TAMPA, Fla. – For the eighth time this season, Indy Eleven midfielder Jack Blake has been named to the USL Championship “Team of the Week”. The 30-year-old Blake was voted to the USL Championship “Team of the Week” on March 12, March 19, April 9, May 7, May 28, August 27, and September 17. Blake’s honor marks the fourth consecutive week that a Boys in Blue player has been on the “Team of the Week” during the team’s current five-match unbeaten streak (3-0-2).
Blake led the Boys in Blue to a playoffs-clinching victory against Birmingham Legion FC on Saturday with a goal and three chances created while completing 29 of 41 passes and recording seven recoveries and two clearances. Just more than 90 seconds after the Eleven had taken a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute, forward Douglas Martinez passed it back to Blake who took one touch to control at the top of the penalty area and unleashed a brilliant strike across his body into the top-left corner of the net. That score is a nominee for the USL Championship Fans’ Choice “Goal of the Week” presented by Select.
It was Blake’s 10th goal of the season, and it came in his 50th start in two years for the Boys in Blue. His 10 goals in 2024 equals his best professional regular-season total for the Jacksonville Armada in the NASL in 2017. The Nottingham, England, native is one shy of the 11 total goals that he scored for the Real Monarchs SLC in 2019 when he helped them win the USLC Championship. He is now tied for fourth in Indy Eleven franchise USLC history with 13 goals.
The Boys in Blue (14-10-9, 51 points) need a win or tie at the Tampa Bay Rowdies in Saturday’s 7:30 pm regular-season finale to clinch hosting an Eastern Conference quarterfinal in the 2024 USL Championship Playoffs presented by Terminix the first weekend in November. The match will be televised on WNDY 23 and streamed on ESPN+.
