With the NASL Spring Season winding down to its last few weeks, North Carolina FC was tasked with traveling to the hostile home territory of the winless Indy Eleven. Only a few days prior their match with Indy, NCFC suffered an extra time defeat to the Houston Dynamo in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup, leaving the team emotionally drained and physically exhausted, and that showed in the 0–2 loss suffered on Saturday night.

The lineup NCFC put out against Indy Eleven surprisingly boasted many regular starters. Colin Clarke’s recent tactics, playing with two forwards, has yet to really click and yield the goals NCFC has been desperate to earn, as the side has scored a non-threatening three goals in their last three NASL matches.

This week’s two-headed attack would be Matt Fondy and Brian Shriver. The starting midfield consisted of many familiar faces (from Left to Right): Lance Laing, Nazmi Albadawi, Boluwatife Akinyode, and Austin Da Luz. Akinyode continued to fill in James Marcelin’s role in midfield, which will likely go back to Marcelin in the coming weeks, once Marcelin is available again.

The defense had to go without Steven Miller, which was likely due to his heroic efforts last Wednesday verses Houston, where he not only scored the opening goal, but also played all 120+ minutes against an aggressive Houston offense. Lining up in defense against Indy Eleven was (from Left to Right): Paul Black, Conner Tobin, Christian Ibeagha, and Kareem Moses. Finally, resuming his spot in goal, would be Brian Sylvestre, who also entered the match as the NASL’s leader in saves.

As for Indy Eleven, who entered the match without a single win in the NASL Spring Season, they finally fielded a semblance of their top eleven. After being riddled with injuries and a few suspensions, getting to play Zayed, Speas, Braun, Smart, and Ubiparipovic together was a rare treat for the home fans.

From the opening kickoff through the first fifteen minutes, Indy looked like the more rested and determined team, and came oh-so-close to having a few early goals that were ultimately called back for offside infringements. Potentially, Indy’s early threats was the cup of coffee NCFC needed, since the Oaks seemed to turn up their own intensity as well and earned three corner kicks over the next five minutes of the match.

As the pendulum of momentum swayed back and forth the first half, each team came up empty on threatening long balls, fruitless spells of possession, and hopeful (hopeless?) strikes from distance. It went to halftime nil-nil.

In the second half, North Carolina FC looked liked a team playing on fumes, but give them credit — they kept up with Indy’s threatening pace all game. The first blow ultimately came from Indy in the 60th minute. However, Indy’s goal was more due to a lapse in NCFC’s focus and luck, rather than the sublime flash of skill Indy had in their encore goal.

As a low Indy cross came from just outside the goalbox, NCFC scrambled to fall into a defensive position, and left the near post unmarked. Conner Tobin was forced to jab at the ball in a desperation clearance, which deflected off of a sprawling Sylvestre, and would have rolled into the goal if not for Paul Black standing on the goal line. Unfortunately, Black’s attempted clearance went straight into a steamrolling Justin Braun of Indy Eleven. 0–1.

Though NCFC had a few more chances near goal, nothing was too threatening. Naz Albadawi was a magician on the ball all game, consistently fighting out of traffic, and finding open teammates. However, when his teammates are passing the ball out of bounds, or sailing long strikes over and wide of goal out of frustration, the shallow one-goal hole was too mountainous to scale.

Indy’s second goal came in the 84th minute, and was well deserved after a strong buildup that found Indy Eleven with a man advantage over the back-peddling defensive line. Ben Speas rocked a strike, from left to right just inside the goal box, which was too quick and strong for the outstretched Sylvestre to get a hand on. 0–2, with less than ten to play.

With North Carolina FC’s exhausted players staring up at a two goal deficit, Indy Eleven was able to cruise through the rest of the match, and Indy secured their first win of their 2017 season.

This weekend, NCFC will have their opportunity for revenge when they host Indy Eleven for what is becoming a dark point in NCFC’s season. The month of June has been very unkind to the boys in blue, with one draw and three losses across their NASL and U.S. Open Cup matches. In the NASL, they have dropped from second place down to a distant fifth place in the last three weeks.

Now that their Cup run is over, NCFC should be able to refocus on their league season, find their legs again, and gain some momentum as the Spring season concludes.