Michael Pointer

michael.pointer@indystar.com

The Indy Eleven kept their perfect streaks intact Saturday night — in the stands, and in a much less positive way, on the pitch.

The Eleven played in front of their seventh sellout crowd in as many games, but fell behind early and lost 4-2 to the Atlanta Silverbacks, making them 0-5-2 in North American Soccer League matches at IUPUI's Carroll Stadium during their inaugural season.

"We have everything here we want," Eleven coach Juergen Sommer said. "We have great support. ... We have great fans. You can't ask for much more.

"The players have a wonderful opportunity to come out here and express themselves and put their mark on the game. The guys that can do that consistently week in and week out will get a chance. Obviously, if guys can't make the jump to this level, we'll make some changes."

Of all the losses, this might have been the most frustrating for the Eleven (2-2 in fall schedule, 2-7-4 overall). They had won two consecutive road games, including a 1-0 thriller at Edmonton last week in which former Brazilian national Kleberson scored the game-winner in stoppage time.

But momentum from that win vanished quickly Saturday when Pablo Cruz scored in the fifth minute for Atlanta (2-1-1, 5-6-2) in front of a crowd of 10,285.

The Eleven never drew even and hurt themselves with consistent breakdowns in the back and a failure to finish up front. They missed the goal on 11 of their 15 shots and scored only when Kleberson converted a pair of penalty kicks.

"Communication in the back and support are kind of hurting us," veteran midfielder Don Smart said. "Everyone is together. We just need that extra fight in the back."

To make matters worse, the Eleven learned last week that promising young forward Ben Spencer will be out 4 to 6 weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery. Defenders Erick Norales and Fejiro Okiomah each suffered concussions after a collision in the 79th minute. The Eleven played the final 25 minutes down a man when midfielder Sergio Pena picked up a red card, meaning he also will miss Wednesday's home match against Fort Lauderdale.

Sommer and the rest of the Eleven were livid with the call on Pena, who made a slide-tackle attempt while coming up from behind an Atlanta player. The coach didn't think it even deserved a yellow card. It kept with the theme of disgust on this night, both in their play and the officials.

"I don't even know where to start in this game," Sommer said. "I hate to say anything about the officiating, but the amount of calls and the volume of calls that were out there was a little frustrating for us. The tempo of the game was really broken up."

The Eleven's game against Fort Lauderdale is their only non-Saturday home game this year. They'll play with what is likely a patchwork backline after Saturday's injuries and ejections. That's not exactly ideal at any time, much less during a short week.

"It's kind of tough with a red card and what happened in the game," Smart said. "But a loss is a loss."

Call Star reporter Michael Pointer

at (317) 444-2709. Follow him on Twitter: @michaelpointer.