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

Indy Eleven vs Hartford Athletic - 13.03

Summary

- Opponent: Hartford Athletic
- Location: Trinity Health Stadium
- Attendance: 2,400
- Final Score: 2-2 D

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

- Substitution: Mitrano 45' (Sing); Thomas 71' (Mesanvi); Kizza 84' (Okello)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Gavilanes, Rasheed, Williams

- Scoring Summary:
HFD - Anaku 33' (assist Diz Pe)
IND - Okello 48' (assist Lindley)
IND - Rendon 72' (assist Thomas)
HFD - Own Goal 89' (O'Brien)

- Bookings:

IND - Herbert 31' (Yellow)
IND - Mesanvi 66' (Yellow)
HFD - Makangila 82' (Yellow)
HFD - Diz Pe 90'+3' (Yellow)

- Referee: Elton Garcia

- Adage goals: One.
- Points Lost from Winning Position (Year To Date): 2 

Thoughts and Opinions

Hartford Athletic have three players on the roster that are former Indy players (Siaha, Diz Pe, & Augi Williams). All three made the starting lineup today in a cold and windy Trinity Health Stadium for Hartford's home opener. 

I said it after the Detroit game, Indy is going to have some bumps this year. Against Detroit, Indy found enough goals and held on defensively to get a win. Tonight, however...

Indy scored three goals. Unfortunately, one of those was an Own Goal by O'Brien late in the second half to send the visiting team back to Indianapolis with two less points than it looked like they were going to do. A minute before the goal, Herbert saved a shot off the line from Augi Williams to keep Indy in the lead. The corner kick that followed would see Indy's issue from last year of conceding goals from winning positions reared its head again and the ball found its way to the back of Indy's goal. 

The good news is that Indy came back from a goal down in the first half to take the lead. The fight continues to be there. There are really good moments. Lindley's quick restart, Thomas' cross, and Rendon's finish on Indy's goal was top class from all three players. 

Indy's issue of not playing a full 90-minutes is going to be something that the team is going to continue to figure out how to solve because it looks like it's still going to be an issue this year.

Indy Eleven vs Detroit City FC - 13.02

Summary

- Opponent: Detroit City FC
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 9,357
- Final Score: 2-1 W

- Starting XI: Dick, Quinn (C), Craig, Rasheed, White, O'Brien, Okello, Lindley, Rendon, Sing, Sharp

- Substitution: Mesanvi 61' (Sing); Mitrano 61' (Okello); Kizza 82' (Sharp); Williams 86' (Rendon)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Herbert, Thomas

- Scoring Summary:
IND - Sing 43' (assist Rendon)
DET - Smith 56' (assist Hernandez-Foster)
IND - Rendon 62' (assist O'Brien)

- Bookings:

IND - Mitrano 77' (Yellow)

- Referee: Matthew Corrigan

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

I'm going to write this statement before the game happens and will leave it regardless of what happens tonight. Bringing Mesanvi in off the bench is a genius move by McAuley. Based only on what I saw from Mesanvi on Tuesday night, he might make his way more fully into the starting lineup. However, until he is fully integrated into the team after getting here late in preseason, at this point in the season, his speed late in a game is going to be a nightmare for opposing defenses. As the defenders start to wear down at the end, trying to keep up with him will be difficult. I fully expect him to be able to get behind the defense. If he can be clinical with his finishing, Indy may steal some goals late.

Back to the regularly scheduled article...

Both Indy and Detroit came into this game having played just a single league game in the first two weeks of the season, but tonight's came constituted the third game for each team, as each played an amateur team earlier this week in the U.S. Open Cup. Interestingly though, both teams' league opponent was Brooklyn FC. Indy finished that game with a 1-nil loss and then Detroit turned around the next weekend and beat Brooklyn 3-nil. It's difficult to take much from that when one team played BKN on the road (IND) and the other played in their own stadium (DET). It does give both teams a chance to review the game footage in preparation for each other using the exact same opponent. 

Based on tonight's 2-1 win for Indy, it seems like they were the ones who might have been able to get more from the BKN video than the other. Or maybe they were just better able to execute their game plan, were a bit more clinical in goal, or had the better goalkeeper.

In the early feeling out process of the game, Detroit had the field tilted in their favor, but it was a Charlie Sharp shot in the 14th minute that made its way around Herrera but bounced after the far post and ricocheted across the goal mouth, but none of the Indy players following the play could get a boot to the ball to redirect it over the line. Despite the shot and the subsequent cheer and grown from the Indy fans, the score remained even, and Detroit remained the team with the dominant possession (around 70/30 at that time). Sharp had another shot towards target just passed the 20th minute mark that went wide left. Felt like he was narrowing in on the goal. One right. One left. 

After about the 25th minute, Indy turned the defensive screws and began to tilt the field into their possession. However, as the shots for Indy increased, they struggled to put the shots on target. It's early in the season so hopefully the young guys find their rhythm, but Indy's historical issue of finding absolutely clinical finishers still seems to be an issue at this point. Indy had 17 shots on target in BKN, but just 4 on target. Tonight's first half had a similar issue until the 43rd minute when Rendon tracked down a ball just before it went over the endline and put it towards the 6-yard line. Attacking that 6-yard box was the 6'-3" Sing who clobbered a header into the goal passed Herrera to give the home team a lead heading into the locker room in their home opener. Detroit dominated the possession, but it was the home team that was making the most of their limited possession and chances. 

The start of the second half looked exactly like the first half. A ton of Detroit possession followed by Indy counterattacks. Then Detroit pulled an "Indy" out of their bag of tricks and put a long-ball over the top that Smith perfectly chested down in stride, putting him in on goal 1 v 1 against Dick. Using his left foot, Smith put his ball to Dick's right and under his leg to even the score. The goal sparked a flurry of shots from Detroit for the next few minutes, but couldn't find a second goal

After Indy survived the flurry of activity from Detroit, McAuley injected Mesanvi and Mitrano, which changed Indy's shape. The entrance of Mitrano allowed Quinn to push forward into a more midfielder role. Indy then found their own second goal by keeping the ball alive in Detroit's box. O'Brien headed the ball down to Rendon who put his left foot into it and blasted it passed Herrera. 

Shots - Final 20 Minutes

With the lead, but not having much possession, Indy fans' squeaky-bum time went into full effect as memories of last season's inability to close out games came immediately to mind. A season ago, Indy conceded 20 points from winning positions. A couple weeks removed from a loss on the road to the newcomers in Brooklyn, expectations were not high for Indy to hang onto the lead. Indy's final, real, shot happened around the 70th minute. After that, it was the visitors who were peppering the Indy goal with shots trying to salvage a result from their performance. 

Coach McAuley is a very performance-based coach, often stating that the results of a match don't always match the performance of his team. Often those statements came after one of Indy's late losses last season. Tonight, though, Indy played the way that Indy wanted to play, defended like a team at the end, and went home with a victory. 

After last season, McAuley has stated he wanted the team to be younger and hungrier this year. Definitely took care of the "younger" part. Indy's effort at the end of the game showed they were hungry to hold onto the win in front of the home fans. A win is a win (and a home opener win has been a rare event for this team...only 2019 and 2020 before tonight) and the team showed some promise, but it's good though to get some points banked because I think there are going to be some bumps along the way this year. 

Indy return to action next Saturday in Hartford... Who played Brooklyn this weekend. More video available from a common opponent.

Game Beckons Game Ball

It looks like he's going to be a focus of Indy's attack with his speed up the right until Indy figures out some other attacking options or teams completely take him away, but we will talk about Bruno. Rendon finished the game with 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 shots on target, plus 1 blocked shot, 1 shot off target, 1 successful cross, 2 unsuccessful crosses, and 2 chances created. Through in a clearance and a blocked shot and that's a pretty good night. Rendon gets the game's GBGB. 

Photos - Don Thompson Photography

Indy Eleven vs Des Moines Menace - 2026 U.S. Open Cup

Summary

- Opponent: Des Moines Menace 
- Location: Community Health Network Events Center at the Droplight Grand Park Sports Complex (that's the only time I writing that this year... CHNECatDGPSC... nope, that might actually be worse)

- Attendance: 3,703
- Final Score: 3-0 W

- Starting XI: Charles-Cook, Barry, Herbert, Mitrano, Neidlinger, Gavilanes, O'Brien, Lindley, Williams, Kizza, Mesanvi

- Substitution: Quinn 45' (Lindley); Okello 45' (O'Brien); Sharp 72' (Kizza); Sing 72' (Williams); Thomas 81' (Mesanvi)

- Unused: Dick, Rasheed

- Scoring Summary:
IND - Mesanvi 31' (unassisted)
IND - Okello 61' (assist Mitrano)
IND - Sharp 72' (unassisted)

- Bookings:

IND - Herbert 42' (Yellow)
IND - Williams 70' (Yellow)
IND - Barry 79' (Yellow)

- Referee: Alex Beehler

- Adage goals: None.

Thoughts and Opinions

This has been a weird start to the Indy Eleven season. Indy went on the road to start the season, which is typical, but Indy did it against an inaugural team and looked like the lesser of the two teams for portions of that game. Then they already had a bye weekend in just the second week of the season. Before the team could play their second league game of the season, the U.S. Open Cup made its way to Indy and the Grand Park Events Center (I told you I'm not writing the full name all year) as Indy welcomed the Des Moines Menace in first round action of the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. Last season's star-studded "pre-professionals" that were part of Des Moines' team last year (Sacha Kljestan, Benny Feilhaber, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Dax McCarty, and Matt Hedges, among others) weren't part of the team that Indy faced tonight. In contrast to last year's team, Des Moines fielded a team of early twenty-somethings with just Leroy Enzugusi being born in the last century.

Despite the days between this game and the last, having the second league game this coming Saturday, Coach McAuley changed 9 starters from the roster against Brooklyn, with only Lindley and O'Brien as the holdovers, with Lindley wearing the captain's armband in Quinn's absence from the starting lineup. 

Indy started in a 4-4-2 and were completely unafraid, not surprisingly, is play the ball long from the back trying to get behind the DMM defense early and often. As Indy should against a "pre-professional" team, Indy were the dominant, and physical team early. It was DMM that had the first shot on target, but it was O'Brien's attempt within the first 11minutes that was the most pressing. Then in a flurry of activity in the 17th minute with a ghost from Gavilanes and a header from Kizza, the scoring was nearly opened. Two minutes later, Kizza had another crack at it from close range, but DMM's Barry made himself big enough to stop Kizza's point blank range shot. It looked like a matter of time befoer Indy was going to take the lead.

It took a little longer than it initially appeared it was going to take, but a very long clearance of a DMM corner kick, Mesanvi tracked down a poorly played ball from the DMM goalkeeper and proceeded to chip the defender that had tried to track back to protect the goal. The goal had been coming and it came from a long ball from the defense. The former Minnesota United player finally got Indy off the skid and into the scoring column. Despite a few more good chances, Mesanvi's goal took the teams to the halftime locker room with a 1-nil difference. 

It took a minute, but Indy doubled the scoring in the 61st minute on a Mitrano cross that Okello headed passed Barry. While Barry looked shaky for most of the game, he had enough good moments to keep Indy off the board until Okello's header. 

Indy's cohesiveness and level of effort dropped a bit as the scoreline increased and the subs began to make their way onto the field, but given Indy's less-than-perfect history in the U.S. Open Cup against amateur teams (*ahem Michigan Bucks & Mississippi Brilla), fans will take a 3-0 victory and the chance to move on in the tournament. The talent level should go up in the next round, but Indy will have a couple more weeks of training under their belts when that game takes place.

Indy now turn their attention back to the league on Saturday when Detroit City make the trip to Carroll Stadium.

Game Beckons Game Ball

He had the game-winning goal, but he was also the most dangerous player on the field for much of the game. Mesanvi isn't the most imposing figure at 5'-8" and a buck 30 pounds, but his pace and quick trigger is going to make opposing defenses lose track of him to find some unexpected goals. 

Photos - Don Thompson Photography