Indy Eleven vs Lexington SC - 12.02

Summary

- Opponent: Lexington SC
- Location: Lexington SC Stadium
- Attendance: 4,299
- Final Score: 1-1 D

- Starting XI: Sulte, White, Stanley, Hogan, Musa, Rendon, Quinn (C), Murphy, Blake, Kizza, Foster

- Substitution: Ofeimu 64' (White); Bryneus 70' (Foster); Amoh 82' (Kizza); Lindley 82' (Blake)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, McRobb, O'Brien, J.

Scoring Summary:
IND - Rendon 60' (unassisted)
LEX - Epps 79' (assist Rodrigues)

- Bookings:

IND - Kizza 24' (Yellow)
LEX - Beer 28' (Yellow)
LEX - Djeffal 36' (Yellow)
IND - Musa 45'+1' (Yellow)
LEX - Burks 62' (Yellow)
LEX - Sargeant 90'+5' (Yellow)

- Referee: Arroyo

- Adage goals: None

Thoughts and Opinions

Indy started their 2025 campaign with a 3-1 victory on the road in Miami, who are starting 2025 much like they did all of 2024. Indy climbed into the bus, and traveled down to Lexington as they continued their 2025 campaign against the newest member of the USL Championship. While this was Indy's second official game in the new year, this was Lexington's fourth official game, having played two previous league games as well as an Open Cup game. Including this game's 1-1 result, the new squad remains undefeated in their inaugural season as a USL-C member. Indy, to their credit also remain undefeated on the year.

Coach McAuley came into this year stating that he would like to have the team play on the ball more. Through two games, this is looking to be more of a challenge than he might have expected, particularly given the opposition. Indy rode three set-piece first half goals to a victory in Miami, but was on the short side of the possession battle, 60/40. That possession difference was amplified against Lexington who held a 70/30 advantage. Yes, it's important to note when and where those possessions take place, but in the case of Lexington this week, there were large portions of the possession in Indy's defensive third. The first twenty minutes was full of last ditch defending by Indy as Lexington lived in Indy's defensive half to third of the field. Indy would eventually settle in to some extent, but it was still a far cry from what could be considered "more on the ball" for Indy's 2025 adjustments from 2024. It's still early in the season, and Indy is working some new players into the lineup, so we'll see how things change as the season progresses.

Indy is spreading around the scoring though early in the season. Four goals have been scored by four different players. This week's goal was scored by Rendon, last year's USL League One Defender of the Year while playing for our club legend Eamon Zayed at Northern Colorado Hailstorm. Indy have also had a lead in both games but not been capable of keeping a clean sheet.

Again, still early in the season, so we'll see how both of those trends continue.

Indy finally get a chance to play in front of their home fans when they kick-off a two-game homestand this coming Saturday night in a game against the defending champion Colorado Springs Switchbacks. The Switchbacks are off to a slow start in their title-defending season, having lost once sandwiched between two draws, and sit near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, but still have 3 former Elven players on their roster who Indy fans might see at Carroll Stadium on Saturday.

The Game Beckons Game Ball

Full disclosure, I watched this game on my phone in a hotel room the night before my kid's gymnastics State meet. So to say that I didn't catch every second of the game is an understatement. It's also March Madness so there are a bunch of college basketball games on right now, which means that I don't plan on rewatching the Indy game to pinpoint who I thought was the best player. Therefore, through no fault of the team, I'm not going to give a GBGB for this game.