Silverbacks Defeat Indy Eleven 1-0 To Move Up In Fall Season Rankings
Soccer News: Atlanta head coach Gary Smith played his two hottest hands as the spearheads of his attack on Saturday against Indy Eleven, and both Pedro Mendes and Jaime Chavez led the Silverbacks to a, 1-0, victory. The monumental road win shoots the Silverbacks into second place in the Fall standings — just three below top-of-the-table Ottawa — and into seventh place in the combined table.
“This result is massive, not only because it is three points on the road against a team that’s ahead of you — but because it was our seventh point collected in our most difficult stretch of the season,” Smith said. “We opened the Fall Season with a brutal five away matches out of six, and we finished that stretch with a draw (vs. Fort Lauderdale) and wins in Edmonton and Indy. The boys have done well but, at the same time, we all know there are areas we can improve.”
Chavez, already a NASL Team of the Week and Play of the Week honoree this Fall, continued an impressive run of form that’s put him atop the team’s lists for scoring and assists. In the 15th minute, he steered through five Indy defenders from 18-yards out before feeding Mendes for the one-touch left-footed finish.
For Mendes, it was his third goal of the Fall and first against his former club.
“Both of those players are showing why they are up top for us,” Smith said. “They are creating and finishing; they’ve got all the confidence in the world right now and it’s showing. Both Jaime and Pedro are building great streaks at a highly productive level for us.”
The Silverbacks recent run of form is timed perfectly, with Atlanta entering a friendlier August with five of six matches to be played at Atlanta Silverbacks Park.
Fall season additions like Kosuke Kimura, Pedro and Paulo Mendes, Junior Burgos and the return goalkeeper Steward Ceus —who came off his line to complete two game-sealing saves — from Gold Cup duty have produced steady momentum.
Atlanta has allowed just seven goals while scoring nine in the Fall Season. Saturday’s victory was the team’s second clean sheet of the Fall.
The Silverbacks wrapped up a four-match road trip that covered more than 6,000 miles with stops in both the U.S. and Canada. They’ll now return to Silverbacks Park to host the Fort Lauderdale Strikers on Wednesday, and the NASL’s defending champion San Antonio Scorpions on Saturday.
Scoring Summary:
15’: ATL – Pedro Mendes (Jaime Chavez)
Lineup:
Atlanta Silverbacks: Head Coach – Gary Smith| Steward Ceus (GK), Paul Black, Simon Mensing (C), Rauwshan McKenzie, Kyle Porter, Junior Burgos (Paulo Mendes – 78’), Michael Reed, Josh Hughes, Kosuke Kimura, Jaime Chavez (Matt Horth – 85’), Pedro Mendes (Shaka Bangura – 79’)
Indy Eleven: Head Coach – Tim Reagan| Kristian Nicht (GK), Greg Janicki, Cory Miller, Kyle Hyland, Marco Franco, Brad Ring, Victor Pineda, Dragan Stojkov (Don Smart – 77’), Zach Steinberger (Charlie Rugg – 65’), Brian Brown (Wojciech Wojcik – 60’), Dane Richards
Watch match highlights:
