Indy Eleven vs Monterey Bay - 12.14

Summary

- Opponent: Monterey Bay FC
- Location: Carroll Stadium 
- Attendance: 9,169
- Final Score: 3-0 W

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

- Substitution: Bryneus 69' (Foster); Hogan 69' (Rendon); Williams, R. 80' (Blake); Kizza 80' (Amoh); Collier 87' (O'Brien, J.)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, McRobb

Scoring Summary:
IND - Quinn 8' (assist Blake)
IND - Blake 45'+11' (Penalty Kick)
IND - Williams 83' (assist Bryneus)

- Bookings:

MB - Muir 60' (Yellow)

- Referee: Natalie Simon

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

July 4th weekend means fireworks across the country. Official fireworks by cities and towns and unofficial ones in neighborhoods. It meant that tonight's game against Monterey Bay had a later start time than normal so that the lighting would be better postgame for Indy Eleven's own fireworks display. After last week's fireworks against Birmingham in the Jagermeister Cup, when Birmingham pulled even with Indy in the 90'+4' only for Indy to get the bonus point in the penalty kicks in spectacular fashion 7-6 thanks to two saves by Sulte, tonight's game had its own share of fireworks in a 2-nil win by Indy.

Indy opened the scoring in the 8th minute when Quinn nearly mistouched a ball over the touchline. He managed to get back to it which put his defender on his heels. Quinn touched the ball to Blake, who returned a ball back to Quinn with his defender complaining about the lack of a throw-in. Quinn then put Garcia into a blender and put a left-footed shot on frame. A deflection on its way through off of Lara pushed the ball out of Campuzano's reach. There was some thought that it would officially be an Own Goal, but Quinn was given credit for the goal, his third of the league season. Indy nearly doubled their lead as the clock switched over to the 15th minute on a header from Rendon that somehow stayed out of the goal after bouncing inches from the line. MB cleared the ball off the line to survive the attack, but Indy's pressure was putting them on the front foot.

Statistically speaking, all the stats would indicate that Monterey would have been the team leading going into the halftime locker. However, their shots were generally from distance and were directly to Sulte. So while an argument could be made for Monterey leading, Indy's lead was deserved due to their more effective use of their attack. Monterey's frustrations were compounded in stoppage time when Campuzano was forced out of the game after coming down on his foot the wrong way. Campuzano couldn't put any pressure on it and was met with a pair of crutches on his way to the benches. The lengthy delay extended an announced five minutes of stoppage time to more than double that amount. Indy capitalized on the extra minutes when Foster and Amoh give-and-go'd their way through the Monterey defense until Foster was brought down in the box. Referee Natalie Simon immediately pointed to the spot, setting up a stoppage time penalty kick for Indy. After the ball passed around a few Indy players, it was Blake that took the kick. While newly introduced goalkeeper Gomez went to the correct side, Blake's shot was hard and made its way beyond Gomez's outstretched arm. 

The game turned weird when the Monterey subs and assistant coach seemingly refused to get themselves and their cones out of the way of Murphy who was trying to take a corner kick from that area. At one point, Murphy threw one of the cones frisbee style after he had moved the cone only to have the assistant put it immediately back in the same space. The referee gave the assistant a verbal warning, and then proceeded to give him a second warning when the assistant placed the cone nearly in the field of play. Once the weirdness door was opened, the game became a chippy affair with a MB player getting a yellow card for impeding a Sulte drop-kick. Every stoppage of the ball became a chance for MB players to argue calls, for Indy players to be slow to give the ball back, and just generally fill the game with unpretty fireworks. 

Another late goal was scored. In what has become a rarity this season, that goal did not come from Monterey, it did not draw Monterey level, or give Monterey the lead. Indy scored a third goal late to complete the scoring for the night and give them their third league clean sheet of the season (all within the past 5 games). After the game, Coach McAuley indicated that he was just slightly bothered by the fact that the Indy players began to take the ball to the corner flag to waste time. With a 3-nil lead and their opponent on the ropes, Coach McAuley wanted to see his guys go for the jugular. With tonight's tally, Indy bring their Goal Differential to -1, so I like the idea that the coach wants his team to not take their foot off the gas. Earlier in the season when the team was leaking goals, I think the bunker mentality crept in. Now that the defensive side is starting to solidify, the idea of bunkering to ride out a win seems to be giving way to the way that Coach McAuley wants to play, particularly at home. Score goals and, if possible, score more goals.

With the other results around the league (a draw between Tulsa and Miami and a draw between Birmingham and Rhode Island), Indy's win catapulted themselves above all three teams to find themselves back on the right side of the playoff line thanks to Indy's tiebreaker advantage over Miami. Rhode Island come to Indy next week in one of the proverbial 6-point games. A win by Indy keeps them moving in the right direction, whereas a win by Rhode Island would once again shuffle the teams around the playoff line. Coach McAuley stated tonight in the postgame that it's still a little too early to think about the playoff line, but with next week's game being the halfway point of the season, I don't think it's too early. Indy's end of year schedule means the team will find itself at home much less frequently than has been the case in June and July's Summer of Soccer. Games on the road in this league and this conference are never easy, so getting themselves above the playoff line at this point in the season is vital for their conference going into the final half of the year.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Jack Blake seemed to be everywhere tonight. He was involved in the build-up and got the assist for Indy's first goal. He stepped up and buried the penalty kick just before halftime. His effort meant that my typical barometer for how I select this award - the eyeball test - had a clear vision. Jack gets tonight's GBGB.  

Photos: Don Thompson Photography

Indy Eleven vs Monterey Bay FC - 11.09

Summary

- Opponent: Monterey Bay FC
- Location: Cardinale Stadium
- Attendance: 4,504
- Final Score: 1-0 W

- Starting XI: Sulte, O'Brien, J., Ofiemu, Diz Pe, Stanley, Lindley (C), Blake, Guenzatti, Mines, Martinez, Williams

- Substitution: Collier 64' (Guenzatti); Ikoba 64' (Williams); Gibson 76' (Martinez); Wootton 90'+2' (Blake)

- Unused: Oettl, O'Brien, E., Schneider

- Scoring Summary:
IND - Collier 88' (unassisted)

- Bookings:

IND - Stanley 71' (Yellow)
IND - Diz Pe 74' (Yellow)
MB - Archimede 75' (Yellow)
MB - Fehr 87' (Yellow)

IND - Blake 90'+2' (Yellow)

- Referee: Corbyn May

- Adage goals: None

Thoughts and Opinions

A 10:00 Eastern start time for Indy Eleven meant that I had time to watch the new episodes of season 3 of Welcome to Wrexham. My only concern about watching it before Indy played is that I already feel like I temper some of how I write depending on my mood. When I watch a couple hours of Phil Parkinson saying "f**k" a couple dozen times, I had to make a more conscience effort to not let Phil's favorite word slip into what I write about Indy. Let's be honest, Indy has been deserving of some of Phil's four-letter fury at times this year. Against Monterey Bay the past two seasons, Indy have deserved an absolute Parky drubbing, beating Indy in both of their matches, by a combined 8-2 score. So as I watched Wrexham's early season struggles as they began their foray into League Two, I couldn't help but think that Indy needed to show fight and get something positive out of their west coast trip to continue their recent two-game undefeated streak.

The first 15 minutes of this game was back-and-forth, but slightly tilted towards Indy's favor with 4 shots for Indy and 1 for Monterrey, none of which really bothered either goalkeeper. However, the game was not lacking for action. It also saw Diz Pe continue his early season trend of bombing forward from his centerback position. Something that Ofeimu did in the next 15 minutes. Watching Indy's two centerbacks go forward is a surprising effort for this Indy team, particularly considering that Indy has yet to keep a clean sheet. Getting your centerbacks that far out of position forcing other players to cover for them, is a bold choice. Whether that's a practiced tactical decision or just player decisions is unknown, but it's not a decision that immediately jumps to mind as a good one.

For all the attacking Indy had in the first half, they were credited with just 1 shot on target and that didn't happen until the late minutes of the half. They were getting into good positions to score, but there seemed to be a hesitation to put balls on frame unless there was a wide opening. Unless, of course, your name is Blake and he finished the half with 1 shot, 1 shot on target, and 3 blocked shots (though to be fair, I think the shot on target should have been credited to Guenzatti). Regardless, possession was basically equal, but both team's possession was in Monterey Bay's defensive half of the field. Indy will be happy to feel like they dominated the half, but they needed to come away with more for their effort. Monterey Bay played for the counterattack, and had their fair share of shots, but it still feel like Indy were the better side. Given Indy's recent results against MB, that was good to see.

If I could offer some constructive criticism for the Monterey Bay telecast and/or the Monterey Bay operation crew? Figure out how to show the game without the sign board washing out the action on the field. The game looked like it was being played in haze any time the game was anywhere in the midfield.

Now back to our regularly scheduled game discussion. 

Everything I said about the first half applied to the second half. Back-and-forth. A significant portion of the game in MB's defensive half. Poor final product from both teams in their final decision in the opposing boxes. 

Until...

In the 88th minute, Indy worked the ball around through the midfield to Stanley on the left side. Stanley put a ball across the face of goal, which Siaha felt he needed to parry, but it was a weak clearance that proceeded to bounce around off players. The ball eventually landed in front of Collier, who proceeded to blast it over Siaha and in the process gave Indy all three points on the road and their first clean sheet of the season. 

The teams finished with nearly equal shots on target, and I think a draw would have been a fair result given the poor effort from both team's around the opposition's goal. Given Indy's propensity to concede poor goals this season, the clean sheet feels more impressive to me than the goal and the win. I question some of the defensive decisions, but they were able to get it done tonight (and this morning for those of us in the Eastern time zone).

Indy stay on the road next week against Miami, but have a midweek game against league foe San Antonio in the U.S. Open Cup at Butler. When Indy return home to play Hartford on the 18th, the club will have four games to watch as the women will start their home games that week with a game on Monday and a game on Wednesday, bookended by the men's game against Hartford and a game against Phoenix. Plenty of soccer to watch in the coming weeks for the club.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

It pains me a little to give the GBGB to a person who had 4 passes, completing just 2 of them, lost more duels than they won, and lost more aerial duels than they won given their height, but when you make the most of your 1 shot on goal by scoring it in the 88th minute, and give the team a win when it looked like a draw was going to be the extent of the game's effort, then I'll give you the GBGB. Collier found himself in the right spot and took a shot. He didn't look to pass. He didn't blast it over the top of the goal. He purposefully, and forcefully, shot the ball into the goal in a way that Siaha didn't have time to react. In a game where players struggled to do that, Collier gets the edge on tonight's GBGB. 

Indy Eleven vs Monterey Bay - 10.06

Summary

- Opponent: Monterey Bay 
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 10,038
- Final Score: 2-3 L

- Starting XI: Oettl, Boudadi, Vazquez, Dambrot, Rebellon, Lindley, Blake, Quinn, Fjeldberg, Asante, Guenzatti (C)

- Substitution:  Martinez 37’ (Fjeldberg - injury); Jerome 68’ (Boudadi); Robledo 68’ (Blake); Tejada 8’ (Quinn)

- Unused: Trilk

- Scoring Summary:
MB – Robinson 17’ (assist Dixon)
IND – Asante 23’ (assist Quinn)
IND – Guenzatti 40’ (assist Asante)
MB – Volesky 58’ (assist Doner)
MB – Yoske 63’ (assist Volesky)

- Bookings:

IND – Blake 45’+1’ (Yellow)

IND – Martinez 78’ (Yellow)

MB – Boone 85’ (Yellow)

- Referee: Greg Dopka

- Adage goals: One

Thoughts and Opinions

The last time Indy and Monterey Bay faced off last year, Indy was routed 5-nil, in far better weather conditions than what they teams dealt with today with temperatures in the 40s and a steady wind whipping from west to east across the field. Tonight’s game against Monterey Bay also marks Indy’s fourth game in a row against Western Conference competition and the third in a row against teams from California, with two more California teams to play during the remainder of the season. Indy finished this run of games against the opposite conference with a 0W-1D-3L record, scoring 2 goals against the competition's 7, meaning Indy will be looking forward to some Eastern Conference competition next week when Pittsburgh comes to Carroll Stadium just to face a team in their own conference.

Diz Pe and Rissi weren’t shown on the official match day injury report, but I found out that both are nursing hamstring issues. I’m also not sure why Indy only suited five subs with an upcoming game against the Columbus Crew on Wednesday and the game against Pittsburgh on Saturday. Notably missing from the game day lineup was Alann Torres who hasn't been on a game day lineup in a couple games. With a short bench tonight, I wonder if his absence means something is in the works for another loan. Indy came into the season with a roster rebuild designed around quality over quality, but a couple of injuries and an "unknown status" severely hampers Indy’s options off the bench, particularly after a late first half injury by Fjeldberg that forced a substitution before halftime.

Since the first game that Eleven have played in Carroll Stadium, fans have stopped their feet on the metal bleachers to make noise during the team’s corner kicks and set pieces with goal scoring chances. Tonight’s crowd took to the feet stomping tactic early in the game even when the team had the ball in their defensive third. Having not seen the team score a goal at home this season, and not having scored since the second game, Indy fans were getting restless so see some kind of positive result from the team’s possession advantage. Then Monterey Bay scored in the 17th minute, not really against the run of play, and Indy once again were chasing a game, and the noisemaking fans were left to wonder if Indy were going to ever find a goal.

Lindley showing how much it meant 
for the team to finally get a goal.

Fortunately for Indy fans, that chase didn’t last very long. Indy, on a set piece deep in their offensive third (basically a short corner, which is how Indy scored their goal against Detroit), scored when Quinn put a ball between the 6-yard line and the penalty spot that Asante redirected into the opposite corner away from Herrera. Not too many games ago, I questioned why Asante was in the wall on opponent free kicks, and he yet he has continued to show he can get to set piece headers on the opposite end of the field. At 5’-5” tall, that has to be good positioning, because he shouldn’t be able to out-jump most defenders. He did indicate that he's been working on that part of his game. Of being better at finding the pockets of space to give him  the best chance of getting a head to it.

Indy spent much more of the first half in their own defensive half, with the Crisp and Kelp (seriously…it’s their nickname) holding the rare possession advantage against Indy for the majority of the half (Indy squeaked into a modest advantage by the end of the half). A well-timed break and an inch perfect pass from Asante allowed Guenzatti to open his scoring tally for Indy in the 40th minute. Prior to this game, Indy had dominated possession with nothing to show for it. In the first half of this game, Indy had less possession, but went into the locker room with a 2-1 advantage. Proving, once again, that possession is only as good as the finishing touch, which was markedly improved in the first half compared to recent games.

The second half started with both teams trying to take control of the game, with neither team succeeding very much. There were a lot of rough tackles in the midfield and lost possession. Yet it was Monterey Bay who found their equalizer goal in the 58th minute from a break through the center of the pitch. Just five minutes later, Oettl sent a line drive pass up the field that Monterey Bay intercepted, and quickly attacked. A couple of passes later, and a shot to Oettl’s left slide found Indy once again chasing a game to get a positive result suddenly down 3 - 2. 

Another five minutes later, and Tejada found himself as the lone remaining substitute available warming up (not counting Trilk) after Coach Lowry brought in Jerome and Robledo to inject some fresh legs. Tejada eventually found his way into the game in the 85th minute, expending all Indy’s field player substitutes, but to no avail as Indy fell to Monterey Bay to extend the early season losing streak to three games.

Seriously, does Indy really have to play another California team this year?

The good news is that Indy didn't get blanked and shutout this year by a 5 goal differential against roughly the same squad, personal wise, that beat them last year. The other good news is that Indy finally saw the ball go behind the opposing goalkeeper twice. The bad news is that Oettl dug three balls out of his own goal to negate Indy's successes. 

On a cold April night, the chances of Indy working out of this stretch looks just as cold. Indy play Pittsburgh next week at home, followed by a Loudoun team that is currently in a playoff position on the road, and then a currently undefeated Sacramento team. Unless Indy can figure out a way to get a win next weekend against Pittsburgh (not counting what might happen on Wednesday in Columbus in the U.S. Open Cup game), Indy's most talented team on paper is going to reach a dubious failure distinction. Despite some of the unsuccessful teams and rough stretches Indy has had over the years, there have only been three times that Indy have had >3 game losing streaks. The first was in the Spring season of the 2014 inaugural year. The second was in 2019. The third was, obviously, last year's deep depression, which had two separate runs of >3 losses. This team does not want to join that group.

Oh, and one more thing. Indy's successful games this season? A draw against a 1W-2D-3L Tampa, a win against a 1W-1D-5L Detroit, and a draw against a 0W-4D-0L Las Vegas Lights. All teams sitting below the playoff line, or in the case of Las Vegas, at the bottom of the table.Indy needs some good wins, and they need them soon.  [Update: after the games on Sunday, all four of these teams are at the bottom of their respective tables. LV at the bottom of the Western Conference; Indy, Tampa Bay, & Detroit (in that order) at the bottom of the Eastern Conference] 

The Game Beckons Game Ball

He looked like the Asante we expected to see when he signed with Indy last year. A goal and an assist, some good crosses, some good shots. He was honest during the post-game press conference where he looked like he was absolutely freezing. Solo gets the GBGB.

"I think we lost concentration, and in these games, you cannot slip. Coach told us any time there's a free kick, any time there's a throw in, anything like that, we need raise the concentration. But I think we didn't do it and we lost concentration. ... I feel so sad. I feel so bad. Playing at home and then losing at home. Our families are here. Our fans. I feel so bad, but we are going to try our best to rectify the mistakes and come back stronger."

Additional Photos (Don Thompson Photography)

Indy Eleven vs Monterey Bay FC - 09.29

Summary

- Opponent: Monterey Bay FC
- Location: Cardinale Stadium
- Attendance: 3,804
- Final Score: 5-0 L

- Starting XI: Trilk, Dambrot, Vazquez, Jerome, Timmer, Brown, Hackshaw (C), Ingram, Aguilera, Asante, Pinho

- Substitution: Ayoze 56’ (Ingram); Rebellon 56' (Hackshaw); Tejada 56' (Aguilera) 

- Unused: Lewis, Michael, Rivera

- Scoring Summary:
MB – Boone 31’ (unassisted)
MB - Own Goal 43' (Dambrot)
MB - Murphy 49' 
MB - Gleadle 50' (assist Dawkins)
MB - Volesky 66' (assist Gleadle)

- Bookings:

MB – Boone 28’ (Yellow)
IND - Timmer 40' (Yellow)
IND - Dambrot 55' (Yellow)
IND - Tejada 62' (Yellow)
MB - Gorskie 74' (Yellow)
IND - McQueen 79' (Yellow)

- Referee: Gerald Flores
- Adage goals: Three

Thoughts and Opinions

As the game started in Monterey Bay, the team that was sitting in front of Indy in the table, Hartford Athletic, had already been eliminated from the playoffs despite winning their game tonight against their own Western Conference opponent in Las Vegas. Proof of the razor-thin margin that kept Indy mathematically alive for the playoffs. Indy's loss solved the math.

Indy came out on the front foot and really put Monterey Bay under pressure in the opening minutes. That was a different team than we saw in the middle of the season. The effort was greater, the press started higher, and the touches were fewer with one and two-touches being the norm. The play out of Indy in the first 20 minutes is getting much closer to what Indy fans had hoped to see this year, and that seems more like a Mark Lowry coached team. Then Hack got hacked down resulting in a yellow card for Boone in the 28th minute, and then the mistakes started happening in the backline of Indy. Vazquez and Jerome were on different pages multiple times, leading to chances and goals. Boone picked up a goal minutes after his yellow card, and would have finished the half with a brace if the goal in the 43rd minute hadn't been deemed to be an Own Goal conceded by Dambrot. As the halftime whistle blew, Indy found themselves down 2-nil and looking like a completely different team than the one that had started the game. 

Then the wheels fell off. 

Monterey Bay scored twice within minutes of coming out of the halftime locker, and Indy's season went down in a whimper. By the end of the game, Monterey Bay had scored a total of 5 goals, kept Indy off the board, and Indy tied the second worst loss in their history. One of those happened earlier this year against San Diego. Yeah, Indy has lost twice this season by a 5 goal differential, 5-nil. The progress that was felt in the previous four games went out of the window tonight in an absolute poor showing. You can try to find some positives, but you're going to likely only find them in that first 20 minutes of action. After that, Indy didn't stand a chance in this game. Monterey Bay had 8 shots on target and put 5 of them past Trilk. His teammates put him into bad situations, and his goals against average took a serious hit tonight.

Indy come home from their west coast debacle to play Loudoun next Sunday, then have their next three games against other non-playoff teams before finishing with Birmingham. At this point, Indy is playing for pride and for next season. There are going to be some changes next season. I could probably pencil in a few names, maybe a couple in pen, but there are going to be some changes. A season like this will do that. I'm sure that Lowry and Co. already have a list of players they want to pursue at year's end, and a result like tonight makes those potential changes seem even more important, and even more obvious.

At the conclusion of Indy's game with Monterey Bay, the Eastern Conference playoff schedule is entirely confirmed; with 3 to 5 games remaining for each team. Conversely, the Western Conference has only confirmed San Antonio and San Diego as playoff bound, but everybody else is still mathematically alive. That's quite a difference, and shows how top heavy the Eastern Conference was this year. Lowry has stated a couple times recently that their run of form was going to show the other Eastern Conference teams that they won't be looking down at Indy after this year. A 5-nil drubbing from the middle-of-the-pack expansion side Monterey shows that there is still a lot of work to be done between now and next season before the top teams in the East this year need to work.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Not tonight.