Indy Eleven Men hold Rhode Island in 1-0 Win

In a warm and muggy July affair, Indy Eleven got their goal and held on to win 1-0 vs Rhode Island. With the win, Indy climbs to 5th place in the East and 3 points from 4th.

There was a high chance of storms Saturday Night. Luckily there wasn’t any during the match. However, beforehand things were swampy at Michael A Carrol Stadium. Concerns of flooding, increases to the humidity post rain, and the veracity of the rain put the match’s 7pm start in jeopardy. Then it all stopped raining around 5pm. The match was set to go, but the muggy July air was still ever present.

Given the humid weather conditions, the first half went as expected - not a lot happened overall. Both teams were trying to battle each other and the elements. Temperatures rose in Indianapolis, and on the pitch as neither team could muster any good chances. There were 4 total shots in the first half that ended 0-0.

Once both teams were able to recover at the half, and get more comfortable with the weather - the shots increased. From 4 shots to the 11 we’d see in the second half. This includes the one goal for Indy.

This came in the 55th minute when the 30 year-old Jamaican, Romario Williams, was able start a dangerous counter from an interception deep in Rhode Island’s zone. Eventually falling to the feet of Aodhan Quinn, who put a lovely low-cross into the box for Williams to slot home. Scoring his 4th goal of the year on his only shot of the night.

This would be the only goal of the night, which was surprising given Rhode Island’s flurry of attacks at the end - who ultimately wasn’t able to get past Hunter Sulte. Sulte, recorded his 4th clean sheet of the year while commanding a more solid backline. Credit should also be to the midfield who has looked more stable since the inclusion of Cam Lindley. Lindley brings that energy and passion that was missing, while being more of a box-to-box midfielder that helps fill in the gaps that were shown earlier on.

As Indy continues to rise after a slow start to the year, the team continues to pick up important wins at home. Indy has now won 3 of the last 5 home matches (Legion was a PK win, for all purposes is a draw). Indy’s previous home win prior to this run, was on April 16th in their Open Cup win vs Miami FC.

With this momentum, Indy controls their future as 4th place gets closer and closer - now within 3 points. Being in this position was unheard of back in May when the team had only won 1 league match, but after an impressive June and July so far, Indy is back to where they wanted to be. All credit should go to McAuley for finally finding this team’s footing as we continue into the second half of the season.

Here is how the Eastern Conference looks as of July 13th:

Next Match: USL-Championship at North Carolina FC on July 18th at 7:30pm EST from First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park from Cary, North Carolina.