Indy Eleven vs Charleston Battery - 13.30

Summary

- Opponent: Charleston Battery
- Location: Patriots Point
- Attendance: 5,621
- Final Score: 1-0 L

- Starting XI: Charles-Cook, Rasheed, Barry, Herbert, Craig, O'Brien, J., Hafferty, Quinn (C), Kibunguchy, Mesanvi, Rendon

- Substitution: Kizza 77' (Mesanvi); Sing 81' (Hafferty); Lowden 87' (Rasheed); Henry-Scott 87' (Barry)

- Unused: Dick

- Scoring Summary:
CHS - Swan 78' (assist Blackstock)

- Bookings:

NONE

- Referee: Joshua Encarnación

- Adage goals: None.
- Points Lost from Winning Position (Year To Date): 14

Thoughts and Opinions

For the second year in a row, Indy's playoff fate came down to the final game of the season. Win and they live to play another day. Lose and they watch the playoffs as spectators like the rest of us. As I mentioned midweek after Louisville won their Wednesday game, the frustration of being an Indy Eleven fan is that even in a down year for Louisville (which included a 4-game losing streak), they still manage to find enough results and have results go their way that they still ended in 4th place with a guaranteed home game. Indy, conversely (at that point of the week) were 90-minutes away from being eliminated from the playoffs despite having a 6-point advantage ahead of Miami with 2 games in hand just 5 weeks ago. A spectacular run-of-form from Miami, a continued string of injuries for Indy, and 1 point from their final six games left Indy in desperation mode headed to Charleston. 

I knew that the injury bug has continued to take a massive bite out of the Indy roster, but when the starting lineup was announced and it included just 16 players, was without Mitrano and Lindley, included a 16-year old Academy player, and had Charles-Cook starting in goal ahead of Dick, my opinion of Indy getting the needed result dropped to about 6%. I watched because I'm a glutton for punishment and it's the last regular season game of the year. It took until the 78th-minute, but it also became the last game (full stop) of the year for Indy Eleven as the home team scored just the one goal , but it was enough to give Charleston the 1-nil win.

Despite what the Charleston announcers kept trying to tell everybody that Rendon was playing out of position up top, they were correct that Indy's lineup was largely defensive-based to start the game as they looked to keep the game close as long as possible and either 1) find a way to get a set-piece goal, 2) get the Route 1 ball to Rendon in a way to give him a shot, or 3) use the late attacking-player heavy substitutes to come in late to try and steal a result. Given what was available to McAuley, it wasn't the worst plan. Through the first half, the game play was working. Most of Charleston's 82% possession was in undangerous locations and Indy actually found more shots than the home side (9 to 7; 3 to 1 on target). Indy's 5-4-1 formation didn't leave much space for Charleston to find open passing lanes, which allowed the visiting side to go into the halftime locker room with a nil-nil score line and giving themselves a fighting chance in the second half.

Indy had chances. Rendon and Quinn both had at least a couple of opportunities that both would tell you they should have done better with, and Zamudio made enough great saves to help Charleston's case, but Indy did nearly everything they needed to do to give themselves a chance to extend their season. In the end, they just couldn't find the goal to extend the season and the year comes to its expected conclusion.

Indy was always going to have an uphill battle this season given their limited budget and the number and types of players they were going to be able to sign within that budget. When the presumed starting center back and right back (Hogan and White, respectively) were out of the mix before the season ever started, the hill became a bit steeper. As inexperience and injuries took more fuel out of the engine, and then the massive amount of miles on the experienced players' legs took more fuel, the sputtering that happened in the last quarter of the season seems obvious. 

The fact that Indy had anything that resembled a chance this late in the season is amazing. The fact that they were so close is frustrating. I'll have more in my season recap article in the near future, but tonight we just have to reflect on the fact that the season is officially finished.

Game Beckons Game Ball

I'm going to give this one to the entire defense, which basically means I'm giving it to the entire team based on the way that the game plan was enacted. The players showed grit and effort to give themselves a chance to get a result. With the exception of the one chance that resulted in the goal, Indy came into the game with a plan and enacted it as close to perfectly as they could. Indy's roster overperformed their budget and talent ability, but it wasn't enough to get them into the playoffs. Regardless, tonight's effort by the entire team should be applauded, or at least awarded the final GBGB of the year.