Sporting KC II drop to last with loss to Indy Eleven

Sporting KC II suffered their second straight defeat on Sunday, losing to the Indy Eleven 2-1 at Children’s Mercy Park.

There were four changes to the lineup that lost 4-3 in Tulsa on Wednesday. Along with the changes was a change to a 4-5-1 formation as Danny Barbir started at left back and Matt Constant returned to the starting XI for the first time since his red card against Colorado Springs in May.

After neither team created much early, both teams scored within a minute of each other.

It was Indy striking first in the 19th minute. After Jake Davis slammed the ball against Jahon Rad’s face, Indy’s Gordon Wild picked the ball up near midfield and Ayoze Perez on the left, who found Nicky Law making the backpost run.

Less than a minute later, Sorting KC II equalized. With the ball near the endline Enoch Mushagalusa cut back towards the middle and picked his spot near the far corner.

Indy had several chances from set pieces, but goalkeeper John Pulskamp made two great saves and another was headed just wide from Manuel Arteaga.

SKC II closed out the first half as the better side, having shots from Rojay Smith and Jake Davis tipped wide by goalkeeper Bobby Edwards. Later in the 11 minutes of first half stoppage time, Smith found Tyler Freeman, but he wasn’t able to keep his volley on target. That attempt was shortly followed by Mushagalusa hitting the crossbar and a header being cleared off the line.

Indy went back in front with a goal in the 50th minute. Gordon Wild had a touch to round the keeper and passed it into the empty net.

Sporting KC II had a few more attempts from Davis, Mushagalusa and Smith, but neither of them were able to find the equalizer as they fell 2-1 at home. The hosts ended the match with 21 shots with nine on target.

Sunday’s loss keeps SKC II on four points with a record of 1-5-4, but drops them to last in the Central Division following OKC Energy’s win over Memphis 901.

SKC II hit the road again as they travel to the OKC Energy on Wednesday.

Sporting Kansas City II: John Pulskamp; Danny Barbir; Aljaz Dzankic; Matt Constant (Graham Smith 63’); Kayden Pierre; Jahon Rad (Petar Cuic 64’); Jake Davis (Bailey Sparks 80’; Enoch Mushagalusa; Christian Duke (C); Rojay Smith; Tyler Freeman (Ozzie Cisneros 80’)

Subs Not Used: Gavin Krenecki; Michael Lenis; Jayin Van Deventer

Indy Eleven: Bobby Edwards; Neveal Hackshaw; AJ Cochran; Karl Ouimette; Nicky Law; Cammy Smith (Gershon Koffie 67’); Ayoze Perez (C); Jared Timmer (Jeremiah Gutjahr 86’); Nick Moon; Manuel Arteaga (Jordan Hamilton 61’); Gordon Wild

Subs Not Used: Alex Svetanoff; Patrick Seagrist; Aboubacar Sissoko; Peter-Lee Vassell

Scoring Summary:

IND — Nicky Law (Ayoze Perez) 19’

SKC — Enoch Mushagalusa (Christian Duke) 20’

IND — Gordon Wild (Manuel Arteaga) 50’

Misconduct Summary:

IND — Nicky Law (yellow card; foul) 12’

IND — AJ Cochran (yellow card; dissent) 83’

SKC — Christian Duke (yellow card; foul) 90+2’

IND — Jeremiah Gutjahr (yellow card; time wasting) 90+5’