WESTFIELD (Thursday, March 2, 2017) – In their second game of the 2017 preseason, Indy Eleven drew one-all with USL side Swope Park Rangers at the Grand Park Event Center in Westfield.

In a heavily contested first half, forward Eamon Zayed got “Indiana’s Team” off to a quick start with a goal in the fourth minute off a pass by midfielder Brad Ring. The Indiana original had initially played the ball through to fellow midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic, but a clever bit of play saw the Rangers’ defense thrown off and Zayed was through to produce a cool finish.

SPR responded quickly with an effort on the other end, but the attack petered out after the solid combination of Lovel Palmer and Kwame Watson-Siriboe cleared the ball away from danger. Rangers would again come close just before the 15^th minute, but another shot sailed over Busch’s crossbar and out.

The heat of the contest picked up minutes later when Brad Ring collided with a Rangers midfielder just inside his own half, earning both him and Lovel Palmer the first cautions of the match for their role in the incident after the foul. The next best chance of the first half for Indy came in the 20^th minute when Zayed created space for a shot, but it was deflected and rolled out for a corner that produced nothing.

Rangers would come close one more time in the opening 45 minutes when an effort from a free kick cracked off the underside of the Indy crossbar and out. Following up, a Rangers forward was able to get a solid head on the ball, but his subsequent effort was also too high. Indy Eleven led the contest 1-0 at the break.

The second half began with a completely different XI for Indy that featured midfielders Don Smart & Daniel Keller, as well as ‘keeper Keith Cardona. As the intensity picked up, the visitors came close to securing an equalizer in the 49^th minute, but Cardona was well positioned to make an easy save.

However, right at the hour mark, the Rangers got what they came for in the form of a Robert Mirosavic goal to level play. After being played clean through on goal, Cardona rushed off his line in an attempt to get to the attacker before he could get his shot away, but the latter cleverly clipped the ball over the Indy ‘netminder to tie things up at one apiece.

Indy had their best chance of the second half in the 68^th minute when trialist Vincent Cicciarelli nearly broke in on goal, but the pass from trialist Phil Fives was a yard too far in front and the opportunity went begging. The “Boys in Blue” had one final opportunity in the 91^st minute when again Fives was on the ball, but after breaking through space his right-footed curler could not find the far side of the net and the chance was gone. At full time, Indy Eleven earned a deserved 1-1 draw.
 
NASL Fall Season
Indy Eleven 1 : 1  Swope Park Rangers
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Grand Park Event Center – Westfield, IN
 
Scoring Summary:
IND – Eamon Zayed 4’
SPR – Robert Mirosavic 60’
 
Discipline Summary:
IND – Brad Ring 16’
IND – Lovel Palmer 16’
IND – Don Smart 74’
SPR – Felipe Hernandez 74’
 
Indy Eleven line-up (4-4-2, L-->R):  Jon Busch; Nemanja Vuković, Lovel Palmer, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Marco Franco; Ben Speas, Gerardo Torrado, Brad Ring, Sinisa Ubiparipovic; Eamon Zayed, Justin Braun
 
Indy Eleven bench**: Keith Cardona (GK), Daniel Keller, Jeff McClure*, Anthony Manning*, Don Smart, Vincent Mitchell*, David Goldsmith*, Phil Fives*

*denotes trialists

**not full list of trialists

Swope Park Rangers line-up: Greczek (GK); Storm, Didic, Ballo, Maher; Wan Kuzain, Duke; Hernandez, Belmar, Selbol; Gonzalez