Indy Eleven vs Monterey Bay FC - 13.05

Summary

- Opponent: Monterey Bay FC
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 9,101
- Final Score: 3-1 W

- Starting XI: Dick, Quinn (C), Herbert, Craig, White, Blake, Lindley, O'Brien, J., Mesanvi, Rendon, Okello

- Substitution: Barry 69' (Rendon); Williams 75' (Quinn), Kizza 75' (Okello)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Neidlinger, Rasheed, Thomas

- Scoring Summary:
IND - Rendon 14' (assist Lindley)
MB - Lletget 51' (assist Glasgow)
IND - Blake 56' (unassisted)
IND - Mesanvi 68' (assist Herbert)

- Bookings:

MB - Garcia 25' (Yellow)
IND - Okello 32' (Yellow)
MB - Farnsworth 75' (Yellow)
MB - Blancas 82' (Yellow)
IND - Barry 83' (Yellow)
IND - Williams 87' (Yellow)

- Referee: Joshua Encarnacion

- Adage goals: None.
- Points Lost from Winning Position (Year To Date): 4

Thoughts and Opinions

Due to Indy consistently being in the Eastern Conference and Monterey Bay, unsurprisingly, always in the Western Conference, this was just the 5th time the two teams have met. It's been a short-lived match-up, but its been either all or nothing for the two teams. In the previous 4 games, the teams have split the series, with each team winning two games, one at home and one away. Tonight, was no different as Indy got on the board first, conceded, and then pulled away in the second half to get a 3-1 win in front of their fans on a perfect weather night for soccer.

As has become the norm for the start of USL league games, both teams stood around the center circle for the first minute of play as the players stand together with each other while the league continues to play without an approved Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The teams similarly stood around the circle at the start of the second half, which has been going on for the last couple of games. At some point, the players are going to stop standing around in a silent protest for a couple minutes of each game and a player' strike seems like it will be an option that can't be avoided all season if a new and improved CBA can't be signed.

Monterey Bay and Indy came into the game at 24th and 25th in the league in possession, respectively. Something had to give. If I was a betting man coming into the game, I would have placed a large sum of money that it would be Monterey Bay that would hold the possession advantage in this game. That completely played out, but Indy's balls over the top to Rendon, Mesanvi, and Okello didn't provide a lot of possession, but did provide scoring opportunities. In the 14th minute, a ball through the lines from Lindley from the center circle that was perfectly placed for Rendon to run onto. Rendon one-touched the ball through the 5-hole of Delgado to open the scoring. Possession was 70/30 in favor of Monterey Bay at that point, but shots and shots on target were in favor of Indy. More importantly, the score was in favor of the home team. Coach McAuley and Indy Eleven continue to try and prove that a possession advantage is irrelevant if you can be effective with limited possession. Knowing the turf of Carroll Stadium doesn't lend itself to playing on the ground, McAuley has his team playing a style that suits the field and his players. OR maybe McAuley and the team leadership have started to find players that suite that style?

The teams play 90-minutes and the teams went into the halftime locker room with a four shots on target advantage to Monterey Bay's zero meant that Indy fans looked at each with knowing looks; "could this be the game where the team finishes out a lead and get a win instead of a draw?" Within 6-minutes of the start of the second half, the answer was quickly determined to be "maybe not." A very heavy touch from White dropped the ball into the path of Glasgow who put a ball across the 18-yard line to Lletget. Lletget took a touch to his right and put Monterey Bay's first shot on target out of Quinn's leg's reach and between Dick and the near post to bring the teams level. 

Photo: Don Thompson Photography

However... "Maybe?" quizzical looks were on the Indy fan's faces after Blake helped a ball across the line when a Delgado's reaction save on an O'Brien header from Quinn's corner kick popped up in the air begging for somebody to get a foot or head to it. Blake was the player in the right position and with his back to goal gave a mini-bicycle attempt to put Indy back in the lead in the 56th minute. With a laugh after being asked about back-to-back games with "bicycle-esque" attempts, Blake stated his son would never let him call it a bicycle. Regardless, Blake's poacher goal gave him the team record for goals and officially overtaking the King of the Poacher Goal, Eamon Zayed. Seems poetic that the numerous ways that Blake has found the goal, the one that gives him the team record is the exact same way that Zayed thrived on scoring goals for Indy.

Twelve minutes later, a goal kick that Herbert headed directly back in the direction of Delgado and into open space had just one player run onto it. Mesanvi's speed caught up to the ball, settled it, and put a ball through the 5-hole to give Indy a two-goal lead. 

"Surely we can win this one, right?"

Yes. Yes, we can.

Despite intense pressure from Monterey Bay at the end of the game to try and score, and an uptick in the physicality of the game that had been present all game, Indy's defense held strong. Indy didn't have another shot on goal after Mesanvi's goal, but they limited Monterey Bay to just two shots (only one of those on target) in that same timeframe despite the increase in pressure from the visitors.

Coach McAuley and Blake indicated that the team works on getting the 2nd and 3rd balls from set pieces after a restart (and I assume long balls over the top) and two of the three goals tonight came in that fashion. In all three goals, guys put themselves in the right positions to get goals and probably could have had a couple more if it hadn't been for a good save by Delgado on a Blake shot and a slightly better finish from Mesanvi.

There's no secret, even at this early part of the season, to the way Indy is going to play. Even against the 2nd worst possession team in the league, Indy conceded a ton of possession. What Indy does with their limited possession is going to be difficult for some teams to handle. I still think there are going to be bumps in the season, and there are going to be teams that aren't going to have any issues with Indy's style of play, but Indy hasn't been kept scoreless since the first game in Brooklyn and have scored multiple goals in 4 of the 6 games played. Indy put 67% of their shots on target tonight and had a 44% success rate on their crosses. Anytime a team has those kinds of numbers in front of the opponent's goal, they're going to give themselves a chance to be in the game. It's just been Indy's inability to close out some games that have kept them from, amazingly, being towards the top of the table.

Indy return to action next Sunday against a Birmingham side that have yet to win a game this season (as of this writing before they play Pittsburgh today).

Game Beckons Game Ball

Photo: Don Thompson Photography

While he topped the century mark awhile ago, tonight was Cam Lindley's 100th start for the team. His assist puts him in a crowded 3rd place in team history with Quinn and Asante. He also bypassed Brad Ring for minutes played for the team with Ouimette now in his sight for 2nd place. Assuming all goes well, Lindley will be bypassing Ouimette soon and a few games after that he will bypass Ayoze for games played. For what it's worth, he's also really close to bypassing Ayoze for 2nd most yellow cards (Blake is right there too), with Ring not far away too. It takes a lot to overtake those players, and the way to do it is the way that Lindley has done it; stay with a team for multiple years, stay healthy, and get playing time.

When I asked Coach McAuley to give Cam crap for his skyed shot from 20-yards away in the second half, Sean joked that he told Cam he went from "Pele to smelly" between his first half performance and that shot.

Photos - Don Thompson Photography

Indy Eleven vs Pittsburgh Riverhounds - 13.04

Summary

- Opponent: Pittsburgh Riverhounds
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 8,304
- Final Score: 1-1 D

- Starting XI: Dick, Quinn (C), Herbert, Craig, White, O'Brien, J., Lindley, Blake, Mesanvi, Okello, Rendon

- Substitution: Sing 82' (Blake)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Barry, Kizza, Neidlinger, Rasheed, Thomas

- Scoring Summary:
IND - Blake 20' (Penalty Kick)

- Bookings:

PIT - Souza 36' (Yellow)
IND - Rendon 39' (Yellow)
IND - Okello 74' (Yellow)

- Referee: Matt Thompson

- Adage goals: One.
- Points Lost from Winning Position (Year To Date): 4

Thoughts and Opinions

Last season, Eric Dick helped Pittsburgh to their first Championship since entering the USL in 1999 by not conceding a single goal throughout the entirety of their playoff run, including 3 penalty kick victories. After returning to Indy for the 2026 season, Dick and the team have not been able to keep any of their league opponents off the board, conceding 4 goals in the previous 3 games (Indy did keep amateur side from Des Moines off the board for a clean sheet for Charles-Cook). Tonight, on a cold and wet evening, the Eleven looked like they were going to get that first league clean sheet, but a 90'+1' from Pittsburgh meant the two teams shared the points in a 1-1 draw.

Photo Credit: Don Thompson Photography

With 50-degree temperatures and a day full of rain, possessing the ball didn't seem to be either team's plan of attack. Indy had the best of the game in the beginning stages, but it quickly turned into a back-and-forth affair. Indy also chose to view every foul that was committed by Pittsburgh in Indy's offensive half of the field as an opportunity to push everybody forward for a Cam Lindley free kick delivery. Indy's pressure eventually led to a corner kick that led to a second corner. In the ensuing recycle of the ball after the initial delivery from Lindley, Josh O'Brien attempted to put the ball back on target. Instead the ball found the hand of Pittsburgh's Ahl and referee Matt Thompson immediately pointed to the spot for a penalty kick. Jack Blake in just his second game of the season, stepped up and calmly placed the ball down the middle as Campuzano dove to his left giving the home team a 1-nil lead.

Not surprisingly, Pittsburgh dominated the first half possession, but Indy made the most of their possession with a 8 to 5 advantage in shots. This is not going to be an Indy team that out-possesses their opponents, particularly on a night where the day's weather made the field wet. Playing out of the back was not going to happen for Indy tonight. Every mistake would be magnified with the slick field. Indy played to their field and player strengths and played balls long, took all free kicks as an opportunity to send players forward, and capitalized with the Blake penalty kick to send the home side into the halftime locker room with a lead.

Pittsburgh came out of the locker room and continued to tilt the field towards Dick and Indy's goal, looking for the equalizer. The final touch continued to evade the visitors, but the lead began to feel more and more tenuous. Indy's defenders continued to stay strong and reasonably organized, but it began to feel like they were playing dangerously with the wind picking up and going in the direction of Pittsburgh's attack.

It was believed that Blake was on a minutes limitation due his recovery from his back injury, but as the clock inched closer and closer to the 80th minute, it looked like the medical staff felt that the temperatures were enough to keep Blake from overexerting himself. They probably didn't bank on a player recovering from a back injury to attempt a bicycle kick. As a result, in the 82nd minute, Blake was replaced by Sing. Blake admitted after the game that the attempt was poor because the ball held up in the air longer than he expected, but indicated his back feels fine.

The tenuous nature of Indy's 1-nil lead came crashing to a halt in second half stoppage time when Pittsburgh's continued pressure finally found shot that Dick couldn't hold onto and the ball made its way to Goldthorp who made no doubt about his shot. It took until after the 90 minutes had elapsed, but Pittsburgh finally had their breakthrough goal to bring the teams level. 

For the second time in the early stages of this season, Indy have lost points while in a winning position. More concerning is that those goals have occurred in the 89th minute or later. Indy struggled to close out games last season because it was believed that their older average age faded at the ends of games. This year's younger and hungrier team seems to still be struggling with it too. Or maybe it's just a function of the other team having so much of the ball finally catches up to them at the end, independent of the average age of the team. Regardless, it seems like a problem that is going to need to get resolved. In the two lost points games this season, they have still managed to come away with some points, but this league isn't won by getting draws. 

Indy return to action next week against Monterey Bay.

Game Beckons Game Ball

Blake makes this team better. His presence was felt tonight even if the team didn't come away with the win. With his goal tonight, it's just a matter of time before he breaks the team's goalscoring record and surpasses Eamon Zayed. It's important to keep in mind that 11 of his 26 goals have come from the penalty spot (Zayed had 2), and that Zayed also did it in 2 seasons versus Blake's 4. Regardless of how and the duration it took to get there, it's impressive that Blake has done this from the midfielder position. Unless Zayed who was signed with the express intent to score goals, Blake was signed with the intent to facilitate from the midfield and the goals have been a secondary benefit.

When it happens, and it could happen soon, it will be a well-deserved honor. Blake makes the team better. Period. 

Photos: Don Thompson Photography

Indy Eleven vs Union Omaha - 2026 U.S. Open Cup

Summary

- Opponent: Union Omaha
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: Literally dozens of people
- Final Score: 2-1 L

- Starting XI: Charles-Cook, Mitrano, Barry, Rasheed, Neidlinger, Thomas, Okello, Lindley (C), Gavilanes, Williams, Kizza

- Substitution: O'Brien 45' (Lindley); Quinn 45' (Okello); Dick 61' (Gavilanes); Rendon 67' (Thomas); Blake 67' (Williams)

- Unused: Herbert, Mesanvi

- Scoring Summary:
OMA - Owusu 75' (assist Gutierrez)
OMA - Tekiela 83' (assist Billhardt)
IND - Blake 90'+3' (unassisted)

- Bookings:

OMA - Kallman 50' (Yellow)
IND - Charles-Cook 59' (RED)

- Referee: JC Griggs

- Adage goals: None
- Points Lost from Winning Position (Year To Date): 2 

Thoughts and Opinions

The joys of Cup competitions and relatively random draws mean that Indy faced off tonight against Union Omaha in the U.S. Open Cup and will face off with them again in a month in the Prinx Tires USL Cup. The difference tonight is that Indy is playing 3 games in an 8-day stretch having traveled to Hartford this past weekend and will face visiting Pittsburgh this coming weekend, whereas the next time the two teams face each other, Indy will be working on a Sunday-Saturday-Saturday schedule. As a result, tonight's 2-1 win for Omaha doesn't necessarily mean anything next month, but Omaha will be happy to take the win that allows them to continue moving forward in the USOC while Indy sees their Cup journey come to a disappointing end.

The match notes from Union Omaha pointed out that Indy's average possession percentage is last in the Championship by a wide margin (35.9% to 43.4% for the next team above them), while The Owls' 58.7% ranks 2nd in USL League One. Maybe not surprising for the fans of both teams, that statistical category played out the same way in the first half (63%/37%), but Indy had more passes in the final third than Omaha. Which is a good reminder that where possession happens is as, or more, important as how much you have. Despite the plethora of corners (13 total; 9 for Indy, 4 for Omaha), the teams went into the halftime locker room deadlocked with 7 shots apiece, but with a nil-nil scoreline.

With a league game in play for Saturday, Lindley and Okello came off a halftime to be replaced by O'Brien and Quinn, respectively. By my unofficial records, Lindley is now just 2 minutes away from tying and 3 minutes from bypassing Brad Ring for Minutes Played to move himself into 3rd position in team history. 

For the second time in team history, an Indy goalkeeper was shown a red card and forced to make an early exit to the showers during an Open Cup game. Charles-Cook came out of his box to collect a bouncing ball, but made much more contact with the Omaha player than the ball. After some calming of Omaha players' anger, referee JC Riggs reached into his top pocket and pulled out his red card. Charles-Cook joins Evan Newton with the dubious distinction of a goalkeeper not being able to finish out a U.S. Open Cup game. Newton's red card came in 2019 against Lansing Ignite and gave Jordan Farr his professional debut. Indy managed to win that game.

Tonight however...

Fifteen minutes after Reice walked off the field, Omaha put themselves on top with a cross from Guiterrez that Owusu firmly headed passed Dick. With time winding down, and down a man, Indy had to try and get a goal while also not conceding another. Which they couldn't do. Indy conceded a second goal in the 83rd minute and all that remained after that was the final score. 

In his season debut, Blake scored a stoppage time goal to rob Jensen of his clean sheet, but Indy's 2026 U.S. Open Cup was short-lived. Just two years after making a semifinal run in the USOC, Indy had to back into even playing in this year's iteration and then proceeded to exit stage left by letting a USL League One team hang around and gain confidence. When Indy went down a man, Omaha (who has former Indy players Boudadi and Wooten on the roster and who played tonight) had the opening they needed to claw a result. 

I said there would be bumps this season. Tonight was one of those bumps.

Based on the lineups we've seen so far this season, tonight's starting lineup could be considered Indy's "B" squad (with a couple notable exceptions). When the club decided that they wanted to be younger and hungrier, the squad was filled with players who aren't much different in level than tonight's League One foe. If you look at it that way, it's not surprising that the game was as even, statistically, as it was and that Indy came out on the wrong side of the score.

Indy return to Carroll on Saturday to play a much stronger side when Pittsburgh comes to town. 

Photos - Don Thompson Photography