Point Worth the Wait for Indy Eleven in 2-2 Draw with Tampa Bay

Hyland’s Late Prayer Evens Storm-delayed Affair at Carroll Stadium’

Tie Snaps Three-game League Losing Streak for “Boys in Blue”

INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 30, 2015) – In a game that had a little bit of everything – a storm delay, goals, cautions, sending offs, and late game drama – Indy Eleven used a goal deep into second half stoppage time by defender Kyle Hyland to salvage a 2-2 draw from a marathon match against the Tampa Bay Rowdies at IUPUI’s Carroll Stadium.

Following an active start that yielded no dangerous chances, the home side was the first to crack the score sheet in the 21^st minute when forward Brian Brown laid off a ball to midfielder Dylan Mares at the top of the 18. Mares collected the ball and found enough space to curl the ball into the far side-netting and past Tampa Bay ‘keeper Matt Pickens to make the score 1-0.

Mares’ goal not only gave Indy Eleven its first lead since April 25^th versus Carolina, but it also snapped a 272-minute goalless drought spanning NASL and U.S. Open Cup play. The goal would be the final action on the field before play was suspended due to lightning near Carroll Stadium, a delay that lasted just over two hours, the match re-starting at 10:05 local time.

Coming back out of the break strong would be a test that both teams would have to face, and the team that looked more up to that challenge was Tampa Bay. The Rowdies were rewarded for the renewed effort in the 40^th minute when a shot from Indiana University product and local Carmel High School graduate Rich Balchan deflected off Indy defender Cory Miller and into the back of the net to level the score at ones.

Coming out of half time, Indy Eleven had its fair share of possession, one spell of which led to a free-kick opportunity drawn by Mares in the 57^th minute. Victor Pineda was called upon to take the 22 yard set piece and he troubled Pickens with it, sending the 6-foot-3 keeper diving to his left to save the attempt.

Tampa Bay responded with a set piece of their own in the 68^th minute, but they made the most of it. Georgi Hristov tacked on his second assist of the night with a corner kick that found the head of Brazilian Maicon Santos, who nodded it to the far post and past netminder Kristian Nicht to give the Rowdies a 2-1 lead.

Things got chippy in the 72^nd minute when Rowdies substitute attacker Robert Hernandez was whistled for a late foul on Miller. The Eleven center back took offense and came up shoving Hernandez, and while both teams came to the defense of their teammates it was Santos who charged into the scuffle and was shown a straight red card for the physical contact. Hernandez and Miller was also shown yellow cards for the incident.

Indy’s first clear-cut chance while a man up came in the 84^th minute when an Osman Melgares corner kick found an open Charlie Rugg in front of goal. Rugg put a head on the ball but bounced it straight to Pickens.

Tampa Bay found themselves yet another man down in the 89^th minute when defender Stefan Antonijevic received his second yellow card, making it an 11-v-9 affair for what would be initially seven minutes of stoppage time.

With time running out, Indy made the most of its two-man advantage in the 98^th minute with a goal by the IUPUI product Hyland, who had space to fire a dipping shot from 25 yards out that passed Pickens and hit the underside of the crossbar to bring the wild game to its 2-2 finish. 

Before the rains came down, Indy Eleven announced its official attendance as 10,226, falling just under 300 seats short of capacity. Tonight marks the first time in 18 NASL regular season games that Indiana's Team did not hit sellout status at IUPUI's Carroll Stadium.

"With two games in four days and the weather working against us all week, we're proud of the amount of spectators that braved the conditions," said Indy Eleven President and General Manager Peter Wilt.  "Tonight was a testament of why we have the best fans in the NASL and was a great display of teamwork by our staff, IUPUI and local safety officials to keep everyone safe and the game on track to finish."

With a three-game losing streak in league play now behind it, Indy Eleven will head to South Florida next Saturday, June 6, to face off against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in Week 10 action.  Fans can follow that 7:30 p.m. contest live on ESPN3.com, or take it in at one of seven Indy Eleven Official Watch Parties across the Hoosier State.  Indy Eleven will round out its NASL Spring Season a week later on June 13 with a home contest against FC Edmonton, with kickoff at Carroll Stadium on Indiana Soccer Heritage Night set for 7:30 p.m.  Tickets for the match are available at IndyEleven.com/single-game-tickets.

 

Quote Sheet – Indy Eleven Defender Kyle Hyland

On his last-minute, equalizing tally:
“We had been crossing a lot of the balls inside the box and we were really close. I felt like [Tampa Bay] had dropped off because they knew what was going to come, so I just gave it a whirl and it worked out.”

On pushing through on a difficult night at Carroll Stadium:
“We were pretty disappointed with letting those two goals in and we know that we need to be better on those sorts of things. I thought that we kept our cool for most of the night and that helped us in not getting red cards like they were. Doing that helped a lot and taking care of the ball at the end of the game helped us push for a goal.”

Quote Sheet – Indy Eleven Head Coach Juergen Sommer

On the wild affair at Carroll Stadium:  
“Knowing we played as well as we played, especially when the game started, you can tell that the guys were dialed in.  Obviously a two-hour rain delay doesn’t help that, and the guys were a little bit loose [after that]. Defensively we were poor.  [The Balchan goal] was a challenging goal in the fact that I don’t think we defended well. We kind of gave away an easy goal there. I would have liked to have seen us do better, so it’s a little frustrating. But we came back in the second half and we found a way to rally late in the game with Kyle’s late goal. It comes down to some details like set pieces. We just didn’t have enough focus on the set piece and didn’t track the most dangerous guy on their team (Maicon Santos). We failed to do that and it cost us. Looking back on it, I think we gave away two points tonight.”

 

NASL Spring Season – Week 9
Indy Eleven 2 : 2  Tampa Bay Rowdies
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Michael A. Carroll Stadium – Indianapolis, IN
Attendance: 10,226

Indy Eleven: 1W-4D-3L, 7 pts. (11th in NASL)
Tampa Bay Rowdies: 3W-4D-1L, 12 pts. (4th in NASL)

Scoring Summary:
IND: Dylan Mares (Brian Brown) 21’
TBR: Rich Balchan (Georgi Hristov) 40’
TBR: Maicon Santos (Georgi Hristov) 68’
IND: Kyle Hyland (unassisted) 98+’

Discipline Summary:
TBR: Stefan Antonijevic (caution) 43’
IND: Brian Brown (caution) 59’
TBR: Robert Hernandez (caution) 72’
IND: Cory Miller (caution) 72’
TBR: Maicon Santos (ejection) 74’
TBR: Richard Menjivar (caution) 88’
TBR: Stefan Antonijevic (ejection/second caution) 89’
TBR: Georgi Hristov (ejection) 99+’

Indy Eleven line-up (4-1-4-1):  Kristian Nicht; Marco Franco, Cory Miller (Osman Melgares 81’), Greg Janicki (C), Kyle Hyland; Daniel Keller (Brad Ring 34’); Dragan Stojkov (Wojciech Wojcik 85’), Dylan Mares, Brian Brown, Victor Pineda; Charlie Rugg

Indy Bench: Keith Cardona (GK), Jaime Frias, Erick Norales, Don Smart

Tampa Bay Rowdies line-up (4-3-3): Matt Pickens; Rich Balchan, Tamika Mkandawire (C), Stefan Antonijevic, Ben Sweat; Richard Menjivar, Georgi Hristov, Juan Guerra; Cory Hertzog (Robert Hernandez 65’) (Gale Agbossoumonde 93+’), Maicon Santos, Darwin Espinal (Darnell King 79’)

Tampa Bay Bench: Chris Glodack (GK), Martin Nunez, Verneri Valimaa