The Ocean City Nor’easters continued the club’s record unbeaten streak with a 4-1 win at Philadelphia Lone Star FC on Wednesday night.

Alessandro Arlotti (Harvard / San Remo, Italy) tied a single-game club record by assisting on the first three goals of the game. There were four different goalscorers on the night: Jamie Davis (New Hampshire/St. Peter's/Cheshire, England), Sander Roed (Louisville / Tranby, Norway), Nick Pariano (Duke / Philadelphia, PA), and Josh Jones (Louisville / Hatfield, PA) all tallied for Ocean City.

Nor’easters goalkeeper Stefano Camerlengo (Missouri-KC / Pescara, Italy) was seconds away from earning his second straight clean sheet and his fourth of the season, but was subbed out in the 87th minute. He was replaced by Brady Hochman (Rosemont / Millersville / Clarksboro, NJ) and Philadelphia ruined the team shutout with a goal in stoppage time. Camerlengo’s shutout streak continues at 215 minutes. But he improved his record to 5-0-2 and his goals against average is among the league leaders at a 0.43.

The Storm extended their club record regular season unbeaten streak to 23 games. The team’s last loss came on July 9, 2021 against West Chester United. The Nor’easters road unbeaten streak (also a club record) has now reached 20 games. The last road loss came on June 15, 2019 at Reading United.

The Nor’easters improve to 6-0-2 on the season and remain in first place in the Mid-Atlantic Division. They are six points ahead of second place West Chester United, but the Storm have played one more game. They are one of 13 remaining undefeated teams in the league. Philadelphia drops to 3-3-1 and fall to fourth place in the division after Reading United edged Real Central New Jersey 1-0 to jump into third place.

With a second win over Lone Star FC this season, that clinches the season series, which means Ocean City holds the tiebreaker over Philadelphia when it comes to playoff positioning. It was also the first home loss for Lone Star this season. The two teams will play one more time on July 7 at the Beach House in Ocean City.

"Overall the team played really well," said Nor'easters head coach Matt Perrella. "Obviously it's easy to say that when you score four goals, but part of our conversation during pre-match was to continue to sacrifice for each other and allow different players to have moments throughout the game. I think tonight really showed that guys are willing to sacrifice individual moments for the betterment of the team and that's where I think this group can be really dangerous down the road."

The Nor’easters opened the scoring in the 24th minute when they earned a throw-in near the corner flag deep in Philadelphia territory on the right side. The ball was thrown in to Arlotti who received it with his back to goal, posting up his defender close to the near post. When an extra defender closed on him, he cleverly tapped the ball to Davis who was wide open in front of goal and he blasted it past the keeper.

About 10 minutes later, Philadelphia tried to play the ball up to midfield but the ball was intercepted and the Nor’easters were off on a break. Arlotti was taken down as he approached the box but not before he laid the ball off to Roed on the left wing who fired it into the back of the net for his team-leading fifth goal of the season.

Five minutes into the second half, Ocean City would add a third as Arlotti used his speed to get past a defender on the left wing. As he approached the box, he played a ball across to Pariano who took a big touch in front of goal and managed to recover and beat the keeper to make it 3-0.

With his third assist, Arlotti tied the single-game club record for assists. Last year's Offensive Player of the Year joins four other Ocean City players in the record book: Ryan Howe (2016), Nathan Regis (2016), Frank Tweneboa (2012), Byron Carmichael (2005). His three helpers gives him a team-leading four assists on the season and 10 for his Ocean City career. Ten assists ranks fifth-most in Nor'easters club history, passing Tony Donatelli (2004-05), Fredlin Mompremier (2017-18), and Nathan Regis (2016). His 28 career points (9 goals, 10 assists) moves him into 11th on the club's all-time scoring list.



The game appeared to be over but in the final few minutes each team scored to wrap up the evening. Pariano delivered a free kick into the box in the 88th minute and Philly was unable to control the rebound. The ball fell to Jones who put it into the back of the net. It was the first goal of the season for Jones, who was recently named to the USL League Two Top Performers list.

The Nor'easters defense looked as though it was headed to a fifth clean sheet of the season but Philadelphia connected on a free kick goal in stoppage time to spoil the shutout.

"Getting some new players on the scoresheet was important, building some confidence there," said Perrella. "We were able to get all 18 players into the game, so that continues to show and reiterate the message that I believe we go as far as we can because of each guy on the roster who contributes in whatever large or small way is what's going to keep this team fighting for each other and hopefully lead to something special. I can't say enough good things about the way that they executed the gameplan and they did it together as one group."

With the win, the improve to 7-1-1 all-time against Lone Star. Ocean City is unbeaten (5-0-1) in the last six meetings against Philadelphia.