honestly, I don't have it in me to give out a GBGB tonight. I don't have the effort to find a player that stood out in a positive way. I'm sure I could give an Anti-GBGB, but I'm not willing to start down that path.