Indy Eleven vs Cosmos - 02.11

- Opponent: New York Cosmos
- Location: New York
- Attendance: 3,647
- Final Score: 1-1
- Starting XI: Nicht, Franco, Norales, Miller, Hyland, Ring, Stojkov, Smart, Mares, Lacroix, Wojcik
- Substitutions: Rugg 68' (Wojcik), Pineda 74' (Smart), Brown 87' (Stojkov)
- Unused: Cardona, McKinney, Janicki, Keller
- Goals: Wojcik 26'
- Bookings: Stojkov 77' (Yellow), Ring 85' (Yellow), Miller 90' (Yellow)
- Adage goals: None

Five games in and the Eleven versus Cosmos series is taking on the life of bending but never breaking...for both teams. Five games, five draws. The bad news for the Eleven is that in both games this season they had the lead going into halftime and ended with the draw. The good news for the Eleven is that they looked much better against the Cosmos in this win than they did in the meeting during the Spring Season. They went up early on the Cosmos in version 02.01 off a poor goalkeeping decision, but they chased the rest of the game. In game 02.02 against the Cosmos, they played relatively equally with what has been the best team to date in the 2015 season. The stats give the edge to the Cosmos, but that was partially by design in the Eleven game plan.

Due to some injuries, there were some modifications to the starting lineup. It was good to see Lacroix get the start to get him some experience. His speed is something that I hope the Eleven can utilize as he develops.  Woj did a great job of tracking back to give his defenders and midfielders a target upfield, but his constant effort seemed to take its toll on him physically in the middle of the second half.

The Eleven gave up a 78th minute goal to the Cosmos due to a very quick run by Restrepo to get in behind the defense and a very fortunate rebound off of Nicht and then back off of Restrepo. Otherwise, the team did a good job of defending, particularly against the multiple corner kicks that were well served by Senna.

It's still very early in the Fall Season, but the Eleven played the Spring Season's best team well, giving fans hope for the remainder of the season.  A win against Carolina at home this Saturday won't change the league combined standings, but it will keep the Eleven in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Congratulations to Norales for... Oh, who are we kidding? It's getting to the point where it's more surprising when he doesn't make the Team of the Week. This is Norales' fifth TOW this year in eleven games.

Congratulations to Wojcik on his first goal and being awarded the Play of the Week!