A brace from Zoncher Dennis pushed the Nor'easters past the Royals in PDL action.

This match took a frantic pace from the opening whistle with both sides exchanging early goals in Northern Virginia. The Nor’easters flew out of the gate, taking a 1-0 lead in the 6^th minute with a chip from Zoncher Dennis over the charging Northern Virginia keeper, assisted by Jason Plumhoff. Northern Virginia responded with a goal placed into the right side-netting by Eber Martinez in the 10^th minute, assisted on a low cross by AJ Sheta. Back and forth the scoring went, as Zoncher Dennis broke the tie in the 20^th minute, scoring his second goal of the match by capitalizing on a deflection that pin-balled around the Northern Virginia box. Seven minutes later Machel Baker forced Northern Virginia keeper, Brown, to lay out for a beautiful save on a shot from 25 yards out. Ocean City keeper Colin Webb was tested in the 34^th minute, stopping two Northern Virginia shots in quick succession, maintaining the Nor’easter’s first half lead. In first half stoppage time, the Nor’easters Jason Plumhoff blasted a free kick under the wall of defenders, off the post, and into the back of the net, extending Ocean City’s lead to 3-1 at the half.

Both teams settled into a more balanced pace early in the second half as Ocean City looked to maintain their lead by thwarting the Northern Virginia attack and counter-attacking when able. The teams swapped yellow cards in the first fifteen minutes of the second half. Northern Virginia’s pace began to quicken late in the second half, playing aggressively and attacking the Ocean City defense with pace. The Nor’easters found themselves on their heels in the 76^th minute as AJ Sheta caught Webb off his line, scoring Northern Virginia’s second goal of the match from midfield. Ocean City made two defensive-minded substitutions in the 80^th minute with Maurey and Chapman in for Lurie and Plumhoff. In the final 10 minutes of the match, the Nor’easters were able to hold off a barrage of chances from their attacking-minded opponents. Northern Virginia possessed the ball well in the final minutes and took their goalie out of the net during two corner kick chances, but the Nor’easters successfully fought to maintain their 3-2 advantage.

Ocean City won the match 3-2 with goals from Zoncher Dennis (2) and Jason Plumhoff. Plumhoff added an assist to the victory. The Nor’easters defense held firm in the second half, and keeper Colin Webb collected 3 saves in the road win, the team’s first Mid-Atlantic division victory of the season. Man of the match: Zoncher Dennis.