UIndy Athletics

INDIANAPOLIS - The UIndy men's soccer team battled to earn a 1-1 draw against the Lincoln Blue Tigers.

The Greyhounds saw early opportunities with Tobias Herrera V and Joey Longo threatening the Lincoln defense with a couple of attacks on the wing in the opening minutes.

After those early UIndy runs the two squads began to feel each other out in what became a battle in the midfield as each side tried to figure out the other as they traded possession.

Lincoln found the first shot of the game in the 24th minute, but didn't challenge Rick Lammerts with it. But, it didn't take long for the Blue Tigers to race back down the field as they launched a long, lofted pass to find the first goal of the game in the 29th minute.

After the goal UIndy made a couple of substitutions which lead to immediate offense with Alejandro Zuniga finding the first two shots of the game for UIndy in his first 10 minutes on the field after coming in off the bench.

Before the two teams entered half the Greyhounds needed every one of their eleven players in an incredible defensive sequence by Lammerts and his defenders who scrambled on the goal line to stop two Lincoln point-blank shots.

Alessandor Della Vecchia was then the final player to send a shot on target in the first half but another big save, this time for Lincoln, kept the game at 1-0 entering half.

The Greyhounds saw a similar start to the second half as the first half, with early offensive success and in the second half they found five shots in the opening eight minutes.

That trend continued as the Greyhounds sent in shots and corner kicks in bunches until they found their equalizer in the 79th minute. Nikolas Karnesis set up the equalizer with one of his many second half crosses that found the right foot of Hugo Paturel who scored one of the trickier goals of the season on the doorstep of the goal.

The Hounds hunted for another goal, but were unable to find the lead in the final 11 minutes. 

The second half offense by UIndy was their best of the season, in terms of shots, as they took 17 in the second half - the most in any half all season long. Additionally, their 20 shots in the contest marked the second straight game they hit that threshold, this is the first time UIndy has had back-to-back 20 shot games under head coach Gabe Hall.

The Greyhounds will return to action when they make the trip to Upper Iowa Saturday, October 17th at 3:30 p.m. for their final road game of the regular season.