Indy Eleven Remains Undefeated after 1-1 Draw with FC Edmonton

Point at Home Keeps Indy Undefeated through First Half of NASL Spring Season;

“Boys in Blue” Move to Within Three Points of Co-leaders New York & Carolina

INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 7, 2016) – Indy Eleven would remain the lone undefeated team in the NASL, but not with the three points it wanted after settling for a 1-1 draw against FC Edmonton in front of 7,415 fans at IUPUI’s Carroll Stadium.  First half goals from Indy Eleven’s Greg Janicki and FC Edmonton’s Jake Keegan would cancel each other out in a stingy affair that would see the Eleven (2W-3D-0L, 9 pts.) remain in fourth place in the NASL Spring Season standings, while FC Edmonton (2W-2D-2L, 8 pts.) stayed a point behind the “Boys in Blue” but gained a standings spot, now sitting on Indy’s heels in 5^th position.

After tonight’s other Round 6 action, Indy Eleven now sits within one win of the co-leading New York Cosmos and Carolina RailHawks, both now on 12 points following Carolina’s surprising 1-3 home loss to Fort Lauderdale and the Cosmos’ 3-0 triumph at Miami FC.

After each team got an early look off a cross in the first 90 seconds, the end-to-end play would yield no good looks for another 20 minutes. The home side would capitalize off a set piece opportunity midway through the first half when Nicki Paterson, after being fouled in the corner, would whip in the ensuing free kick himself, a ball that took a hop before being deflected in on the doorstep by Janicki.

The center back’s first goal in his 24^th appearance for the “Boys in Blue” gave Indy Eleven a 1-0 lead, which Justin Braun was unlucky to double just a minute later. The Indy Eleven striker was unable to punish FC Edmonton ‘keeper Matt VanOekel for a poor pass out of his area, the latter atoning for the error with a fine 1-v-1 stop.

FC Edmonton would begin to concede possession more and more, but a quick build-up down the right flank would even things up in the 37^th minute. Sainey Nyassi would have space to push in a cross from the right flank that would find the head of Keegan, the Eddies’ attacker deftly looping the ball to the far post and over Indy netminder Jon Busch to pull the match to 1-1, where it would stay until the halftime break.

The second half would be devoid of any seriously threatening chances on Busch or VanOekel, as both ‘keepers patrolled their areas well to carve out crosses and through balls. The lone shot on goal by either side in the second 45 minutes would come on a blocked bicycle kick attempt by Sinisa Ubiparipovic , which popped harmlessly to a waiting VanOekel in the 58^th minute. FC Edmonton would see a golden opportunity of its own two minutes from time when an apparent offside play was let go when Gustavo ran onto the ball in the right side of the Eleven area, but Busch did well to come off his line and cut off a square pass intended for a pair of Eddies’ runners.

Indy Eleven will make the first of three road trips to the Sunshine State within four weeks’ time net Saturday, May 14, when the “Boys in Blue” will tussle with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1W-2D-2L, 5 pts., 8^th place) at Lockhart Stadium. The 7:00 p.m. ET kickoff can be seen live online via ESPN3.

Indy Eleven returns home the following weekend on Saturday, May 21, when it will host Minnesota United FC on IMS & Military Appreciation Night at Carroll Stadium. Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff at “The Mike” are available starting at $11 in the Brickyard Battalion and East Goal Top sections at www.IndyEleven.com or over the phone at 317-685-1100 (Mon.-Fri., 9:00a.m.-5:00 p.m.).

QUOTE SHEET – INDY ELEVEN HEAD COACH TIM HANKINSON

On the result:

“Obviously at home you have expectations for yourself to get three (points). Also, with Minnesota’s draw with Ottawa today, it meant that three points today would have seen us jump them into the second place slot. We missed that opportunity, and that’s something that we hopefully will not have to look back at at the end of the spring, but it makes it harder. We have games down in Florida and we finish with Carolina, so we just have to keep building points. We’re undefeated still, and as long as we can keep moving in that direction, whether it’s three or one, those are positive things to focus on.”

On creating scoring opportunities:

“The final third needs improvement. We haven’t seen real creative playmaking to get strikers in the right place. We see a lot of balls coming out of the back and we need more control in the midfield to set up service for strikers. They can’t do it all themselves. Our guys are going to need quality service, which means more work on our crossing and wing game. Once we have that it will open up the defense and channels to slip balls into place.”

NASL Spring Season
Indy Eleven  1 : 1  FC Edmonton
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Michael A. Carroll Stadium – Indianapolis, IN
Attendance: 7,415

Indy Eleven:
Spring Season: 2W-3D-0L, 9 pts., 4^th place

FC Edmonton:
Spring Season: 2W-2D-2L, 8 pts., 5^th place

Scoring Summary:
IND – Greg Janicki (Nicki Paterson) 22’
FCE – Jake Keegan (Sainey Nyassi) 37’

Discipline Summary:
FCE – Nikolas Ledgerwood (caution) 30’
IND – Lovel Palmer (caution) 68’
IND – Gorka Larrea (caution) 71’
FCE – Jake Keegan (caution) 78’

IndyEleven.com Man of the Match: Greg Janicki

Get the full Opta statistics of the match via the NASL.com MatchCenter

Indy Eleven line-up (4-4-2, L-->R):  Jon Busch; Nemanja Vuković, Greg Janicki, Colin Falvey (capt), Lovel Palmer; Sinisa Ubiparipović (Jair Reinoso 74’), Nicki Paterson (Gorka Larrea 62’), Brad Ring (Dylan Mares 62’), Omar Gordon; Eamon Zayed, Justin Braun 57

Indy Eleven bench: Keith Cardona (GK), Marco Franco, Cory Miller, Duke Lacroix

FC Edmonton (4-1-4-1): Matt VanOekel;  Johann Smith, Albert Watson (capt), Pape Diakite, Eddie Edward; Nikolas Ledgerwood; Sainey Nyassi (Tomi Ameobi 81), Daryl Fordyce, Dustin Corea (Pablo Cruz 85’), Jason Plumhoff (Gustavo 71’); Jake Keegan

FC Edmonton bench: Nathan Ingham, Mallan Roberts