USL Cup: Indy Eleven defeat Birmingham in PKs after 1-1 Draw

Sulte was the penalty kick hero for Indy in securing the 2 points. However Indy gave up a late equalizer to force penalty kicks, instead of clinching their spot in the USL Cup Quarterfinals.

Saturday Night in Indy was a mixed bag for the Eleven. The team was able to get 2 points to stay up top of the USL Cup Group 3 and put themselves into a great spot to win the group next match. For Sean McAuley, it was another match in where he defense had given up a late equalizer. Instead of clinching Indy’s spot in the quarterfinals, Indy drew Birmingham and needed heroics from Hunter Sulte to secure the pk win.

Much like the two team’s June 4th matchup, Indy was the first to score. This time from Josh O’Brian’s close ranger header, which somehow was the only goal in the first half. After both teams came out fast, it is a little crazy more goals weren’t scored. Indy would make some changes in their tactics that allowed them to remove those dangerous opportunities for Birmingham. They did this by dropping the backline further back removing those spaces the Legion were exploiting.

You can see Indy start to really bunker down for a 1-0 win around the 67th. At this point, Birmingham captured all the possession and started getting more and more chances. Indy was now left with only being potentially dangerous on the counter.

For 90 minutes, the Indy defense bent but did not break. Then in the 90th + 4 minutes Tabort Etaka Preston delivered a great in-swinging ball from the free kick into the box, and it managed to miss everyone - including Hunter Sulte - for the late equalizer. We would be heading to penalty kicks for the first time at Michael A. Carroll Stadium’s Indy Eleven history.

Anticipation was in the air as we saw penalty kicks for the first time, and then Romario Williams stepped up to get things started for Indy. Birmingham’s 18-year goalkeeper Fernando Delgado was able to save Williams’ shot, immediately putting Indy in a hole.

Both team would convert the rest until we get to kick #5 for the Legion with a chance to secure the two points. Then Hunter Sulte saved Ronaldo Damus’ shot. Hunter had been close to saving several of the previous 4 kicks, and you can see the amount of relief on Hunter’s face in his celebration. It was now 4-4 on penalty kicks.

As we entered the 8th round of penalties with Indy leading 7-6, everyone was anticipating the moment when it would become goalkeeper vs goalkeeper. Hunter had other ideas. Erik Centeno stepped up, and Hunter saved his shot. Indy had secured their 2 points and maintained their top spot in the group.

Now in order for Indy to secure 1st place and their spot in the quarterfinals, the Eleven must win vs Tulsa on July 26th. After the shootout win, Indy remains in 1st place in Group 3. With the fourth round matches for the other teams coming in July. This is how the table currently looks:

Indy’s USL Cup Record (W-D-L): 2-1-0 8 pts

Next Match: USL Championship vs Monterrey Bay on July 5th at 7pm EST from Michael A Carroll Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

*A penalty kick win counts as 2 points in the USL Cup