Nor'easters fall to Ironbound Express, 3-0
Former Ocean City players doom their former club
The Ocean City Nor’easters dropped a 3-0 decision to the Ironbound Express on Wednesday night at Carey Stadium. The loss snapped a three-game unbeaten streak for the Nor’easters and also clinched a playoff spot for the Express.
| Ocean City FC Lineup | School / Hometown | ||||||
| GK - Tunde Ogunbiyi | Boston College / Gwynedd, PA | ||||||
| DEF - Sal Pistone | Stockton College / Blackwood, NJ | ||||||
| DEF - Kevin Curran | Loyola / Ocean View, NJ | ||||||
| DEF - John Fletcher | Eckerd College (’08) / Uxbridge, ENG | ||||||
| DEF - Alex Weidman | Monmouth / Linwood, NJ | ||||||
| MID - Giancarlo Granese | Hofstra / Ocean City, NJ | ||||||
| MID - Max Hamilton | Monmouth / Medford, NJ | ||||||
| MID - Giovanni Tacconelli | Lenape HS (Iona) / Mt. Laurel, NJ | ||||||
| MID - Neal Melchionni | Lehigh / Marmora, NJ | ||||||
| FWD - Terry Gibbs | Bloomfield College / London, England | ||||||
| FWD - Kyle Miller | Holy Cross / Woodbury, NJ | ||||||
| Substitutes | |||||||
| Junior Chapman | LaSalle / Ocean City, NJ | ||||||
| Kevin Strunk | Lehigh / Downingtown, PA | ||||||
| Byron Carmichael | Marshall (’03) / Lumberton, NJ | ||||||
| Ryan Richter | LaSalle / Southampton, PA | ||||||
| Colin McFadden | St. Augustine Prep (Scranton) / Ventnor, NJ | ||||||
| MJ Nestor | Wildwood Catholic (Iona) / Avalon, NJ | ||||||
| Scoring Summary | |||||||
| 32nd (IRONBOUND) | Rob Youhill (Hemir Mebles) | ||||||
| 38th (IRONBOUND) | Chris Karcz (Rob Youhill) | ||||||
| 76th (IRONBOUND) | Joseph Avensari (Unassisted) | ||||||
|
GAME STATS |
OCEAN CITY |
IRONBOUND |
|||||
|
Shots |
4 |
14 |
|||||
|
Saves |
10 |
2 |
|||||
|
Fouls |
10 |
11 |
|||||
|
Offsides |
2 |
3 |
|||||
|
Corners |
0 |
5 |
|||||
Two former Ocean City FC players combined on the first two goals for the Express. Rob Youhill converted the first, and then assisted on Chris Karcz’ goal minutes later.
The Express broke through in the 32nd minute when Hemir Mebles sent in a cross which was buried by Youhill. Six minutes later, Youhill was involved again, assisting off a corner kick, as he set up Karcz for the second goal.
The visitors would put the game out of reach in the 76th minute when an impressive individual effort by Joseph Avensari made it 3-0.
Tunde Ogunbiyi made 10 saves for the home team, giving him 140 for his career, and breaking the club’s all-time record, previously held by Adam Edwards (2006-2007). Ogunbiyi also became the broke Ryan Carr’s club record for career minutes played by a goalkeeper. After tonight’s game the Boston College keeper’s total stands at 2,430.
With the playoffs out of reach for Ocean City, a number of young players got a chance to play, highlighted by three rookies making their PDL debut.
Before the match, four Super-20 players were added to the roster. Goalkeeper McKenzey Scott and three midfielders, Giovanni Tacconelli, Colin McFadden, MJ Nestor. The three field players all made their debuts, with Tacconelli starting the match in central midfield.
It was the second 3-0 loss to the Express in 2010, and a franchise-worst fourth shutout loss in the season. In three seasons of the Express being a PDL franchise, Ocean City’s record in seven meetings is 2-3-2, with the Nor’easters winning both meetings in 2009 by a combined score of 12-2.
The Nor’easters drop to 4-5-5 on the season, and have two home games remaining. The club has never had fewer than six wins in a season, so pride and history will definitely be on the line when Ocean City host the Carolina Dynamo on Saturday (8 p.m. kickoff) and the West Virginia Chaos the following Saturday, July 24 (7 p.m. kickoff).
