'It’s a little bit surreal': Indy Eleven W League team in championship in just second year

INDIANAPOLIS — Alia Martin hadn’t scored a goal in seven years.

But Martin, who usually hangs back as a defender for Indy Eleven's W League team, moved up to midfield with just over 10 minutes left of their game against San Francisco Glen. It’s not unusual for her to move up in crucial moments of the game, which it was — the Eleven and Glen were tied at two goals apiece with a chance to go to the W League National Championship on the line.

“Coach Paul Dolinsky, he, you know, sometimes he moves me up the field in crucial moments, which is super fun for me because my whole life I trained as an attacking mid and a holding mid,” Martin said. “So, it’s fun to get that freedom again.”

Martin, a former standout at Brebeuf Jesuit, used her newfound freedom to find the back of the net in stoppage time, putting the Eleven up, 3-2, which ended up being the game’s final score

Her goal came with another perk — they didn’t have to play any overtime.

“By the 92nd minute, I was just absolutely gassed,” Martin said. “But I saw (teammates Addie Chester and Maisie Whitsett) running down the field. The ball got pushed up the field super quickly. And I'm in the back half of the field and I'm like, ‘Alright, there's one more run.’ This has got to be it because I don't get to make it to overtime. That was really my mindset. I was like, ‘Just one more, like, this has to be it.’”

Now, Indy Eleven are heading to the championship game just two years after the club’s founding. Indy (11-1-1) will host NC Courage U23 (12-0-1) at IUPUI's Carroll Stadium, 2 p.m., Saturday.

“It’s a little bit surreal,” said Dolinsky, who has coached the team since its inception. “We didn't know what to expect last year, but with the success we felt last year, expectations were set a little bit higher going into this year. And I think if you were to ask the girls, it's where they feel we belong. And it's well-deserved.”

The Eleven, a pre-professional women’s soccer team, saw immediate success in their first season in Indianapolis in 2022. They went undefeated in the regular season and suffered their first loss to the Minnesota Aurora in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

This season, they came back with a vengeance

“Even looking back where we are now and last year, I think we had, talent-wise, enough talent to get past that game, whether it was Minnesota or another team,” said Eleven assistant coach/player Maddy Williams. “I think we, Indianapolis, has a large talent pool in the Midwest in general. So, there definitely was a revenge aspect to that.”

The Eleven and Aurora met again in this season’s quarterfinal, with Indy coming out victorious.

Leading up to the championship game, however, the Girls in Blue aren’t making a big deal out of it. After all, most of the players have full-time jobs of their own. The Eleven are taking this week just like any other — practicing when they can and staying focused.

“We need to not overthink or overanalyze what it is, what we want to do, or who it is we want to beat,” Dolinsky said. “I think we just got to go out and play and you know, work our opponent, outplay our opponent as much as we possibly can.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy Eleven USL W League team in championship game vs. NC Courage U23