Indy Eleven vs Racing Louisville FC - 04.03

Summary

- Opponent: Racing Louisville FC
- Location: Lynn Family Sports Vision & Training Center
- Attendance: -
- Final Score: 1-0 L

- Starting XI: Edwards, Adam, Bahr (C), Malloy, Albert, Yamazaki, Pinto, Smith, Jennings, Guthrie, May

- Substitution: Lister 60' (Jennings); Satterfield 60' (Albert); Komori 75' (May); Chatterton 75' (Adam); Joyce 75' (Smith)

- Unused: Wyatt, Kruer

Scoring Summary:
LOU – Maddox 27' (unassisted)

- Bookings:

LOU – Kunde 70' (Yellow)

- Referee: 

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

Rarely in the history of this team have I been forced to admit that Indy didn't look like the best team on the field. Indy have only lost five times in the now 3 years and 3 games of their existence, and Indy have now, thanks to tonight's 1-nil loss to Racing, only lost three times in a regular season game. One was the outlier in the 2023 season where a completely overmatched St. Charles team came to the Grand Park Event Center and despite a 25-2 shot disadvantage against St. Charles, left Indianapolis with a 2-nil victory giving Indy their first ever league loss and their first ever shut-out. The second league loss was the final game of last season where the team played this same Racing Louisville team and lost 6-2, looking like a complete shell of its normal self in the process. It would come out after the game that Coach Dolinsky was leaving Indy, bringing some clarity to the team's apparent discombobulation.

This was not an outlier game where the ball wouldn't find the goal or a game where the head coach was leaving. This was a game where Indy often looked a step behind, not as strong, and not as decisive in their decision making as Racing, particularly in the first half. It was a little bit better as the game progressed, but some of that could be attributed to Indy chasing the game more and Racing content to bunker a little bit. Then when Indy reached desperation mode in the late late stages of the game, they lost all resemblance of an organized attack and were down to individual players trying to make plays and long balls. Multiple times, Coach Kim could be heard saying "we gotta go, we don't have the luxury of time." While not incorrect, the anxiety in his voice seemed to translate to the players.

I was worried coming into the season about having to play Lexington three times, but having to play this Racing team again isn't going to be easy either. Kings Hammer come to town this weekend, which will be just their third game of the season. However, they have beaten Dayton 15-nil and tied this Racing team 3-3. Between Racing and Kings Hammer, they beat Dayton by a combined 24-nil (9-nil and 15-nil, respectively), while Indy managed three goals against the Dutch Lions. Some of that could be attributed to the weather that night, but after tonight's result, I'm not so sure. 

We'll learn more about this team on Saturday when Kings Hammer come to town.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

You'll be hard pressed to find someone as passionate about winning as Grace Bahr. She's the clear captain, and clear vocal leader of this team. You'll also be hard pressed to find somebody who takes losing as personal as Grace Bahr. As the game opened up at the end and became end-to-end action while Indy tried to get the equalizer and Racing looked to capitalize on Indy being out of their defensive shape, Bahr was still sprinting back on every ball that was booted over her head. It wasn't until the dying minutes that I watched her, exhausted, request assistance from one of the midfielders, to drop back and cover her position during a Racing throw-in. Post-game, for better or for worse in the sportsmanship category, she made a beeline to the bench, foregoing all handshakes except for a few teammates. Bahr takes this team and the culture that she helped create as seriously as I've seen anybody. In a loss, when the team didn't look its best, I'll take Bahr, her talent, and her fire every day for the GBGB. 

Indy Eleven vs One Knoxville - 2025 Jagermeister Cup

Summary

- Opponent: One Knoxville SC
- Location: Covenant Health Park
- Attendance: -
- Final Score: 1-0 W

- Starting XI: Charles-Cook, McRobb, Musa, Ofeimu, White, Blake, Quinn (C), Murphy, Rendon, Amoh, Foster

- Substitution: O'Brien, J. 62' (McRobb); Williams, R. 62' (Amoh); Kizza 62' (White); Collier 70' (Foster); Lindley 81' (Blake)

- Unused: Sulte, Hogan

Scoring Summary:
IND - Amoh 47' (unassisted)

- Bookings:

IND - White 6' (Yellow)
IND - Blake 78' (Yellow)
KNX - Skelton 80'; 90+1' (Yellow, Yellow, RED)
IND - Lindley 90'+3' (Yellow)

- Referee: Muhammad Kaleia

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

Just a couple of days removed from complaining about playing on baseball fields and wouldn't you know it, Indy found themselves playing in a baseball field. A field with temporary turf so brown it looked like there was barely a difference from the normal clay infield. Throw in the fact that the entirety of the first base path wasn't even completely sodded and it was clear that Knoxville provided enough turf to squeeze in a soccer field, but only just. I guess since Knoxville is in League One instead of the Championship, I could give them a little bit of leeway. I still hate it though.

Half - Shots

One Knoxville came out strong, holding a good amount of possession as Indy tried to get their legs under them. Once Indy settled into the field and the pace of the turf(s), they looked to be the more dangerous attacking team. Amoh put a ball off the crossbar in the 14th minute that nearly kicked off the scoring. Despite Indy getting 8 shots and 2 shots on target in the half compared to 1 (1) for Knoxville and the ball spending a good portion of the half in Knoxville's defensive half of the field, the first half felt much like it did against Forward Madison; like the gap between the teams wasn't that great, but that if Indy could get a lead, then maybe Knoxville would buckle and multiple goals would happen. As it was, Indy had the better of the chances on goal, but still went into the halftime locker room with a nil-nil score line. 

This is a little bit of an applicable to this game but more of an overarching tangent, but when you're a team like Indy that play a lot of balls over the top to the forwards, it bothers me when a forward gets called for offside because they haven't hustled to get back on side with the change of possession. If you get called offside because you didn't time your run correctly, that's one thing. When you're called offside because you didn't pay enough attention or were jogging your way back onside, that just feels like either laziness or a misunderstanding of how the team plays. 

Amoh is feeling so confident that he had the audacity to attempt a 45-yard shot that floated over former Indy goalkeeper Sean Lewis and into the goal to start the scoring in the 47th minute. Right now, he must feel like the goal is the size of the side of a rural Indiana barn. Through all competitions, Amoh has now scored 8 goals (4 in league, 1 in U.S. Open Cup, and 3 in the Jagermeister Cup), putting himself on top of the tournament goal scoring list, and putting himself 

as the clear leader in the club for goals scored this year, with Quinn as the second best scorer with 3.

With the goal, Indy began to concede possession, and once again, on the lower side of the possession battle. While the majority of Knoxville's possession in the first half was in their own half, down a goal, they began to push and spend more of their possession in Indy's half of the field. To Indy's defensive credit, Knoxville managed just 2 more shots in the second half, neither considered to be on target. It might not have been the prettiest soccer, but it was effective. 

Indy may be struggling to get wins in league play, but are now 2 wins in 2 games in the Jagermeister Cup, albeit against the League One competition in Group 3. Indy will now look to translate their success tonight to their home game this coming Wednesday when Hartford Athletic make their way to The Mike.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Elvis Amoh for the GBGB for the steal of a Knoxville freekick in Indy's half and the intestinal fortitude to take a 45-yard shot on goal. 

Indy Eleven vs Dayton Dutch Lions - 04.02

Summary

- Opponent: Dayton Dutch Lions FC
- Location: DOC Stadium
- Attendance: -
- Final Score: 3-0 W

- Starting XI: Edwards, Adam, Bahr (C), Kruer, Satterfield, Yamazaki, Pinto, Smith, Sochacki, Komori, May

- Substitution: Jennings 62' (Sochacki); Touhey 62' (Smith); Guthrie 67' (May); White 77' (Kruer); Malin 77' (Adam); Albert 77' (Satterfield)

- Unused: Wyatt

Scoring Summary:
IND – May 49' (unassisted)
IND – Kruer 57' (assist Sochacki)
IND – Touhey 90'+1' (assist Malin)

- Bookings:

DAY – Rylie McKinney 7' (Yellow)

IND – Olivia Smith 38' (Yellow)

- Referee: James Duling, Jack Haggard, Zachary Johnson, or Shawn Westerfield. I'm not sure how was the center ref, but those are the four listed on the Match Details, so one of them was likely the one with the whistle.

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

There are two consistent frustrations in recaps on this site.

1. I dislike watching soccer played on baseball fields. I would rather deal with football lines than watch the game on a compressed field where players have to deal with the ball transitioning from permanent grass to temporary grass. 
2. The "streaming" requirement in the USL W League covers the gamut. There's Indy's professional, multi-camera broadcast through Greg Rakestraw (and others) and the ISC Sports Network. Then there's what Dayton Dutch Lions passed off as a stream for last night's game, which amounted to somebody sitting in the press box of DOC Stadium with, I'm guessing, a tablet or phone through the press box glass. So in addition to the pixelated nature of the stream, the rainy weather conditions further reduced visibility of the stream to the point where it's clear they're just checking a box saying they had a stream. It was impossible to distinguish any players. The feed had a constant watermark from Singular.Live, which indicates on their home page to be "The New Standard for Live Graphics." Not sure they can be held accountable for the camera work, but based on this stream, that "new standard" was poor. At least there was commentary from Lucas Kleimeyer, who did a good job, otherwise it would have been a worthless watch. When credit it due, this is my opportunity to once again thank Indy Eleven for taking the stream requirement seriously and doing so at a professional level.

Now that all that is out of the way, there was a game that was played, whether I could see it well or not. The general gist was that Indy dominated this game and deserved, at a minimum, their 3-nil victory. With better field conditions, and maybe slightly better finishing around goal, you could see how Racing's 9-nil drubbing of Dayton a week earlier could have had a similar result for Indy. There was a lot of one-way traffic towards Morgan Shirley (in the 1st half) and Sally Patton (in the 2nd half) in Dayton's goal.

Indy will face Dayton twice more this season, giving Coach Kim and staff a couple more chances to make a few tactical tweaks, or just hope for better weather conditions (which they'll definitely get inside the Grand Park Event Center), to give Indy a couple more wins and more goals. 

The Girls in Blue head to Racing Louisville next Tuesday before coming back home on the 31st for their first game this season against Kings Hammer, completing their first round of games against the divisional teams. 

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Based entirely on the commentator's descriptions, since I couldn't tell player from player, he was effusive of Pinto's control of the game in the defensive midfield spot. I'm going to take his word on it and give the GBGB to Pinto. 

Indy Eleven vs Lexington SC - 04.01

Summary

- Opponent: Lexington SC
- Location: Grand Park
- Attendance: -
- Final Score: 2-0 W

- Starting XI: Edwards, Albert, Bahr, Molloy, White, Smith, Komori, Pinto, Yamazaki, Sochacki, Abbe

- Substitution: Satterfield 45' (White); Williams-Osswald 63' (Sochacki); Joyce 63' (Joyce); Guthrie 72' (Komori); May 72' (Abbe); Malin 83' (Albert)

- Unused: Wyatt, Kruer, Touhey

Scoring Summary:
IND - Bahr 8' (unassisted freekick)
IND - Williams-Osswald 90' (assist Guthrie)

- Bookings:

IND - Williams-Osswald 83' (Yellow)

- Referee: Dana Hackney

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

As soon as it was announced that Lexington was in the Valley Divisionwith Indy Eleven, I became concerned about this game. When the schedule was released and it was announced that the home opener was against Lexington, my concern was elevated. When the rosters for teams were announced, the concept of Indy's first home opener loss looked to be a real potential. Lexington's coach is Paul Dolinsky, Indy's former coach. Coach Dolinsky poached some of Indy's last year roster and brought 5 of them with him tonight to face his and their former club. Coach Dolinsky knows everything about this club, from how current Coach Kim wants to play to how many of the Indy players play since he has coached many of them on this USL W League team and during their youth careers. It's impossible to discount the advantage for Lexington of having an inherent knowledge of Indy, when the teams face each other three times this year.

The league, and specifically this conference, is getting better and Indy's recent stranglehold on the lone playoff spot for the Division could be in jeopardy this year. Not today(s) though as Indy scored an early goal and a late insurance goal to get a 2-nil victory in one of the more unique matches in the team's history.

A few minutes into the game a storm passed over the facility, knocking out part of the power, then all the power. With the field partially bathed in about 1/4 of the normal LED lighting, the referee and the club decided that for the safety of the players, the game would be temporarily delayed. Temporarily turned into long, which turned into a delay that lasted approximately 13 hours. When it became apparent that the battery back-up for the lighting might not last much longer, the stands were evacuated. However, the teams both decided to wait until 10:00 PM to see if Duke Energy could get the power going again. At 10:00 PM, both teams headed to homes and hotels, to get some rest before an 8:30 AM restart on Saturday morning.

Bright and early Saturday morning, both teams kicked off again with 3 minutes and 38 seconds on the clock that they had been able to play before the previous night's delay. While sitting around Friday night hoping to get restarted, I asked Coach Kim if he was able to get anything out of the first 3-1/2 minutes? "I think I know how Pauly wants to play." Coach Kim continued his back four arrangement from the night before, while Coach Dolinsky stayed with his back three arrangement that often felt like it transitioned to a back two when Lexington was in attack. 

Minutes after the restart, the Lexington defense had a miscommunication and lost their location on the field, resulting in a handball by former Indy goalkeeper Nona Reason. From the sideline, you could hear Coach Dolinsky yelling to his keeper to get back in goal, fearing a quick restart before his team was prepared. The teams set up for a typical restart, but it was Indy stalwart Grace Bahr who stepped up and put a perfect left-footed shot around the Lexington wall and out of the reach of Reason to get the scoring started. The atypical mistake from Reason put her current team in the hole behind her former team.

Lexington, as previously mentioned, is a good squad and dominated portions of this game. Indy had some moments in the 1st and 2nd halves, but the home team officially had half as many shots (my unofficial stats were a little different) going into the halftime break. 

Photo: Matt Schlotzhauer

In the 70th minute, there was a shot from Lexington that looked destined for the upper 90, but Edwards stretched and knocked the ball away for a corner kick. Even at the time, that felt like a difference maker in the game. Had Lexington scored there with 20-minutes left to play, this might have been a different game. As it was, Indy's substitutes that had come on at the 63rd minute (Williams-Osswald & Joyce), and then shortly after Edwards' save in the 72nd minute (Guthrie & May) did exactly what you want your substitutes to do; they affected the game. Williams-Osswald (and yes, I know that they team is officially just referencing her by her married name, but I want a distinguisher in my stats to show that Williams and Osswald are the same person, so for me, she gets the hyphen...I hope she doesn't mind) immediately showed her ability and IQ, getting called for both of Indy's offside calls. Both were either really close or completely wrong. From my angle, the second one was an incorrect call, and Maddy was upset enough about it that she picked up a yellow card for her dissent. Elise May came on and quickly, literally and figuratively, became at thorn in the Lexington defense's side. She had pace, skill, and a desire to attack. Guthrie eventually won a ball that got to Williams-Osswald for the insurance goal in the 90th minute. 

What stood out for me in the game were the tactics from both coaches. We all know Dolinsky likes to play attacking soccer. Coach Kim has also stated he wants to play the same kind of style. However, in this game, Coach Dolinsky's lineup and back 3 (or 2) defenders caused a drastic overload in the midfield. With Bahr and Malloy anchoring Indy's back four, Indy was athletic enough and disciplined enough to weather the efforts. They kept almost everything in front of them, switched players as Lexington moved across the field, and made good defensive interventions when required. By the end of the game, the Lexington players looked like they were unsure how to find the key to unlock the Bahr-led defense, and Coach Kim released his subs to attack over the top. 

Knowing these teams will face each other two more times, the chess match has been started. Both coaches have now seen some of what the other wants and can do, and both are going to have to adapt and provide some wrinkles. Coach Kim made a Star Wars padawan/master reference in the post-game, so he understands it's difficult to face the person has been your mentor the past three seasons. With the weather delay, the mentor/apprentice relationship made for a very interesting game and storyline.

Indy head to Dayton next week to face the new kids in the Division, a team who Racing Louisville beat 9-0 on Wednesday. Long-time Indy fans are familiar with the Dayton Dutch Lion organization as their men's team was Indy Eleven's first U.S. Open Cup in 2014, when Blake Smith scored Indy's first hat trick in a 5-2 win. With goal differential being a part of the tiebreakers, hopefully Indy can keep pace with Racing when Indy faces Dayton.

It was good to see Coach Dolinsky. It was good to see some old players. As an Indy Eleven fan, it was good to see the home squad get the win over our former players and coach. Now we're back to #IndyEleven. At least until June 6th when the two teams face each other again, also at Grand Park. 

Hopefully, it only takes one day to play that game though.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Oh Captain, My Captain! Game-winner. Defensive anchor. There were some good performances by a few players, including the aforementioned Edwards and Williams-Osswald, but Bahr's effort and leadership is a good portion of the reason Indy managed to withstand the Lexington offensive effort. For the first GBGB of the season, Bahr showed why she has been so important to the team in its now four seasons.

Indy Eleven vs El Paso Locomotive - 12.08

Summary

- Opponent: El Paso Locomotive FC
- Location: Southwest University Park
- Attendance: 5,077
- Final Score: 3-1 L

- Starting XI: Sulte, Stanley, Musa, Hogan, Ofeimu, O'Brien, J., Murphy, Quinn (C), Blake, Foster, Amoh

- Substitution: Rendon 45' (O'Brien, J.); Collier 45' (Ofeimu); Williams, R. 45' (Amoh); Lindley 84' (Blake); Kizza 84' (Foster)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, White

Scoring Summary:
ELP - Moreno 13' (assist Ortiz)
ELP - Calvillo 32' (assist Cabrera)
ELP - Daroma 82' (assist Cabrera)
IND - Kizza 85' (assist Quinn)

- Bookings:

IND - Blake 29' (Yellow)
IND - Foster 37' (Yellow)
ELP - Ruiz 42' (Yellow)
IND - Hogan 47' (Yellow)
ELP - Cabrera 65' (Yellow)
ELP - Diaz 65' (Yellow)

- Referee: Greg Dopka

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

I'm going to be honest, I watched the first half of this game on my phone while sitting in Grand Park hoping that the USL-W League team would regain the power and have a late kickoff. Then I more or less listened to the second half while I drove home. What I got out of both of those halves listening to El Paso's broadcast commentary from Duke Keith was that Indy couldn't finish around the goal (not until Kizza's late goal to ruin Jahmali Waite's clean sheet) and El Paso was more than content in the second half to take the air out of the game at every possible situation in the second half. They came away with a 3-1 win, and Indy continue to look like they need to figure something out because the team that took the Philadelphia Union to penalty kicks and nearly beat Sacramento in Sacramento a few days later was not the team that showed up in El Paso. 

Two things keeps jumping to my mind in this game.

1. Moreno's "gut-busting run" in the first half to open the scoring seemed like an issue of nobody stopping the ball. Indy got caught in transition from ELP against the run of play with Stanley the only player in a good position and O'Brien and Blake trying to catch up. I'm sure he had a reason in the moment, but I don't understand why Stanley went with the secondary runner on the break.
   
   Nobody stopped the ball. If you don't stop the ball, bad things often happen. If Stanley had gone to Moreno, the trailing runner would have likely been pushed offside unless Moreno had found an inch-perfect window to get the ball to Cabrera between when Stanley went to the ball before Cabrera went offside. Instead, Stanley went with Cabrera, allowing Moreno to continue to attack towards Indy's goal until he found the window he needed to get his shot with Stanley out of the picture. Cabrera did exactly what he wanted to do, but I'm unclear as to why Stanley made the decision he made. 
2. For the first time in several games, Amoh wasn't able to poach his one really good chance in the first half that probably would have turned the game back towards Indy. You can't get to all the balls, but he has looked like he might be capable of getting to everything lately. Missing the opportunity meant Indy continued to still play from behind and then when ELP found a long distance shot through traffic slip past Sulte, all that remained was the final score. For whatever reason, what I did see of the game, it didn't look like they were going to be able to get back into the game after going down by two.

Indy have to regroup and watch the rest of the league play their games Saturday before heading back on the road to face One Knoxville in Indy's second game of the Jagermeister Cup.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

I don't have to give a GBGB. I regularly have a game where I don't. While this won't be an official GBGB, I do want to give Lindley and Kizza some props for their effort when they came on late. Kizza has been supplanted by Amoh in the starting lineup due to Amoh's form, but the former Riverhound came into the game with the team down by 3 goals and found himself a goal. Forwards thrive on seeing a ball go in for them, so it's good to see him get rewarded for the late effort set up by Lindley's delivery into the box that Quinn headed back across goal. 

Indy Eleven vs Sacramento Republic - 12.07

Summary

- Opponent: Sacramento Republic
- Location: Heart Health Park
- Attendance: 9,358
- Final Score: 1-1 D

- Starting XI: Sulte, Stanley, Musa, Hogan, Ofeimu, O'Brien, J., Quinn (C), Murphy, Blake, Foster, Amoh

- Substitution: Kizza 70' (Foster); Williams, R. 70' (Amoh); McRobb 86' (Quinn)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Collier, Lindley, Neidlinger

Scoring Summary:
IND - Amoh 36' (assist Quinn)
SAC - Amann 90'+6' (penalty kick)

- Bookings:

SAC- Timmer 17' (Yellow)
IND - O'Brien, J. 20' (Yellow)
SAC - Parano 33' (Yellow)
IND - Musa 58' (Yellow)

- Referee: Benjamin Meyer

- Adage goals: One. Of course...

Thoughts and Opinions

Maybe it's just my week, but it seems like much longer than 8 days ago that Indy played their last league game, a 2-2 draw against Detroit. Last Saturday, Indy conceded two early goals to Detroit before clawing their way back into the game, despite playing the final 30 minutes with 10 men, to get a draw. Then midweek, after a reactionary first half against the Philadelphia Union in the U.S Open Cup Round of 32 (which I'm now convinced was the plan going in), Indy stormed back in the second half to send the game to extra time before ultimately falling in penalty kicks. It's been a long week for fans and the team, who have not seen their own homes since they boarded the plane for Philadelphia after flying directly from Philly to tonight's opponent in Sacramento. Sacramento had their own midweek game, but had much less travel (they played San Jose) and they were out of their game much earlier than Indy, losing in regulation. 

In the early stages of this game, Sacramento looked like they had a bit fresher legs, putting Indy under pressure, predominantly in Indy's half of the field. Given Indy's miles on their legs, in all regards, it may have been a planned bit of bunker by Coach McAuley to get the squad to the second half as fresh as possible. While the stats were heavily weighted in Sacramento's favor in the half, clearly had a bend-but-don't-break mentality as they tried to keep the game within reach for as long as possible, and then counter when possible.

Half - Indy Distribution/Shots

Having spent very little of their time on the ball in Sacramento's half of the field, the game plan from Indy paid off as the game crossed over the 35-minute mark, when Indy had two of those counterattack moments.  The first involved Amoh and Foster, as Amoh threaded a ball between defenders into an on-rushing Foster. Foster pushed his shots just wide, but the attack was Indy's first good attack. A minute later and the two players were again involved as a ball over the top to Foster was collected and centered to Quinn in the middle of the box. Quinn kept the ball moving from right to left to Amoh, who settled the ball, and put his shot over Vitiello to open the scoring and continuing the strikers amazing run of form, getting his 7th goal on the season in the last 5 games. Despite having a 30/70 disadvantage in possession, Indy went into the halftime locker room with a 1-nil advantage on the scoreboard. 

The first half bunker turned into a second half bunker. Indy couldn't hold onto the ball, and Sacramento kept pushing their line of attack further and further up the field and Indy had to resort to continuing to move their line of defense further and further back towards their goal. As the game approached the 60th minute, Indy finally got a foothold on the ball and held a bit of possession to give themselves a break from the constant defending, and put Sacramento on their heels for a stretch. Once Indy eventually lost possession, Sacramento continued their onslaught of Indy's defense as they sought an equalizer.

As the game wound down, the possession and shots remained definitively in Sacramento's favor, but Indy looked to be giving a master class on how to defend as a bunker with team defending. Then Kizza wiped away all the effort from his teammates with a ridiculous foul in the box, giving Sacramento a stoppage time penalty kick. Indy went from having 3 points to sharing a point.

This has been an issue all season. Indy followed the game plan to perfection and finish another game where a draw feels like a loss. Seven points through 7 games. One mistake. One mistake cost Indy three points and a move up the table. There are still a lot of games left in the season, but if Indy can't figure out how to close out games, their current precarious position as a playoff team is going to slip away from them. The top portion of the table is not-so-slowly pulling away from Indy.

The Indy players will finally get back home to see their families, but will turn around and head right back out west to face El Paso next Friday night for a 9:00 EST start. Many Indy fans will be starting that evening watch the season and home opener of the Indy Eleven W League team as they face off against former coach Paul Dolinsky and his new team, Lexington SC (thanks for that Mayor Hogsett...). As I sit here tonight/this morning, I worry that Indy fans will see two games in one night not end in victory.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Given what Coach McAuley wanted his players to do tonight, I thought that there were several guys who did exactly what they needed and played well. Notably, the midfield of Quinn, Murphy, and Blake all had good games. However, Stanley gets the edge for the GBGB. It just felt like he was a bit more impactful in his role tonight. 

Indy Eleven vs Philadelphia Union - 2025 U.S. Open Cup Round of 32

Summary

- Opponent: Philadelphia Union 
- Location: Subaru Park
- Attendance: 8,633
- Final Score: 1-1 D (5-4 Philadelphia after extra time)

- Starting XI: Charles-Cook, White, Ofeimu, Musa, Stanley, Foster, Murphy, Quinn (C), Rendon, Blake, Amoh

- Substitution: Williams, R. 73' (Amoh); Collier 73' (Collier); O'Brien, J. 90' (Rendon); Lindley 90' (Murphy)

- Unused: Sulte, Hogan, Kizza

Scoring Summary:
PHI - Bedoya 6' (assist Mbaizo)
IND - Amoh 48' (assist Foster)

Penalty Kicks:
1 IND - Williams, R. - Success (to right) 
1 PHI - Vassilev - Success (to right)
2 IND - Blake - Success (down the middle)
2 PHI - Baribo - Success (to the left)
3 IND - Quinn - FAIL (to the right)
3 PHI - Westfield - Success (to the left)
4 IND - Lindley - Success (to the right) 
4 PHI - Rafanello - Success (down the middle)
5 IND - Stanley - Success (to the right)
5 PHI - Lukic - Success (to the right)

- Bookings:

PHI - Vazquez 55' (Yellow)

IND - Murphy 69' (Yellow)
PHI - Makhanya 88' (Yellow)
IND - Ofeimu 90' (Yellow)
IND - Stanley 90'+2' (Yellow)

- Referee: Matthew Corrigan

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

Here's the thing. Indy wasn't going to sneak up on any MLS teams this year. A run to the semifinal last year catches everybody's attention. Philadelphia wasn't going to overlook a semifinalist, no matter what league their opponent originated. Philadelphia did still seem to think that it wasn't going to take their top players to do it based on their starting lineup. Giving a 15-year in Sullivan first-team minutes gives some indication of that. In the first half, that proved to be the correct mentality. Indy played timid and passive. No, not passive. Reactionary. From the jump, they looked like a team that was content with seeing getting the game to halftime to try and win it late. Defensively they were chasing. Offensively, they were chasing. Very few times did they ever look like the team that had a game plan, other than "let's not lose it in the first half." Something they, in essence, looked like they did when the conceded a 5th minute goal. Indy Eleven eventually succumbed to the Union 5-4 in penalty kicks, but they overcame their early mistake to make a good showing for themselves.

Much of the first half of this game reminded me of the U.S. Open Cup game last year against Sporting Kansas City. Same as last year's game, Indy came out in a bunker, providing at least on the surface more respect for their opponent than maybe necessary. In Kansas City, Indy proceeded to concede a goal within the first 15 minutes, forcing them to play from behind, just like tonight's early goal forced this version of Indy to do. Against Kansas City, the team then conceded a second goal before halftime, making it vital that they play a different style of soccer in the second half. Indy still lost last year's game, but they gave a better showing of themselves. Indy managed to make it to halftime this year still just down by the single goal, but they were playing the same style of soccer. 

Indy Goal Locations (Across All Competitions)

In this game, Indy found a goal nearly immediately coming out of the halftime break. Not surprisingly, it was the most in-form striker for Indy in Amoh. The first half and second half tactical plan seemed to be the exact same from the 2024 semifinal to the 2025 Round of 32 game. The difference was that Indy didn't concede the second goal in the first half and found an equalizer early. 

Indy's confidence increased in proportion to Philadelphia's frustration level and the game became a game where both teams looked like they wanted to win instead of one team wanting to win and the other not wanting to lose. I think it was always the plan for Indy to play the way they did, but I'm just not sure it was necessary against Philadelphia's starting lineup.

Indy started looking gassed when the game finally found its way to extra time after neither team were able to get the winning goal in regular time. Indy's effort in the second half can't be argued, but it took a lot out of them to get to the extra time. As a result, Indy began to bunker again and absorb pressure and absorb attack after attack from the Union. That bunker continued into the second half to extra time, but it certainly looked like the team was following the coach's plan.

Penalty kicks can go either way. Indy fans don't expect it to go poorly for Quinn, but getting his shot stopped by Andrew Rick proved to be the difference between the two teams. Indy had their 2025 U.S. Open Cup journey ended in the Round of 32 by the Philadelphia Union, but the team once again showed the fight that Indy fans want to see from this team. Indy have now faced 5 full-fledged MLS teams in the U.S Open Cup in their history and have taken two of them to extra time (one to penalty kicks), defeated a third, and lost to a fourth in the semifinals of the tournament. So only one win, but I think Indy fans can take solace in knowing that the club makes a good showing of itself against the MLS sides (even if those sides are sending out some of their 2nd string players).

The minutes on the starters' legs is worrisome as the team travels directly from Philadelphia to Sacramento (I was told they won't be stopping in Indy between the games) to face one of the top teams in the Western Conference, but Coach McAuley has always said that his teams will go after trophies. To beat a team like Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park requires a complete effort from all your players, and Indy's starters put in a shift, particularly after the halftime break. When it comes to trophies on the line, Coach McAuley has taken the opinion that he will play the players that he thinks give the team the best chance to win and then he'll deal with the ramifications for the league games once the game is finished. 

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Charles-Cook. No doubt and no other option. There's a reason Indy took it to penalty kicks, but Charles-Cook kept Indy in this game as he made 10 saves on 33 shot attempts and 11 shots on target. Teams have 11 players and Charles-Cook showed that sometimes it takes all of them to win games. Yeah, he wasn't able to get to any of the penalty kicks, but he had good reads for all of them, but the shots were just better. If not for Charles-Cook, this game doesn't get to penalty kicks. RCC is the GBGB winner.