Indy Eleven To Enter Season With Extra Motivation After Runners-Up Finish In 2016

Indy Eleven went on a remarkable run in 2016, winning the Spring Season title, finishing the year unbeaten at home, and reaching The Championship Final. The Boys in Blue took the New York Cosmos to the brink in November, forcing the defending champions into a penalty shootout.

With the Soccer Bowl Trophy within reach, Indy unfortunately left that night without silverware, but, instead, a bitter taste in their mouths with the shootout loss to the Cosmos.

What it has given Indy Eleven heading into the season, though, is even more fire and hunger to be crowned champions during the upcoming campaign.

“A fire gets lit in you when you lose a final on penalties or any other way,” Indy coach Tim Hankinson told NASL.com. “I hope that fire burns in all of us to get us back to a championship game. Certainly in talking to our captain, Colin Falvey, and he talked a lot about still feeling it from Ottawa two years ago. Now the fire is larger that we fell short this past year.”

The best medicine for the players, after that tough loss, will be to get back into competitive action.

“When you lose your final game, the only thing that really makes it better is getting the boots back on and starting to play again,” Hankinson said. “Getting into that first practice will be a great feeling for everyone to know that we’re taking our first step together towards getting back to The Championship.”

Unlike in 2016, which saw a very changed side from previous years for the Eleven, Hankinson has a strong core of players to build on. Last week, the club announced the return of goalkeepers Jon Busch and Keith Cardona; defenders Lovel Palmer, Nemanja Vukovic, and the aforementioned Falvey; midfielders Don Smart and Sinisa Ubiparipovic; and forwards Justin Braun and Eamon Zayed. Hankinson is still hoping to have a strong mix of youth players to go along with many of the veteran players already returning.

Once preseason rolls around, the Indy players brought back from a year ago will be able to jump back into the familiar system and familiar playing style of their teammates.

“I just look forward to seeing a group of players that played together last year,” Hankinson said. “The continuity part of it is key.”

And while that once unfamiliar group of players may have surprised people last year, there will be no such luxury in 2017 after reaching the Final.

“We had a taste of some good things – the Spring Championship and being undefeated at home – but there will be excitement in the group to build on that,” Hankinson said. “I’m glad to think that teams are thinking Indy Eleven is being looked at as one of the better teams in the league. That just makes the games even harder, not that any of them are easy.”