Game Beckons: Indy Eleven vs Rhode Island - 11.35 - USL Playoffs (Conference Quarterfinals)

Summary

- Opponent: Rhode Island FC
- Location: Carroll Stadium Stadium
- Attendance: 7,623
- Final Score: 3-2 L

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

- Substitution: Williams, R. 54' (Williams, A.); White 55' (Soumaoro); Diz Pe 75' (Stanley); Collier 75' (Neidlinger)

- Unused: Oettl, Guenzatti, Wootton

Scoring Summary:
RI - Williams 19' (Penalty Kick)
IND - Quinn 35' (unassisted)
RI - Williams 38' (unassisted)
RI - Williams 52' (assist Kwizera)
IND - Martinez 76' (assist Quinn)

- Bookings:

IND - Martinez 45'+2' (Yellow)
IND - Foster 58' (Yellow)
IND - Musa 69' (Yellow)
RI - Herivaux 81' (Yellow)
IND - Ofeimu 90'+2' (Yellow)

- Referee: Joshua Encarnacion

- Adage goals: One

Thoughts and Opinions

The playoffs of any sport are just different. Teams work hard all year to put themselves into a position to have the best chance at success in the "win-or-go-home" scenario that the playoffs create. Indy used an 9-game undefeated run in the middle of the year and a 4W-4D-2L run to close out the season to give themselves an opening round home playoff game. Notably, Indy picked up a late stoppage time draw against Pittsburgh get a draw, which allowed them to finish even on points with Rhode Island. The August win against Rhode Island was the determining factor in giving Indy the head-to-head tiebreaker, thereby allowing Indy to host today's conference quarterfinal game. Rhode Island made the playoffs in their inaugural season in the USL Championship, in part, thanks to a league single-season record setting number of draws (15). Rhode Island's talented roster kept themselves in most games and rode that consistency to the playoffs. They also went to Louisville and came away with a 5-2 victory, so this was a team that proved they can compete with everybody in the league.

With Taylor Swift looming large (literally and figuratively) as she closes out her United States tour in Indianapolis this weekend, the game received an early afternoon start time. The Swift Era took precedence over the McAuley Era for Indy's evening entertainment, but the earlier start time still allowed Indy Eleven to get over 7,000 people into the stadium, including a couple dozen Rhode Island fans. It was the Williams (this time J.J. and not Augi nor Romario) Era that stole the show for the game as he notched the first hat-trick from an Indy opponent this season in the 3-2 Rhode Island win that sent Indy to an early departure from the playoffs.

Rhode Island likes to play out of the back and utilize the new trend of having one of the defenders do the restart by passing the ball along the six-yard box to the goalkeeper, who makes the decision on whether to continue to pass around the back or blast the ball up the the field. Indy, contrarily, have no interest in playing out of the back, but would rather get the ball out of their half of the field with a Sulte boot. With that style of play, it's important for Indy to get the first, or second, ball off those kicks. Indy had a 39% to 61% disadvantage on aerial duels. It wasn't the only factor, but after some early effort from Indy, Rhode Island began to control the game and winning those balls, forcing Indy to defend for large amounts of time. Eventually, all the possession and corner kicks led to an inadvertent handball in the Indy box. That handball led to a successful penalty kick by Williams, which led to an early lead for Rhode Island on the road.

The goal from the visitors allowed the tactics to change for awhile in the game. Rhode Island knows that Indy's attack frequently relies on long passes over the top to the forwards. With the 1-nil lead, Rhode Island could sit their back five defenders deeper to make it nearly impossible for Indy to do much with the ball in the final third of the field. Midway through the half, Indy drew a foul outside of the box that Blake put around the wall low, which Vegas was able to push wide for an Indy corner kick. In the subsequent corner, the ball was headed out of the box by Holstad, but directly into the general area of where Quinn was positioned. Quinn patiently let the ball drop and emphatically plucked it out of the air towards goal. The ball took a slight deflection off Nodarse, but Vegas couldn't get to the ball bringing the game level, and giving Quinn his first goal of the 2024 season.

With a potential momentum change in Indy's direction, Indy proceeded to immediately concede a second goal. Some efficient passing through the Indy defense and then a ton of effort from J.J. Williams to toe-poke the ball beyond Sulte's reach immediately put the visitors back on top. To be honest, Rhode Island were the better of the two sides to that point, but Indy's regularly effective team defending was atrocious in that moment. Some fireworks in the closing seconds of the half as Indy nearly equalized going into the halftime locker, but for the first home playoff game for Indy in 5 years, the home squad found themselves staring at a deficient that they were going to need to overcome in the second half.

Post 58th Minute - Shots & Crosses

Minutes into the second half, Rhode Island made a run up the left side of the field where Kwizera put a ball into the box that J.J. Williams, again with more effort than what Indy could match, found the ball with his head, and Rhode Island gave themselves a two-goal cushion on Williams' third goal of the game. Coach McAuley quickly made changes to the lineup, bringing on White and Romario Williams for Soumaoro and Augi, respectively. Those two substitutes made an immediate impact on the game with a cross from White that Romario redirected into the Rhode Island goal. However, the goal was correctly disallowed as Williams never got back on side as the ball recycled. Indy adamantly protested but all that they received for their protestations was a Foster yellow card and a bump in their energy as they tried to channel their frustration with the call into a successful goal. With a 3-1 lead, Rhode Island was content to defend. After Foster's goal, the field was drastically tilted in Indy's direction. Eventually, the pressure resulted in a Martinez goal in the 76th minute when Quinn put a ball into the box where Martinez could get his head to the ball and redirect it passed Vegas.

Post 76th Minute - Shots & Crosses

After the goal to bring Indy back to within one, the difference in offensive attempts was even more stark. Indy were fighting for their playoff lives, while Rhode Island were looking to hold onto their lead, knowing they were getting closer and closer to a matchup with Louisville next weekend. The game ultimately went included 10-minutes of stoppage time before a Quinn shot that was well wide signaled the end of action.

Rhode Island and Indy played three times on the season and ended the year with a 0 Goal Differential, with both teams scoring 6 goals apiece between the three games. The game looked exactly like a matchup between two teams that finished the season with the exact same number of points and were the 4/5 matchup in the playoff bracket. Surprisingly, it also looked like two teams that had a dozen-year rivalry instead of two teams that were meeting for just the third time as the game was chippy, nearly from the start.

With the win, Rhode Island continue their successful first season in the league, but get rewarded for that success by having to play next week in Louisville. Indy, however, have to watch the remainder of the season from their homes and try to figure out a way to come back next year and do something the men's side has never done before; make the playoffs in three consecutive years. When asked after the game how he wants to be able to take the "winning culture" he has tried to build this year with a top 4 finish and a run in the Open Cup, he responded:

"In football, if you stay the same, you're probably getting worse. So we need to improve next year and improve again and just keep improving. And that's where we have to make decisions on the players. ... But we'll fight and we'll scrap to keep this momentum and identity going that we want to be recognized for what we do. And what we do is never give in. We gotta make decisions about players. I've already got a picture in my mind what it looks like so that's going to be easy for me to make them decisions. What I will say, and recognize is the landscape of the USL has changed. Gone are the days where you just return 6 players and we'll see if we can put a squad of 15 together. If you look at everybody's roster now, everybody's deep with probably 20 to 25 players, at least, who all play. So we gotta recognize the fact that there will be some squad building...I can see us making decisions on players but also keeping quite a few back because we've had, like we've said, a really successful season."

Soon, I'll provide my end-of-year recap and 2025 outlook to discuss my thoughts on who might be returning.

I don't know how many other people saw it, but when the BYB set off their first round of smoke bombs just before the kickoff, it started a, relatively, small fire of one of the banners. If you're looking for bad omens before a playoff game, that might have been one. While we're talking about it. Why the hell doesn't the BYB have a fire extinguisher nearby instead of trying to put out the fire with water bottles?

The Game Beckons Game Ball

As I stood near the sideline in second half stoppage time waiting for access to the post-game press conference, the ball came into the Rhode Island offensive corner and Quinn made a run over to the corner to defend. His body and face said that he was nearly gassed, but he knew he had to make the play and dug deep to get to the ball. He seemed to be the catalyst for all the offense going forward at the end of the game, distributing the ball from left to right and back again. All that was after he had Indy's first goal and then the assist on the second goal. Quinn has been a true professional this season as he continued to deal with he ongoing injury rehab from last season's injury. For his quality and effort tonight, Quinn gets the final GBGB of the season.