Michael Pointer

michael.pointer@indystar.com

The rain and lightning made it a long night at Carroll Stadium. Those are becoming the norm for Indy Eleven this year.

Sinisa Ubiparipovic tapped in a short pass in the 86th minute in what proved to the game-winner as the Ottawa Fury FC pulled out a 2-1 victory, its second win in the Circle City this season and making the Eleven 0-6-3 on their home pitch this season.

What makes that particularly galling for the Eleven is that Ottawa has just four wins all season and had not won during the fall portion of the NASL schedule before Saturday. Even worst, Ubiparipovic's winner came just after Don Smart had tied the score in the 84th minute and it looked like the Eleven had the momentum.

But the Eleven got caught flat-footed on the ensuing Ottawa kickoff. The Fury easily drove in the box and Ubiparipovic took a header from Tony Donatelli and scored on an easy tap-in. Suddenly, a potential win was another loss for the fans that had waited out a long weather delay.

"A lot of times, the most important parts of the game are 5 minutes after it starts, 5 minutes after the half and 5 minutes after a goal," said Eleven defender Kyle Hyland, who had a strong performance and nearly scored in the 78th minute. "There's a lot of goals scored in those minutes. Once you score, you have a tendency to relax and to get a little more excited.

"Things tend to happen. We have to try to focus on being ready in those scenarios."

Eleven coach Juergen Sommer said he wasn't quite sure what happened from his angle on the field, but conceded the timing stunk.

"It's so far away from us and we (the Eleven bench was on the opposite side of the field) sit so low, it was really hard to see," Sommer said. "The disappointing part was that it came so quickly after Don scored for us. It was pretty heartbreaking."

The loss leaves the Eleven (2-10-5, 2-5-1 in fall schedule) last in the overall standings with 11 points, four behind Ottawa (4-9-3, 1-4-2). Getting that elusive home win will be difficult. The three top teams in the league — Minnesota, San Antonio and New York — visit Indianapolis during the final five home matches.

"We created a lot of chances outside the box and a lot of chances inside the box," Hyland said. "We had some good crosses in. I just feel like we're really unlucky right now. We've just got to stick with it."

Neither team scored in the first half, although both had chances. Ottawa had four corner kicks and had a golden opportunity when the Eleven's Sergio Pena was called for tripping in the box. But Nicht dived to his left and stopped Nicki Paterson's penalty kick, keeping the game scoreless.

The Eleven controlled the run of play after that, but had a tough time putting the ball on the Ottawa net. Only 1-of-10 shots was on goal, when Mike Ambersley's strike with his left foot was stopped by Fury keeper Romauld Peiser in the 32nd minute. Seven were off target and two were blocked, including a hard strike from Jermaine Johnson from the top of the box that went off an Ottawa defender and wide in the 39th minute.

But in the 70th minute, Ottawa got another penalty kick, this time when the officials ruled the Eleven's Fejiro Okiomah pushed the Fury's Tom Heinemann when they went up for a ball in the Indy penalty area. Heinemann converted to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead.

The Eleven had some chances. Hyland's strike with his left foot appeared headed for the bottom corner when Peiser made a diving save. Erick Norales' header glanced just off the outside of the goal before Smart — who came on for Ambersley just 5 minutes earlier — pounced on a loose ball and drilled home the game-tying goal.

But it all went for naught after Ubiparipovic's goal 2 minutes later, leaving just one thing for the Eleven to celebrate: that was their ninth sellout in as many NASL games, although only about half of the 10,285 fans were on hand when the game kicked off at about 9:50 p.m.

"We started very bright," Sommer said. "I think we were the better team the majority of the game. Obviously, the score line did not dictate that."

Call Star reporter Michael Pointer at (317) 444-2709. Follow him on Twitter @michaelpointer.