Autumn Allison

Winless is a word the Indy Eleven continue to find themselves familiar with.

“Obviously we want to win,” said Ben Spencer, a forward. “The fans want to win. The club wants to win, so we will do everything we can and keep working hard and hope for the best.”

Indianapolis’ team fell to the Ottawa Fury 4-2 Saturday night at IUPUI’s Carroll Stadium because, despite strong attacks from their strikers, the Eleven could not overcome defensive mishaps.

“You just can’t defend as poorly as we did and expect to win at home,” said Indy Eleven coach Juergen Sommer. “You should have to be at home and think you have to score three or four goals just to win a game. We need to improve considerably defensively overall.”

An Anthony Donatelli shot in the 16th minute put Ottawa up 1-0, but 4 minutes later, Indy answered. Eleven forward Michael Ambersley faked out the defense to sink a penalty kick that tied the score.

Efforts were made on both sides to take the lead, but the teams ended up trading shanked shots and several possession changes. Each team had six attempted shots in the first half.

The constant possession changes led to defensive breakdowns by the Eleven, but the Fury failed to capitalize. Ottawa’s Oliver Thomal Minatel was set to face off with Indy goalie Kristian Nicht, but as he neared the corner of the box, Indy defender Erick Casildo slide-tackled Minatel to prevent the possibility of a goal. The hard hit earned Casildo a yellow card. Minatel’s open shot went wide.

“Defensively, we have to have more press on the ball and around the box, and we are just not doing that at the moment,” said Sommer.

Ottawa’s offense would jump into gear starting 40 minutes into the game when Omar Jarun, assisted by Richie Ryan, scored on a corner kick to put the Fury up by one. Minutes later, Donatelli made his second goal of the night to give Ottawa a two-goal lead.

Indy was able to cut the lead right before the end of the half on a Spencer goalie fakeout to the opposite back post.

However, Spencer followed his goal with a yellow card for a shoving match between him and goalie Devala Gorrick that resulted from Spencer trying to remove the ball from the net after his shot.

A too-wide shot attempt by Indy ended the half 3-2.

It took 18 minutes into the second half for another goal to be scored. Ottawa was able to widen its lead to 4-2 thanks to a well-executed fakeout. Forward Carl Haworth pulled Nicht towards the right side of the box before playing across to an open Minatel.

That would be the last goal scored.

Tonight was the fourth straight sellout the Indy Eleven have had this season, with 10,285 fans filling the stands.

“The fans here are unbelievable and they come out every weekend and cheer for 90 minutes,” said Spencer. “Everyone really appreciates their support.”

The Eleven’s next chance to earn the franchise’s first ever win will be Saturday at the San Antonio Scorpions.

“We are going to go and we are going to fight for 90 minutes again and hopefully we will get that win,” said Spencer.