PREVIEW | Indy Looks To Carry Momentum Into Match Against The Scorpions

The make or break home stand for the Scorpions is reaching its final game on Saturday and while the Scorpions only managed a 3-3 result in the second game of the week on Wednesday, there is still much to be decided in their Saturday night game against Indy Eleven at Toyota Field.

“Like [against] Carolina, both teams are in a position where it is going to be a fierce battle,” Scorpions head coach Alen Marcina said. “Both teams need the three points. We’ve told our guys to get ready to roll up their sleeves and prepare to battle.”

The Eleven will be coming to San Antonio fresh off a 3-0 win over Jacksonville Armada FC last Saturday. That win gave Indy its first victory since August 19 and ended a two-game losing streak. Two of Indy’s goals in the win over Jacksonville were scored by 23-year-old Zach Steinberger, who put his name on the scoresheet for the first time this season. He joins a logjam of players who have scored for the Eleven this year led by Dylan Mares, Erick Norales and Dane Richards; each has three goals to their name this season. In addition to the three players with three goals, the Eleven have seven players - including Steinberger - with two goals.

Mares, like Steinberger, is a quick 23-year-old; together the two are part of an Indy Eleven roster that has an average age of 25.

“Indy is, for the most part, a young team. They are going to work extremely hard,” Marcina said. “Their coach is saying the same thing as us, you need these three points and need to be willing to leave it all on the pitch.”

San Antonio hopes to answer the Eleven’s scoring distribution by getting the league’s second-leading marksman, Omar Cummings, back into the scoring swing. It has been over a month since Cummings last added a notch to his goal tally with two against Atlanta on Aug. 8. In that time, other members of the Scorpions such as Billy Forbes, Marvin Chávez, and Rafael Castillo have tried to pick up the slack. The outlook for getting back into the postseason discussion will be brighter if the red and black can get their leading scorer to ruffle the back of the net with regularity again. Saturday would be a good place to pick back up.

By The Numbers:

This will be the fifth meeting all-time between San Antonio and Indy dating back to the Eleven’s debut in the 2014 season. Both clubs have two wins and two losses in the series. In the previous meeting this year, Indy were 2-1 winners over the Scorpions in San Antonio. San Antonio won the first two meetings in 2014, but since then the club from Indianapolis has won the most recent two meetings.