SOCCER SATURDAY - INDY ELEVEN for 10/31/20

(00:00 - 2:40) - Soccer Saturday opens with Host Greg Rakestraw recounting the Indy Eleven's road trip. They managed to beat El Paso and draw against Memphis 901. All Things Indiana Night tonight for the Eleven as they return back home for a game. (5:41 - 18:26) - Rakestraw's weekly interview with Indy Eleven head-coach Mark Lowry is up next. Lowry sees the teams win against El Paso as an emotional victory given his past history with the team. While he was happy to see some of his former players who are still with El Paso, Lowry was able to stow that feeling and coach the Eleven to a victory. The team certainly felt rushed on their way to Memphis only having one day to train before playing another game on the road. Coach Lowry claims that field conditions were the worst they've ever played in. Lowry was content to leave with a draw given all the things that could go wrong with the field. A quick look at the playoff picture to close the segment. (21:26 - 31:38) - Tim Trilk, the Indy Eleven's goalkeeper for the past few games joins Raketstraw to talk about defending a pitch in such crazy condition as Memphis has theirs last week. Trilk also details how the mentality as a team and goalkeeper might be affected when one of your own players gets a red card. Trilk also took a tough collision in Memphis defending the goal. Rakestraw is surprised to find out that Trilk has a merchandise partnership. (34:38 - 50:30) - Former Indy Eleven player and newly named head-coach of the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Nicky Law talks about the unexpected promotion to the coaching position. Law has been around soccer his entire life and knew that being involved with the game past his playing career was a part of the plan, but the timing was still ahead of schedule for him. Rakestraw asks if his time as a coach has taught him anything about himself. Is there any difficulty in transitioning from being a player to a coach when many of those people saw you as a teammate only a few games before? A brief back and forth about Tampa Bay's match up against Miami FC later tonight. (53:30 - 1:00:35) - The show closes out with a look around the league and greater soccer world. San Diego Loyal has announced they will cease operations next season due to lack of a stadium in the near future. Trevor James is going to be in a director role instead of a coaching role with Detroit City next year. Messi Magic continues as Inter Miami makes the US Open Cup Final.

26 Aug 20231h

(00:00 - 3:00) - Rakestraw opens up the show talking about the upcoming Indy Eleven schedule. They have an intense week as they play El Paso as the away team tonight, only a few days later they will face Memphis in Tennessee, finally in the same week they come back to Indy to take on Loudon United FC.     (6:00 – 18:33) - Indy Eleven Head Coach Mark Lowry joins the show for his weekly spot. Lowry has enjoyed quite a run of success with the Eleven currently on a two-game winning streak. They are now 6th in the Eastern Conference. Much of the conversation revolves around the rotating door the roster has seen this year and how Lowry has tackled the task of an unstable lineup this season. How did Coach Lowry celebrate his birthday after two wins?    (21:33 – 30:50) - Newest edition to the Indy Eleven, Callum Chapman-Page joins Greg for the third segment. Chapman-Page speaks on adapting to Indianapolis, finding the weather in August is starting to get “cold.” Coming to Indy from Miami Chapman-Page is excited just to be playing again after being benched for five weeks with Miami.    (33:50 – 53:09) - Dave Leno the radio play-by-play voice of the Philadelphia Union is on the program to talk about Lionel Messi visiting the City of Brotherly Love as they played Inter Miami recently. It was a huge moment for soccer in Philly, several fans were upset that ticket prices spiked so much. The Union ended up losing their Leagues Cup Semi-Final match against Miami 4 – 1. Leno give Messi the title of being the best player in the league. He was glad that the match stayed in the Union stadium and not into the Philadelphia Eagles stadium, Lincoln Financial Field. That kept the Union home crowd in the house making it feel like it was still a home game and not just a spectacle.    (56:09 – 56:46) - Rakestraw signs off quickly as there is little time left for the show. A quick preview of the upcoming games again for the Indy Eleven Men’s Team.

19 Aug 202359min

(00:00 -  4:28) - The Indy 11 Men’s team scored a big win over the past week. They managed to move back into playoff contention passing Miami FC for 8th place. They will face Miami FC later next week. Host Greg Rakestraw says they will have the review and preview of the Men’s schedule on this edition of Soccer Saturday.     (7:28 - 18:54) - Rakestraw’s weekly interview with Mark Lowry is a special feature this week as it took place on the field after the team’s 4 – 0 win over Birmingham Legion FC. The field was absolutely soaked and underwater prior to the game and Lowry says the conditions had both teams thinking the game would not be played. He kept his team in the mindset that they were going to play no matter what though, and that perhaps gave Indy the edge on the wet field. The Eleven only have a two day break before they have to fly out to Miami and prepare for a match against their 9th place counterparts in Miami FC. Then Rakestraw has a quick interview with Sebastian Guenzatti who had two goals in the game.    (21:55 - 39:28) - Jason Davis, the host of The United States of Soccer comes onto the show to talk about soccer on the international scale. They open the discussion off with the Women’s National Team exiting the World Cup in the round of 16. Their earliest exit in World Cup history. Davis believes this might have been just one tournament too soon for several of the new players on the team. Speculation on who the next head coach of the Women’s National team will be. Davis and Rakestraw talks about the MLS attempting to grow as a league. How can they “force fans to watch?”    (42:29 – 47:40) - Premiere League conversation moves to the forefront of the show. Rakestraw runs down the list of Premiere League matchups coming up and transactions that have gone on throughout the league. Manchester City’s future after winning the continental treble this past year. Will they be able to defend their Champions League Title?    (50:40 – 59:08) - The show wraps up with another preview of the Indy Eleven’s upcoming schedule. A three game road trip against Miami, El Paso, and then Memphis to cap the trip off. Another conversation about the Women’s early exit from the World Cup. Predictions for the rest of the tournaments contests and who will emerge World Cup champions.

12 Aug 202359min

(00:00 - 5:02) - Soccer Saturday opens with host Greg Rakestraw previewing the full episode ahead. Topics will include a new goalie having to set up for the men's team and 4 women's players being named to the USL W All-League Teams. Plus, some talk of the U.S. Women's National Team in the World Cup. (8:02 - 23:09) - Tim Trilk, the backup keeper for the Indy Eleven is getting his number called in this week's matchup against Memphis. Yannik Oettl is still recovering from an injury, so Trilk will have to step up again this season. Trilk has trained with Yannick routinely and feels as though their working together has helped him improve over the course of the season, even from a backup standpoint. Some back and forth about Trilk and Rakestraw's Indy 500 experience this year. This will be Trilk's first time in front of the home fans this season and he hopes to give the Brickyard Batallion a solid showing. The Eleven are currently 8th in the Eastern Conference which is the final playoff spot. (26:09 - 36:51) - Reese Buckmaster, a Memphis 901 player from Auburn, Indiana joins the show. The former IU Hoosier is entering his third season with Memphis, though there was a one season break where he played for the Indy Eleven. Rakestraw asks about Memphis's recent downward turn and how the team plans to turn their luck around and keeping their playoff spot. Buckmaster has a lot of friends and family attending the game tonight, it means a lot for him to be playing professionally in his home state. How does Buckmaster deal with the Memphis stadium and how the baseball cutouts interfere with their gameplay. (39:51 - 48:47) - Host Greg Rakestraw introduces a pre-recorded interview with Jeff Rueter of The Athletic and how the USL is considering moving to a relegation/delegation format in the future. That motion has been tabled for now, but the conversation is still relevant in the potential future of the league. The segment is just one question from his conversation with Jeff. It involves the amount of money that could potentially be made by changing the format to a potential promotion/demotion format. (51:47 - 1:01:19) - The United States Women's team has their work cut out for them in the Round of 16. They are facing Sweden, one of the other top contenders in the tournament much earlier than expected. The level of competition this year is much more dramatic as Germany did not make the tournament and they were one of the other favorites this year. Countries like Nigeria, Moracco, and South Africa have surprised the rest of the world. Tom Brady is officially part owner of Birmingham City. Joining the long list of American's buying stake in English football.

5 Aug 20231h 1min

(00:00 - 2:44) - Soccer Saturday opens up re-establishing the Indy 11 Women's Team winning the USL W League Championship in their second year. The Men's team also played to a draw and had a win over Pittsburgh this past week. (5:44 - 20:21) - Eleven Men's team head-coach Mark Lowry makes his weekly appearance on the program. He feels good about the teams trending momentum after a draw against the Tampa Bay Rowdies followed by a win over the Pittsburgh River Hounds. Host Greg Rakestraw wants to know Lowry's expectations for certain players in the remaining games of the season. Harrison Rolbedo got his first goal in the USL this season against Pittsburgh. The team is going to be down Cam Lindley against Lou City in today's game, but Lowry believes the team has enough depth at midfield to make up for that. (23:21 - 37:09) - Paul Dolinsky, the Women's team head coach joins the show to talk about the Indy Eleven winning the W League Championship. The team is going to enjoy this win for the next couple of months before tying up their laces to try and do it all again. Dolinsky didn't get much of a break after winning the championship as he took the Academy League team to play Pittsburgh the very next week. Cohesion and consistency are two keys that Dolinsky believes are what helped elevate the team to a championship level this year. One of the team's players had to leave the championship celebration that same night to play in Denmark. (40:09 - 52:31) - The final interview segment wraps up with the championship game winning goal scorer Alia Martin came on to go through everything that went into bringing the championship home to Indianapolis. She had the game winning goal in the semi-finals as well. Rakestraw asks her to recount the process that set her up to score in both the semi-final and final game. Martin claims that she was starting to feel exhausted in the semi-final, but she found the energy to put the ball in the back of the net off a header from her teammate. Everyone was tired in the final when Martin managed to hit a bicycle kick off of a corner kick to put the game away and earn the W League Championship in the Indy Eleven Womens team's second season. (55:31 - 57:00) - Due to being on a time crunch, Greg Rakestraw has to deliver a lightning-fast recap on all the soccer events ongoing in Indianapolis, the United States, and the world at large.

29 Juli 202359min

(00:00-09:19) – Greg Rakestraw is back with another edition of Soccer Saturday on 93.5/107.5 The Fan and opens this week's show by sharing some notes ahead of the Indy Eleven Women’s USL W League Championship match against NC Courage this afternoon, preview some of the conversations he will play for you later in the show and recaps the United Stated Women’s National Team picking up a win last night against Vietnam. (12:21-23:08) – Earlier this week, Rake filled in for JMV on the Ride With JMV and had Indy Eleven midfielder Grace Bahr on the program to explain. He brings back that conversation where he asks Bahr what it means to be competing in the championship match tonight, what her future of professional soccer looks like, if she would be interested in playing in Europe, and how much the team is talking about the FIFA World Cup. (26:08-38:23) – On Wednesday, Greg hosted the Fan Midday Show on 93.5/107.5 The Fan and had Indy Eleven midfielder Addie Chester on the show. He replays that interview where he asked her about her emotions going into the championship match this afternoon, how fun it was experiencing the semifinal match last Friday, and what it means being a local product playing for a professional soccer club in her home state with a bunch of ladies that she has grown up playing with or against. (41:25-50:53) – On USL All Access this week with Devon Kerr and Mike Watts, they discuss the achievement that now Indy Eleven midfielder Aodhan Quinn will accomplish later tonight hopefully for the Indy Eleven men. They discuss the career that he’s had in the USL and where he ranks all-time. (50:53-52:56) – Rake closes out today’s show by teasing a conversation that he will hopefully be able to bring to you next week and providing you all the scores thus far in the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

22 Juli 202355min

(00:00 - 5:37) - The show opens with the grand news of the Indy Eleven Women's team advancing to the USL W League finals! The Women's team defeated San Francisco Glens SC 3 - 2 last night in the 91st minute. The Men's team is coming off of a loss and a draw in their last two games. (8:39 - 20:37) - The most appropriate guest for the second segment is Women's head-coach Paul Dolinsky. Coach Dolinsky gives credit to the San Francisco squad as they were the toughest opponents the Eleven faced all season from a scoring perspective. Coach believes that the amount of players on this team with Indianapolis roots gives them a stronger determination to win. Several players who are still in college are being allowed to come back and play in the team's Championship match next week. The Championship will be hosted in Indianapolis as the Eleven will host NC Courage at Carroll Stadium. (23:35 - 33:15) - Segment three features an interview with Aodhan Quinn. He will be chasing a USL record coming up in their next home game. He could potentially set the record all-time minutes played in the history of the league, only needing another 71 minutes to accomplish the feat. (36:16 - 52:30) - The final full segment of Soccer Saturday sees host Greg Rakestraw revisiting an interview he conducted earlier in the week with Lori Lindsey where they discussed the upcoming Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The pride of Pike high-school will be down under covering the tournament. Rakestraw and Lindsey cover the importance of the tournament for the sport as a whole, the fact the other countries women's teams are starting to catch up to the United States, and how much longer their reign of dominance in international soccer can last. (55:31 - 56:17) - The shows closes with all the week's upcoming events. The USL W League championship, the Men's last home game of their four game home stand, and more international soccer talk.

15 Juli 202359min

(00:00 - 3:01) - This edition of Soccer Saturday opens up with host Greg Rakestraw celebrating the Indy Eleven Womens Team's first post-season win in franchise history. After a 3-0 win over Flint City AFC, they advance now to face Minnesota Aurora FC in the Central Conference Final. Then a preview of the rest of the show. (6:03 - 18:04) - Indy Eleven Men's head-coach Mark Lowry returns for his weekly segment. He recaps the teams 2-2 draw with San Diego Loyal SC. The Eleven were down two goals and one player going into the second half, but they managed to fight back and leave the game with a point. Then Lowry looks ahead to their matchup against FC Tulsa happening later today. He details the changes that need to be made before the end of the season in order to make a big playoff run. (21:05 - 31:51) - From one coach to another as Paul Dolinsky, head-coach of the Women's team joins the program. Dolinsky has high expectations for the current Women's squad and believes that they got the anticipated result defeating Flint City. The team has only allowed three goals in 12 games this season which is a defensive presence that no other team in the Women's league has been able to show. Dolinsky says the team has thought about the potential "revenge factor" facing Minnesota in the quarterfinal. Minnesota eliminated the Women's team last year, but Dolinsky believe the revenge is more on their performance last year and letting a game slip away from them. (34:52 - 51:17) - Jonathan Tannenwald, writer for the Philadelphia Enquirer joins the show for the final full segment. He and Rakestraw discuss all the international soccer events happening right now. Tannenwald will be departing for Australia and New Zealand in the near future as he will be covering the Women's World Cup starting on July 20th. Rakestraw and Tannenwald go back in forth about the significance of the event both locally and on an international scale. For casual fans Trinity Rodman, daughter of Dennis Rodman, is going to be a name many pay attention to. Not only does she have relation to another elite athlete but as a soccer player is an elite level scorer as well. The segment closes out with Gold Cup and Men's International team talk. (54:18 - 56:33) - The final segment is a brief touch and go on upcoming Premiere League and International events.

8 Juli 202359min