Indy Eleven vs Louisville City - 11.30

Summary

- Opponent: Louisville City FC
- Location: Carroll Stadium 
- Attendance: 10,780
- Final Score: 2-2 D

- Starting XI: Sulte, Neidlinger, Ofeimu, Musa, Stanley, Martinez, Soumaoro, Quinn (C), Blake, Foster, Williams, A.

- Substitution: Collier 75' (Martinez); Williams, R. 75' (Foster); Wootton 81' (Blake)

- Unused: Oettl, Lindley, Mines, O'Brien, J.

Scoring Summary:
LOU - Dia 12' (assist Gleadle)
IND - Williams, A. 45'+3' (assist Foster)
IND - Williams, A. 68' (assist Blake)
LOU - Morris 90'+4' (assist Mares)

- Bookings:

IND - Quinn 4' (Yellow)
IND - Foster 20' (Yellow)
LOU - McFadden 29' (Yellow)
LOU - Bench 30' (Yellow)
IND - Bench (Yellow)
LOU - Serrano 44' (Yellow)
LOU - Adams 85' (Yellow)

- Referee: Alyssa Nichols

- Adage goals: None

Thoughts and Opinions

Indy came into the game trying to keep pace with the teams in the crowded middle of the Eastern Conference table. Louisville waltzed into Indy with games to spare to win the league's Player's Shield for the best record in the league and #1 seed throughout the playoffs. It could be argued that the game was more important to Indy for league standings and trying to erase the result of the two teams' game earlier this season when Indy went to Louisville and came away as 5-3 losers on national television. However, clinching the Players' Shield on their closest geographical rivals home turf had to be in the Louisville players' minds whether they would admit it publicly or not. 

The historical and recent record was working against Indy, and Indy just couldn't push Louisville enough to get a win. They tried. Indy even had a 2-1 advantage into the closing minutes of the game. A 90'+4' equalizer by Louisville meant that the points were shared and Louisville could celebrate their first ever Players' Shield on the Carroll Stadium turf in front of a dejected Indy fanbase. 

Indy had a relatively strong start to the game with a significant part of the play taking place in Louisville's defensive half of the field. However, when the clock turned over the 10-minute mark, LOU showed their class and had three great opportunities on goal. By the 12th minute, they made good on one of those chances and put themselves ahead, forcing Indy to play from behind.

It was Marvel night at The Mike and it would have taken some superheroes to get a win against LOU after going down within the first 15 minutes. Doing their best Captain America impression, Indy picked themselves up and didn't back down. Their forays into LOU's defensive half continued, but they just couldn't do anything with the ball in that area until stoppage time of the first half when Augi Williams received a pass from Foster and then proceeded to put Ordonez on skates before getting a shot low and away from Las to even the score going into the locker room. Despite Indy having an 8-2 disadvantage in shots in the half and a 3-1 shots on target disadvantage, the teams were level. Indy managed one single shot on target, but managed to go into the locker room with a clean start coming out of the locker room. 

Much like the first half, Indy managed to come out of the halftime locker room and spent large chunks of time in the LOU defensive half, with slightly more effective final touches than in the first half. LOU is so dynamic going forward though that they still their own fair share of attempts. As the game closed in on the 70-minute mark, a long pass over the top from Quinn was headed forward by Martinez. Blake ran down the ball, looking from the ball to the middle of the box to see if anybody was making a run, as he tried to get to the ball first. Blake one-timed an inch perfect cross along the 6-yard box that Augi Williams redirected past Las to give Indy a lead, giving Williams his 5th goal in two games.

Indy just couldn't hold onto the lead. After going down a goal, and faced with the situation of losing the game, LOU ratcheted up the pressure, desperate to get at least the equalizer. Final game stats indicate LOU had a 3.21 xG to Indy's 0.79 xG. LOU finished the game with 32 shots (a season high for them), 8 on target, and 47 crosses. With a team like Louisville, you can only withstand that kind of barrage for so long. Indy tried. They blocked 16 of Louisville's shots and had 44 clearances. Yet, all of that effort was negated when Soumaoro missed a clearance header that former Indy player Dylan Mares redirected with his own header back towards the middle of the box. Jake Morris put a shot through traffic past Sulte, and despite the good performance from Indy, the points were shared in the dying minutes of the game. Indy defended about as well as they possibly could for 22'+4' after their goal, but eventually the barrage of shots and crosses and chances had to break in Louisville's way and they were able to get just enough out of the game to secure the Players' Shield. 

Indy's injury list continues to grow and Diz Pe's red card last game certainly wasn't helping their cause in this game requiring continued squad rotation on the backline, but there is enough talent on this Indy team to at least compete with Louisville occasionally. This "rivalry" is about as one-sided as it gets, but tonight was one of those nights where Indy showed they can compete with the best team in the league. Some Indy fans aren't going to like that I said that, but that's a statement of fact. Louisville is the best team in the league, and despite a couple of hiccups along the way this season, have continued to show that they are they top team game after game. With the 2-2 draw, Indy were on the wrong side of this year's LIPAFC and The Barrell stayed firmly entrenched south of the Ohio River. 

The physicality of the game was evident early and never slowed down throughout the first half, but did seem to settle a bit in the second half. Between the two teams, six players or coaches saw a yellow card shown their way before halftime, but only one card was handed out in the second half. To me, the most egregious offense in the first half was when Totsch put a ball solidly, and purposefully, into the Indy bench from about two yards away and somehow didn't get a yellow card. The Indy bench jumped up out of their seats in protest and players on the field all came nose-to-nose, but ultimately nobody was booked for any of the activity. For some of the cards that referee Alyssa Thompson passed out, that offense deserved a card more than some of the other ones she dealt out.

Indy have little time to wallow in the result as they head to Loudoun on Tuesday. After Loudoun's 2-nil defeat of Hartford tonight, Loudoun sit just 3 points behind Indy. Depending on how the Birmingham v North Carolina match concludes on Sunday evening, Indy could find themselves having slide from a 5th place in the table to 7th place thanks to Rhode Island's defeat of Tampa Bay tonight. The good news for Indy is they still basically hold their playoff lives in their own hands, with the final four games against Loudoun, at Detroit, at home versus Birmingham, and on the road to finish the year at Tampa Bay. Indy absolutely have to get some wins out of those games, and the other results will ultimately determine their position, but the two points lost tonight in stoppage time somewhat loosened their grip on a playoff spot. Three full points tonight would have been massive.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Just like last game, this game's GBGB is easy. Augi's first goal tied him for 5th all-time in the league in scoring with teammate Guenzatti, but his second goal gave him that position out-right. Five goals in two games is a really good run, and Indy are going to continue to need his goal scoring touch right now as they traverse the final four games of the season. 

A goal scorers mentality can be a fragile thing, but seeing the ball go into the goal often flips that mentality and they suddenly expect to score every shot they shoot. Augi accounted for 2 of Indy's 3 shots on target. Two shots on target, two goals. Against Miami last week, Williams was responsible for half of Indy's shots on target, and 10 of Indy's 24 shots. 

Photos - Don Thompson Photography