Indy Eleven vs New York Red Bulls II - 06.35 - USL Playoffs (Conference Quarterfinals)

- Opponent: New York Red Bulls II
- Location: Indianapolis (Carroll Stadium)
- Attendance: 5,175
- Final Score: 1-0 W
- Starting XI: Farr, Hackshaw, Barrett (C), Ouimette, Gibson, Walker, Conner, Ayoze, King, Pasher, Kelly
- Substitutions: Watson 76' (Kelly), Novoa 85' (Pasher)
- Unused: Brown, Osmond, Perea, Starikov, Ilic,
- Goals: Ouimette 27' (assist King)
- Bookings: None (for either team...)
- Referee: Michael Radchuk
- Adage goals: None

With ten days rest and planning for this game, Indy faced New York Red Bulls II in their first game of the USL Championship playoffs and their first game at Carroll Stadium since the end of the 2017 season. For all of its charm, and there were many fans ecstatic to be headed back to Carroll Stadium for this game, The Mike can be torture on game plans and tactics when the weather becomes a factor.

The weather became a factor.

A constant rain throughout the day created a surface that was soaked and fast. As Brad Hauter indicated on the telecast, "make the mistakes in your opponent's half of the field."

To his point, Indy often played the ball over the top with long passes, with a season low effectiveness to show for it. Indy played long passes nearly 33% of the time, but passes routinely skipped away from receiving players. The Eleven managed just 48.8% passing accuracy, while RBII managed just slightly better at 58.2%. Indy's accuracy in RBII's half plummeted down to a paltry 36.1% success rate. Some of that was the weather, some of that was the result of the Rennie Bunker (TM) and blast at the end of the game, but Indy also made a clear choice in how they wanted to play on that surface and where they were willing to make mistakes.

One of those long passes came off a restart that RBII also blasted out of their area only to have Paddy Barrett recycle it back into the mix on a long diagonal ball towards King. King perfectly one-touched his centering pass, and Ouimette showed his skill level with a side volley that went opposite side netting past Louro. NYRBII pleaded for an offside call, but it appears that King timed his run well to get to Barrett's pass. I've watched Barrett practice these long diagonal balls before games so it is clearly something that is part of the plan and something that he has learned to do well. When his pass doesn't reach its intended target it is generally met with a frustrated reaction from Barrett.

Ouimette's 27th minute goal proved to be the game winner as Indy could never find another goal, managing just 5 shots (1 on target), while also limiting RBII to just 9 shots (also just 1 on target). In a night of high scoring playoff games in which the winning team scored 3 or more goals in 5 of the 8 games, Indy held on for a 1-nil win. Given that RBII were the highest scoring team in the Eastern Conference and the 3rd highest in the league, it's all the more impressive that Indy kept them scoreless. RBII were shutout just 6 times all season. Two of those were against Indy. If the old saying that "defense wins championships" is true, Indy's ability to keep RBII off the board may serve as a springboard for the rest of the playoffs.

What can we take from this win against NYRBII? Confidence, but that may be about it. It was an ugly game under poor conditions on a field that was basically new to all 27 guys who took the field. It's doubtful that Indy will want to continue next week versus Nashville conceding so much possession or continue to spray balls long one-third of the time they touch it. Indy played Nashville to a nil-nil draw in May in Indy and then played to a 2-nil loss in July in Nashville.

The point of the playoffs is to survive and advance and Indy did that against RBII under adverse conditions and can now set their sights on Nashville SC. Indy will look to remedy their road form against a team who finished the regular season on a 6-game undefeated streak and a 4-game win streak. Including their recent home playoff game, Nashville played their final three regular season games at home and have scored 10 goals in that four game stretch. Again, if Indy wants to move forward in the playoffs, their stingy defense is likely going to be the main reason they advance against Nashville.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

I thought about this for awhile and could never really settle on a single player that I felt should get the game ball. Ouimette for his goal. Farr for a clean sheet in his first playoff start. Kelly and Pasher for continually chasing down long balls. Ayoze's and Conner's effort. Walker's and Gibson's help defense in front of the back 3. Hackshaw, Barrett, and Ouimette for helping facilitate that clean sheet for Farr. This game truly required a team effort against a top team in bad conditions. So, in what I believe is a first for me, I'm going to give this game's Game Beckons Game Ball to the entire team.

Indy Eleven vs New York Red Bulls II - 06.24

- Opponent: New York Red Bulls II
- Location: Indianapolis
- Attendance: 9,124
- Final Score: 1-0 W
- Starting XI: Newton, Barrett (C), Ouimette, Osmond, Walker, Gibson, Ayoze, Farias, Conner, Ilic, Pasher
- Substitutions: King 45'+1' (Farias - injury); Watson 76' (Walker), Kelly 78' (Ilic)
- Unused: Farr, Perea, Starikov, Rodrigues
- Goals: Kelly 83' (assist King)
- Bookings: Conner 17' (Yellow); Barrett 28' (Yellow); Walker 61' (Yellow); Ouimette 79' (Yellow)
- Referee: Lorant Varga
- Adage goals: None

As the season has progressed, this game stood out as an important one with Indy and New York Red Bulls II being consistently at the top of the top having not been ranked below 4th place in the conference since Week 14. NYRBII came into the game with the high power offense in the Eastern Conference, scoring 64 goals, 15 more than Nashville and nearly 30 more than Indy. Indy came into the game as the stingiest defense in the league, giving up just 18 goals on the season. Indy also came into the game on a 20 game undefeated streak at Lucas Oil Stadium (21 home streak including the U.S. Open Cup game against Lansing Ignite) and allowing just 4 goals from opponents in 12 home games. Further fueling Indy was the desire to make amends for the 2-1 loss to NYRBII earlier in the year, while also gaining ground on the Eastern Conference leaders. The teams came into the game with nearly identical number of passes on the season, despite Indy having played 3 less games. However, Indy has an 80% accuracy rate, while NYRBII ranks last in the conference with 73%, a statistic that Indy wanted to continue to keep in their favor, jumping passing lanes. Indy managed to keep NYRBII below their average, including limiting them to 60% in Indy's half of the field.

To try and counteract NYRBII's high scoring offense, Coach Rennie employed the defensive midfield combo of Walker and Gibson, which he hadn't used since Drew Conner became a starter. The desire to keep NYRBII in check meant that the team needed guys to be more defensive minded, while looking to counter with Ilic and Pasher up top and Conner sitting underneath those two to serve as the connector between the defense and offense. With a couple games under his belt, Conner's effort and composure on the ball meant he was a good selection to be the box-to-box player the team needed against NYRBII. It also caused him to get another yellow card in his short stint here in Indy when he ran 40 yards to catch up to a NYRBII player only to catch him with his leg after sweeping the ball away.

In the 40th minute, Pasher single-handedly took on the NYRBII defense and nearly succeeded, with his shot sailing a bit high and wide. He followed it up a minute later with another run down the right side, but didn't get the shot he wanted, which nearly took out one of Lucas Oil Stadium's security personnel. With the way that Indy was attacking, either Ilic or Conner needed to run underneath Pasher when the backline sent a ball over the top for those moments when the NYRBII defenders headed the ball back away from Pasher. Without that runner, Indy consistently gave up possession and chances when Pasher didn't get to the ball.

An injury to Farias late in the first half force Coach Rennie to, twice in two games, adjust his substitution pattern ahead of schedule. Hackshaw didn't see the end of the first half against Louisville and an apparent thigh injury forced Farias to depart early tonight. Barely into the game, Farias' substitute King, was slow to close out Loebe who rocketed a shot off the crossbar in the closing seconds of the half, sending both teams to the lockers tied.

NYRBII swarmed Indy's attackers and midfielders, forcing Indy to be well below their season average for passing. Indy couldn't maintain the ball through its midfield, forcing them into long balls and errant passes. Indy had their highest percentage of long ball passes since April 28th, when they played...NYRBII. Couipled with Pasher's atypical ineffectiveness to close out his chances led to Indy's inability to get on the scoreboard until late in the game with the addition of Kelly and his fresh legs and a well placed header in the 83rd minute.

Kelly (routinely pointed out by the team as the USL's all-time leading scorer) went 14 games without scoring a goal, but has now scored twice in the past 4 games. I think it's important to note that his goals came in a substitute role and also occurred after the departure of Enevoldsen. If Kelly can find his form in a substitute role, that's exactly where he should be playing. Indy's defense is going to keep them close in all of the remaining games and having Kelly come on as a late game option after Pasher has ran the opposing defense ragged for 70 minutes is a nice option to have for Indy.

Indy's defense hunkered down and managed to keep NYRBII from finding the back of the net in the closing minutes, despite a final shot differential of 19 to 7. With the win, Indy move up in the table to third, while also maintaining three games in hand on NYRBII. Indy has struggled against the "top level" teams in the conference so getting this win is a great way to kick off a busy September schedule. Indy will now travel to Charleston on Saturday, subject to the weather from Hurricane Dorian, to continue the momentum created from this win.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Evan Newton gets the Game Beckons Game Ball for his effort against one of the most offensively-minded teams in the conference/league. While not all of NYRBII's 19 shots were threatening, Newton had to come up big on a few occasions, finishing with 6 saves, matching his highest number of saves for the season, which also came against NYRBII in April. NYRBII have scored 3 or more goals in 10 of their 27 games, scoring 5 goals 3 times and 8 goals once. They have been held scoreless just two other times this season; a 2-0 defeat to Tampa Bay in May and a 3-0 defeat to Pittsburgh in late June.They have scored 33 goals since last being held scoreless so for Newton to get another clean sheet for the season is a significant accomplishment.

Photo

Indy Eleven vs New York Red Bulls II - 06.06

- Opponent: New York Red Bulls II
- Location: Montclair, New Jersey
- Attendance: 542
- Final Score: 2-1 L
- Starting XI: Newton, Hackshaw, Crognale, Barrett (C), Ayoze, Matern, Gibson, King, Enevoldsen, Kelly, Pasher
- Substitutions: Watson 64' (Pasher); Walker 69' (Matern); Do-Heon 86' (King)
- Unused: Farr, Farias, Ouimette, Diakhate
- Goals: Kelly 13'
- Bookings: King 59' (Yellow - lead to Penalty Kick for NYRBII)
- Referee: David Barrie
- Adage goals: None

For reasons I don't want to go into, I'm going to keep this basic.

If you employ the Rennie Bunker(TM) against one of the highest scoring teams the past two years, you better not make mistakes. And not give them 28 cracks at the goal.

If you employ the Rennie Bunker(TM) against a high pressing team who wants to get the ball back quickly so that they can resume their attack-minded soccer, you better complete your passes when you counter. 63.1% isn't going to get it done. Particularly when you're blasting 27% of your passes (103 of 379) of the long pass variety.









There are a lot of things that go into how a game progresses, but those two stats jumped out at me after watching the game.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Kelly. He had a chance, made a defender make a mistake, and put a shot over the outstretched goalkeeper. Confidence breeds confidence and he's starting to show it in spades right now.

Indy Eleven vs New York Red Bulls II - 05.28

- Opponent: New York Red Bulls II
- Location: Indianapolis
- Attendance: 8,703
- Final Score: 3-0 W
- Starting XI: Fon Williams, Ouimette, Mitchell, Ferreira, Rusin, Matern, Watson, Mares, Moses, Starikov, Collier
- Substitutions:  Matern 65' (Ring); McInerney 75' (Starikov); Saad 85' (Collier)
- Unused: Lundgaard, Rusin, Matern, Starikov
- Goals: Starikov 2' (assist Mares); Starikov 21' (assist Watson); Ferreira 43' (assist Moses)
- Bookings: Matern 5' (Yellow); Mitchell 39' (Yellow); Watson 62' (Yellow)
- Adage goals: None

Every so often, I do a bullet point recap of the game. This needs to be one of those times, in chronological order.

• Another early goal for the team, this time by Starikov in the 2nd minute (assist Mares, but of course). Let's see if they can hold onto it.
• Yellow by Matern shortly the goal after for not listening to the ref while setting up the wall for a 22-yard free kick for NYRBII. Seems like an unnecessary card this early in the game. Hope it doesn't come back to hurt the team. May see him subbed out at some point in the second half if the game gets physical.
• CB pairing of Rusin and Mitchell showing some lack of cohesiveness early, particularly with Ferreira on the left. Ayoze's calming influence missed early.
• Moses' motor running high today. Back and forth across the field. In 16th minute, chased down the ball that was going from left to right and helped prevent counterattack by knocking it out of bounds.
• NYRBII - Attack! I can see why they lead the league in goals. 
• NYRBII transition defense getting back into position much faster than Indy offense is going forward. Not giving Indy many chances in the run of play. Working for counters.
• Goal Indy 21st minute by Starikov. 
• 27th minute - Indy free kick from just outside the 18. Noticeably missing Ayoze, McInerney, and Saad for the kick. Ferreira took it...off the wall.



1st Half Heat Map - Indy sitting back

• 60/40 possession in favor of NYRBII for the first half, but Indy finding good moments to counter. Bulk of NYRBII shots coming from outside the box and only one on frame.
• NYRBII team speed is faster than Indy.
• Goals coming from everywhere now. Ferreira getting on the board in the 43th minute on a break by Matern that was initially handled by NYRBII defense. They fell asleep on all of the trailing Indy runners, Mares, Moses, and Ferreira.
• Team defense has been really good, particularly since 2nd half played entirely in Indy defensive half. Possession increased to 66/33 for game, which means 2nd half was probably 70/30 in favor of NYRBII.
• 34.5% of Indy's passes were considered "long." Definitely felt that way. NYRBII held a 26 to 10 shots on goal advantage and a 33 to 9 advantage on crosses. This resulted in 41 clearances for Indy to 16 for NYRBII. 
• Offense vs Defense. NYRBII hadn't been held scoreless since June so this further emphasizes how well the team played defense as a group.

A very effective use of the bunker and counter tactics employed by the team for this game. Stats sway heavily to NYRBII, except for the one that really matters. While the goals were great, the team defense is what won this game for the Eleven.

Team needed this win. Likely needed the win as much as they need the 7-day break before the next game.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Starikov gets the Game Beckons Game Ball, but Moses gets a runner-up. Both very active tonight when the team tried to go forward.

Photos

Highlights

Indy Eleven vs New York Red Bulls II - 05.10

- Opponent: New York Red Bulls II
- Location: New Jersey
- Attendance: 498
- Final Score: 1-4 L
- Starting XI: Fon Williams, Venegas, Rusin, Ouimette, Ayoze, Matern, Lewis, Steinberger, Ring, Saad, McInerney
- Substitutions: Guerra 61' (Ring); Moses 66' (Venegas); Speas 86' (Saad)
- Unused: Farr, Amankona, Mitchell, Braun
- Goals: Saad 21' (assist Lewis)
- Bookings: Ring 30' (Yellow), Rusin 59' (Yellow), McInerney 65' (Yellow), Matern 73' (RED - Yellow 71', Yellow 73')
- Adage goals: Two

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Similarly, if Indy Eleven lose in Red Bull Arena, does it really count?

Red Bull Arena has seating for 25,000 people and all 498 of the people in attendance saw what Indy Eleven fans have come to expect with this team. The pieces might be there, but they are just drastically under-performing.

From early in the broadcast (emphasis mine) about playing in the USL:
"Everybody's just trying to win championships, right? They're just trying to win. None of that really matters to the players as much as it might mean to the business side of it or the organization side of it. But having a team like this, obviously you would expect them on paper to be better in the standings than they are right now, but having a team that has this much experience and this much quality is, again, only going to increase the overall quality of the league and the competition and the development of some of the younger players in the league."

You don't have to dive too deep into the statistics to see that the Eleven were dominated in all regards in this game. The eyeball test was enough to tell you that this team seems to have been figured out and do not look the same as they did in the first few games. For a team that, on paper, has significant depth, the loss of Pasher and Starikov has resulted in a team that has difficulty breaking down defenses. The attacking pieces of the Eleven in this game, McInerney, Saad, Lewis, Steinberger, and I'll include Ring and Matern as the attacking pieces (not counting Speas who barely received minutes), they accounted for 2 shots on goal (Saad and McInerney), 1 shot off target (no surprise...Lewis), 0 successful crosses, and only 2 chances created.

The official stats credited Lewis with the assist on Saad's goal, but I'm not convinced that wasn't just a poor touch that Saad happen to be able to run onto. Maybe many of you can relate to this like me as you've aged and tried to play and you're mind is still capable of doing this things you used to be able to do, but your body just can't keep up any longer. I feel like Lewis is just the opposite. He's clearly fast, but it's like his brain can't figure out what he wants to do with the ball as his feet speed forward until he reaches the point where his feet get tangled on themselves and he losses possession or blasts the ball over the goal. I have this feeling that if he just slowed his body down a bit, his brain would let him make the correct decisions.

The offense continues to struggle and at some point the dike had to break defensively, which it did versus NYRBII, giving up 4 goals. Granted, two of those goals were scored once NYRBII had a man advantage after Matern picked up 2 yellow cards in 2 minutes, but with 40 shots on goal, they gave themselves plenty of opportunities. With just 4 shots on goal, the Eleven did not give themselves enough opportunities.

With 2 games in 4 days, this could be a rough week for the Eleven when they face 3rd in the conference Charleston Battery on Wednesday. The good news is after Wednesday, they don't play until the 9th when they face 2nd from the bottom Atlanta United 2 at home.

The Game Beckons Game Ball:

No.

Highlights: