A scoreless 45 minutes initiated a second half that saw three goals scored. Unfortunately, two out of the three goals scored were by the opposing Cedar Stars Rush.

The Ocean City Nor'easters lost 2-1 to the Rush in the first-ever meeting between the two clubs in a game played at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J.

Both sides had numerous opportunities to gain a lead in the first 45 minutes of play. However, neither side could find the back of the net. In the 16th minute, Williams N’Dah (University of Charleston / Rome, Italy) connected on a header from a Ryan Inman (High Point / Birmingham, England) corner kick but sailed just over the crossbar.

The best chance of the first half came with a minute left to play. RC Williams (UPenn / Wayne, PA) beat a defender and slotted the ball across the box. Ilias Kosmidis (High Point / Thessaloniki, Greece) connected with the cross but a Cedar Stars deflection led to a corner for the Nor’easters. Daniel Kozma (Grand View / Budapest, Hungary) delivered a header off the corner and was well-struck but Gocic dove to his right and made the stop.

The opportunities came early for both sides during the second half. In the 48th minute, the ball fell to Brandon Smalley (Florida Tech / Bridlington, England) at the top of the 18. Smalley’s shot went inches wide to the right of the frame.

Nine minutes later, Juan Parada sent a ball into the Nor’easters 18 and found defender Andy Martinez, who headed it past Nor’easter goalkeeper Jan Hoffelner (St. Johns / Frankfurt, Germany). Cedar Stars gained some momentum from the Martinez goal but that didn’t last long.

About six minutes after the goal, the Nor’easters were knocking the ball around just outside of the Cedar Stars 18. Kosmidis fires a shot toward goal but it was deflected. Fortunately for the Nor’easters, the ball landed at the feet of Deri Corfe (Wright State / Chester, England). Ocean City's team MVP from last season went around a defender, corked his leg back and ripped a shot into the bottom right corner of the Cedar Stars goal. Corfe’s 63rd minute equalizer was his team-leading fourth goal of the 2019 campaign.

Two goals in six minutes woke up both offenses but meant that both defenses needed some fresh legs. In the 66th minute, Joey Bhangdia (UPenn / Lewisburg, PA) replaced Austin Bihlmeyer (Eastern Tennessee, Knoxville, TN). In the 66th minute Cedar Stars Rush made a substitution with Alex Mieles coming on for Jack Casey. In the 73rd minute Ritchie Barry (St. Joes / Sparta, NJ) replaced Claudio Repetto (Coastal Carolina / Genova, Italy). Exactly one minute after the Barry-Repetto substitution, Cedar Stars Rush scores their second goal of the game.

Juan Parada, who assisted on the first goal, was left unmarked at the top of the 18. The ball made its way to Parada and he fired it into the bottom left corner to put Cedar Stars Rush up 2-1 over the Nor’easters.

The final 15 minutes of regulation saw four more subsitiutions, with two from both sides. Gustavo Fernandes (Stony Brook / West Babylon, NY) replaced Williams in the 80th minute. Six minutes later, Leon Maric (St. Joes / Gilbertsville, PA) replaced Kosmidis to give the Nor’easters some fresh legs in the final minutes of regulation. The Rush maintained possession during the last five minutes as the head referee blew his whistle for the final time.

The Nor’easters play again on Friday, June 7 at 7 p.m. in a friendly against neighboring club Atlantic City FC at the Beach House. The next USL League Two matchup is on the road against New York Red Bulls Under-23s in Whippany, NJ on June 12 at 7 p.m.