ST. PETERSBURG, FLA (June 25, 2025) – The Tampa Bay Rowdies weathered a two-hour lightning delay and a first-half concession to come away with all three points in a 3-1 comeback win over Indy Eleven on Wednesday night at Al Lang Stadium.
“We’re getting better each week,” said Rowdies Interim Head Coach Steve Coleman. “When we get better every week and start having some positive results, people start having belief. But we can’t look too far ahead. We’ve discussed at length, it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. We’ll keep getting better week on week. But I’m incredibly proud of the guys, their performance, their resilience. A deserved result tonight.”
Originally slated to kick off at 7 PM, Wednesday’s bout with Indy didn’t end up starting until just past 9 PM. Despite the delay, the Rowdies came out of the gate with a good tempo and came inches away from a go-ahead goal when captain Aaron Guillen smashed a left-footed strike into the top corner of the goalpost.
The visitors ended up grabbing the first goal of the night right before the halftime break. After a turnover in the Rowdies defensive third, Indy’s Maalique Foster found the ball at his feet and launched a long-range shot straight into the back of the net. For the seventh straight match, the Rowdies found themselve chasing the game after conceding the first goal.
“Tonight we’ve made one error in the first half in terms of a clearance and [Maalique Foster] has smashed it from outside the box into the roof of the goal,” said Coleman. “Other than that, we didn’t offer too many things to Indy in the first half. So frustrating, and then it feels like someone’s popped a ballon in the stadium and you can feel the air come out of the place, which is understandable given what’s happened previously. But I thought we were much, much better tonight.”
Tampa Bay had a chance to equalize from the penalty spot in the 53rd minute after forward Manuel Arteaga was dragged down in the box. Arteaga hit the ensuing penalty with conviction but sent his effort just over the crossbar.
Undeterred, the Rowdies leveled things 15 minutes into the second half through wingback Blake Bodily. The sequence started at midfield, with Bodily combining with teammate Woobens Pacius on a one-two passing exchange. From there, Bodily charged forward and slipped a pass to Arteaga, whose pass back to Bodily deflected favorably off a defender, allowing Bodily to deposit a low strike from the left edge of the six-yard box past keeper Hunter Sulte.
“We’ve made a real emphasis on sticking together through the bad moments, honestly,” said Bodily. “I think it showed tonight. Going down, we know that there’s still 45 minutes left, so we can get into halftime and regroup. We knew we were the better team in the first half. We knew that if we stuck with what was working week, we’d end up with a win. We got three goals out of it.”
The Rowdies found their vital go-ahead goal from off the bench. Seconds after entering in he 69th minute, wingback Nick Moon burst through Indy’s defensive line to make his way into the box before rifling a shot that clipped a sliding defender on its ways into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Rowdies defender Laurence Wyke bagged a third goal to seal the result in the third minute of added time, tapping home a pass from midfielder Ollie Bassett to cap off a counter attack.
The three tallies were all the first of the year for Bodily, Moon, and Wyke. The victory is third straight win for the Rowdies at Al Lang across league play and the USL Jagermeister Cup.
“The recent wins here are kind of showing how the rest of the season is going to be,” said Moon. “We’re down in the table and it’s just going to be a battle to get back up. We’re gonna do it. We’re just gonna have to keep moving forward ans sticking together.”
Next up, the Rowdies travel to face FC Naples in the Third Round of the USL Jagermeister Cup on Friday, July 4, at 7:30 PM ET.
Scoring Summary
IND – Foster, 45+1’
TBR – Bodily, 60’
TBR – Moon (Alvarez), 69’
TBR – Wyke (Bassett), 90+3’
Caution Summary
IND – Kizza, Yellow Card, 44’
IND – Rendon, Yellow Card, 45+3’
TBR – Guillen Yellow Card, 56’
IND – Foster, Yellow Card, 66’
IND – Hogan, Yellow Card, 68’
TBR – Arteaga, Yellow Card, 73’
IND – Lindley, Yellow Card, 83’
TBR – Pacius, Yellow Card, 90+6’
Lineups
Rowdies: Bandre, Castellanos, Wyke, Guillen, Vancaeyezeele (Skinner, 69’), Crisostomo (Lasso, 87’), Hilton, Bodily (Moon, 69’), Alvarez (Mustali, 87’), Pacius, Arteaga (Bassett. 73’)
Rowdies Bench: Campisi, Lasso, Moon, Skinner, Bassett, Mustali
Indy: Sulte, Rendon (White, 71’) O’Brien, Ofeimu (Hogan, 32’), McRobb, Bryneus (Lindley71’), Soumaoro, (Murphy, 29’) Blake, Quinn, Foster, Kizza (Amoh, 71’)
Indy Bench: Murphy, Hogan, Charles-Cook, White, Lindley, Collier, Amoh
