With strong winds blowing off the nearby Atlantic Ocean, the Ocean City Barons opened the 2008 Premier Development League (PDL) season with a 1-1 draw with the Newark Ironbound Express on Sunday night. The Express, an expansion team from North Jersey, played m uch of the game shorthanded after a red card was shown to one of their players early in the first half. Late in the game, another Newark player saw red, but no matter how many chances they created, the Barons were unable to earn three points.

Since the Barons moved to Ocean City in 2005, there have been very few, if any, games played in poor weather conditions. That was until Sunday night. With wind gusts that reached as high as 40 miles per hour, both teams had to battle the elements in what turned out to be a very physical game.

OCEAN CITY, NJ (May 11, 2008) - With strong winds blowing off the nearby Atlantic Ocean, the Ocean City Barons opened the 2008 Premier Development League (PDL) season with a 1-1 draw with the Newark Ironbound Express on Sunday night. The Express, an expansion team from North Jersey, played much

of the game shorthanded after a red card was shown to one of their players early in the first half. Late in the game, another Newark player saw red, but no matter how many chances they created, the Barons were unable to earn three points.

Since the Barons moved to Ocean City in 2005, there have been very few, if any, games played in poor weather conditions. That was until Sunday night. With wind gusts that reached as high as 40 miles per hour, both teams had to battle the elements in what turned out to be a very physical game.

It took 16 minutes of play to produce the year’s first bizarre moment. Jimmy Davis (LaSalle / Pittsgrove, NJ) was taken down by Newark’s Alex Russo near midfield and a foul was called. As both players ended up on the ground, the two became tangled and tempers flaired, resulting in Russo biting Davis on the arm. Center referee Paul Catalina saw the incident and issued a straight red card, bringing the expansion side down to ten men.

Despite the man advantage, the Barons weren’t able to capitalize until the 68th minute when defender John Fletcher (Eckerd College / Uxbridge, ENG) nodded home an Adam Williamson (Lehigh / Ocean City, NJ) corner kick to give the home side a 1-0 lead. However, the lead was short lived as the visitors managed to equalize less than 10 minutes later. Former New York Red Bulls (Major League Soccer) player Jerrod Laventure fired a shot that grazed the crossbar, and then deflected off the far post and into the back of the Ocean City net.

Minutes after scoring his third goal of the season, Laventure won a free kick at the edge of the penalty area after he was fouled by second half substitute Ryan Richter (LaSalle / Southampton, PA). Laventure took exception to the foul and retaliated, however, the Newark goalscorer took his revenge against the wrong player and headbutted Ocean City defender Connor Gorman (West Virginia / Philadelphia, PA). Laventure was also shown a straight red for his attack on Gorman, a recent William Penn Charter High graduate who was making his PDL debut.

However, even with a two-man advantage and the wind at their backs, the men in red were unable to find a winner and the game finished tied at one each. Zach Zamek (Franklin & Marshall / Hillsborough, NJ) made his first PDL appearance in goal for the Barons and finished with four saves. With tonight’s draw, the Barons remain unbeaten in their last five season openers.

"I felt like we dominated play and we should have won considering we were a man up," said Barons general manager Neil Holloway. "We had more possession, but with it being our first real time out as a team, I still feel like we performed well, and we’ll be ready to go for Wednesday’s game."

The Barons will travel to Morris County, New Jersey for a midweek clash on May 14 with another expansion side, the New Jersey Rangers, with the kick-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Tonight’s game doubled as a qualifying game for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament, and with the rest of the Eastern Conference in a pretty tight race, the Barons are still very much alive.