USL Monterey Bay FC

Monterey Bay Battles Indy Eleven in the Return of the Union to Seaside on Star Wars Night at Cardinale Stadium

Published on May 3, 2024 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Monterey Bay FC News Release


SEASIDE, California - Monterey Bay F.C. (4-2-2, 14 points) returns to action Saturday for an epic 7 p.m. PT showdown on Star Wars Night at Cardinale Stadium against Indy Eleven (2-4-2, 8 points) in Week 9 of the 2024 USL Championship regular season. Saturday's match will be broadcast locally via KION on FOX 35 (46.2 over the air, 35 Dish, 47 DirecTV and 3/702 HD Xfinity), with live streaming available on CBS Sports Golazo Network via Paramount+, the CBS Sports app, CBSSports.com, and Pluto TV.

Monterey Bay returns to Seaside after two weeks on the road against Memphis - a come-from-behind win - and Orange County - a loss in which the Union failed to score for the first time so far in the campaign. With the dust settled on the recent road trip, the Crisp-and-Kelp now find themselves in third place in the Western Conference. Monterey Bay is five matches unbeaten against Eastern Conference opponents at Cardinale Stadium heading into this weekend's match, and will look to make it a six with a result against Indy Eleven.

"It's a big match for us, Indy Eleven is a good squad," said Monterey Bay F.C. forward Michael Gonzalez. "Coming off of a loss, we want to get that momentum going again and there's no better way to do that than getting a win at home. We're undefeated here so far because our fans have done so well in supporting us. Without them, we wouldn't be able to go on runs like this. Hopefully they will all come out again, enjoy the night, and help us get another win."

In the other corner, Indy Eleven makes the trip to Seaside on the back of a 2-1 win over Championship expansion side North Carolina FC. Prior to that win, however, Indy Eleven drew 1-1 with Colorado Springs to end a three-game losing slide. All told, Indy Eleven now sits just above the line in 8th place in the Eastern Conference through eight weeks of regular season play.

In the two previous meetings between the interconference sides, Monterey Bay came out victorious. The first-ever fixture between MBFC and Indy took place in Seaside and resulted in the Crisp-and-Kelp running away with a 5-0 victory - the most goals scored in a single match for Monterey Bay to date. Then the following season, the two sides met up at Michael A. Carroll Stadium in Indianapolis and despite being down 2-1 at the halftime break, Monterey Bay managed to score two second-half goals to win 3-2 and bring the overall series lead to 2-0-0 with a positive 8-2 goal difference. The two clubs will now meet again for a third time this weekend. With the fixture moving back to Seaside, Monterey Bay is primed to continue its positive season with a third consecutive win over Indy Eleven.

"It's an important match, especially since we are coming off a loss," said Monterey Bay F.C. defender Carlos Guzmán. "It's going to be a hard one, but we are confident because we are at home and we're playing well. We're still undefeated here at home and we want to keep that going. The fans really give us that push that we need, so it's a huge thing to have a full stadium behind us."

Monterey Bay F.C. vs. Indy Eleven

Venue: Cardinale Stadium; Seaside, California

Date: Saturday, May 4, 2024; 7:00 p.m. PT

Weather: Clear and 52 degrees

2024 Records

Monterey Bay F.C. (4-2-2, 14 pts, 3rd West); Indy Eleven (2-4-2, 8 pts, 8th East)

Check out the Monterey Bay FC Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



United Soccer League Championship Stories from May 3, 2024


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central