USL League Two has released the league schedule and alignment for the 2022 season with the Ocean CIty Nor'easters taking part in the club's 25th season (the last 19 in USL League Two). 

The league will feature more than 110 teams across North America between four conferences with most teams, including the Nor'easters, playing a 14-game schedule.

The Nor'easters will compete in the Mid-Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference for the 11th season in a row. For the second straight year, Ocean City will kick off the season on the road against Real Central New Jersey. The game will be played on May 21 at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, N.J. (a stadium the Nor'easters called home back in 2003).
 

Kevin Nuss will lead the Ocean City Nor'easters in the club's 25th season in 2022. Photo: Jack Verdeur

The 2022 home opener will be on Friday, May 27 when the Nor'easters host Philadelphia Lone Star FC at Carey Stadium.

The Nor'easters' home opener, and all home games, will take place at Carey Stadium, also known as "The Beach House", in "America's Greatest Family Resort" in Ocean City, N.J. All home games will kick off at 7 p.m.

Since 2003, the Nor'easters have the fourth-best home record (85-28-27) of any team in USL League Two. The club's 25th season could also mark another milestone as the Nor'easters are four wins away from 100 all-time victories at The Beach House.

"I'm honored to be leading the club that I've spent so many years of my life supporting, into its 25th year," said Nor'easters head coach Kevin Nuss. "The Mid-Atlantic Division has always been one of the most competitive divisions and it's no different this year."

Nuss is returning for his second stint as Ocean City head coach. The Logan Township, N.J. native spent seven seasons with the Nor'easters in a variety of roles, including head coach and sporting director in 2019. Nuss recently completely his first season as head coach of the Indian Hills Community College (Iowa) men’s soccer program, having accepted the position in July of 2021.

Nuss has assembled a talented technical staff in addition to a strong front office staff that includes three former Ocean City head coaches (Tim Oswald, John Thompson, Neil Holloway).

The Mid-Atlantic Division will play a 14-game regular season schedule again this year with the same lineup of teams from the 2021 season, with the exception of Northern Virginia FC, which changed divisions. The other five teams include defending division and conference champion West Chester United, Lehigh Valley United, a pair of second-year clubs in Philadelphia Lone Star FC and Real Central New Jersey, as well as long-time rival, Reading United AC.

Before the regular season starts, the Nor'easters will also take part in the 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which begins in the week of March 22-23. This will be Ocean City's 10th appearance in the 107-year-old single-elmination national championship tournament, which is open to all teams from Major League Soccer to Sunday beer league amateur teams. The opening round opponent will be announced this week.

Since there are only five opponents in the division this year, the Nor'easters will play three games against every team except for Lehigh Valley United who will be two games (one home, one away). Ocean City will host Real Central New Jersey and West Chester United twice, and will play two road games against Reading United AC and Philadelphia Lone Star FC.

"It's always challenging to play a team three times in a very short window," said Nor'easters sporting director Tim Oswald. "The way our division is structured this year will be unique, but that's the beauty in it."

In 2021, the Nor'easters finished with a 9-2-3 record, the club's best regular season record since 2013. Ocean City finished in second place in the Mid-Atlantic Division for the second year in a row. However, unlike in 2019's playoff format, a second place finish was good enough for the Storm to make the playoffs for the first time since the club's Eastern Conference championship season in 2016.

The Nor'easters did it by making some history along the way on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the 2021 team scored 40 goals, the second most in the league, and the most by an Ocean City team since 2005. On the defensive side, it was one of the best back lines in club history, allowing just 12 goals in 14 regular season games with a 0.86 team goals against average. Both were records for a 14-game season. Another defensive accomplishment was eight clean sheets across all competitions, the second-most in club history. (Check out the 2021 Season Review).

Below is the complete 2022 schedule along with a profile of each opponent.

DATE	TIME	HOME		AWAY	VENUE
Wed., March 23, 2022 (USOC Round 1)	7:00	Ocean City Nor'easters	vs.	Lansdowne Yonkers FC (EPSL)	Carey Stadium ("The Beach House")
Sat., May 21, 2022	7:00	Real Central New Jersey	vs.	Ocean City Nor'easters	Mercer County Community College Soccer Stadium - West Windsor, NJ
Fri., May 27, 2022	7:00	Ocean City Nor'easters	vs.	Philadelphia Lone Star FC	Carey Stadium ("The Beach House")
Sun., May 29, 2022	7:00	Ocean City Nor'easters	vs.	West Chester United SC	Carey Stadium ("The Beach House")
Sat., June 4, 2022	7:00	Reading United AC	vs.	Ocean City Nor'easters	Alvernia University - Reading, PA
Wed., June 8, 2022	7:00	Ocean City Nor'easters	vs.	Lehigh Valley United	Carey Stadium ("The Beach House")
Sat., June 11, 2022	7:00	Lehigh Valley United	vs.	Ocean City Nor'easters	Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA
Fri., June 17, 2022	7:00	Reading United AC	vs.	Ocean City Nor'easters	Alvernia University - Reading, PA
Sun., June 19, 2022	7:00	Ocean City Nor'easters	vs.	Real Central New Jersey	Carey Stadium ("The Beach House"
Fri., June 24, 2022	7:00	Ocean City Nor'easters	vs.	Reading United AC	Carey Stadium ("The Beach House")
Wed., June 29, 2022	7:30	West Chester United SC	vs.	Ocean City Nor'easters	Kildare's Turf Field - West Chester, PA
Fri., July 1, 2022	7:00	Ocean City Nor'easters	vs.	Real Central New Jersey	Carey Stadium ("The Beach House")
Wed., July 6, 2022	7:00	Philadelphia Lone Star FC	vs.	Ocean City Nor'easters	South Philadelphia Super Site - Philadelphia, PA
Sun., July 10, 2022	7:00	Ocean City Nor'easters	vs.	West Chester United SC	Carey Stadium ("The Beach House"
Sat., July 16, 2022	7:00	Philadelphia Lone Star FC	vs.	Ocean City Nor'easters	South Philadelphia Super Site - Philadelphia, PA

	Lehigh Valley United 2021: 3-10-1, 6th place in Mid-Atlantic Division Lehigh Valley United had a really challenging first two years in the PDL. United won just a single game in 2015 and upped that total to three in 2016. They won four games in 2017, but the club took a step back in 2018 with just one win. In 2019, they took a step forward and won four games (and earned three draws) in one of the toughest divisions in the league. The club joined USL League Two after five years in the National Premier Soccer League where they won the league championship in 2012 and made the playoffs in four of the five seasons, including two appearances in the national final four. In 2019, the two teams split the season series as Ocean City lost to Lehigh Valley for just the second time in club history, falling 2-0 on the road. The Storm bounced back with a 4-3 home win on June 28. In 2021, the Nor'easters blanked LVU in both meetings, outscoring them by a combined score of 10-0 to improve their all-time record against United 11-2-0.
	Philadelphia Lone Star FC 2021: 5-9-0, 4th place in Mid-Atlantic Division The Philadelphia Lone Star were supposed to join USL League Two as an expansion team in 2020, but the pandemic has pushed their debut until 2021. But when they met for the first time in league play last year, it wasn't the first time they had played. The first time they met was in the 2017 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup when Ocean City blanked Lone Star FC (back when they were under the name "Junior Lone Star FC"), 3-1 in the First Round of the tournament. The two teams met again toward the end of the 2019 season in an exhibition game when Lone Star were a member of the NPSL. The game finished in a 1-1 draw with Deri Corfe scoring the lone goal and Philadelphia's only tally was an Ocean City own goal. Ocean City and Philadelphia met three times last season with each team winning on their home field by the score of 2-1 in the first two meetings, and the Storm cruising to a 6-0 win in Philadelphia in the regular season finale. .

	Reading United AC 2021: 4-7-3 .... 5th place in the Mid-Atlantic Division Reading United AC are the Nor'easters' oldest rivals. Reading joined the D-3 Pro League in 1996, the year before Ocean City launched. Since then, they have played 52 times both as professional and USL League Two teams. After Reading swept both regular season meetings in 2016, the two met in the Eastern Conference championship game. It was the first time the two long-time rivals had met in a playoff game and it was Ocean City that pervailed, winning 4-1 on the road. It snapped a six-game winless streak against United and it was their first win at Reading in 10 years. In 2019, the two teams split the season series with the Nor'easters winning the 50th meeting at the Beach House, 4-1. Deri Corfe scored a hat trick that day which padded his USL League Two MVP resume on his way to sharing the league scoring title. In 2021, the year after reaching the USL-2 Final for the second year in a row, Reading had one of their worst seasons since joining the league in 2004. They finished with a 4-7-3 record and missed the playoffs, finishing in 5th place. After a scoreless draw at the Beach House, Ocean City traveled north and beat Reading 5-2. It was the first road win against United since that 2016 Eastern Conference championship game.
	Real Central New Jersey 2021: 2-9-3, 7th place in Mid-Atlantic Division Being an expansion team is usually tough and that was no different for Real Central New Jersey in their inaugural season in 2021. The club finished with a 2-9-3 record, and a last place finish in a very competitive Mid-Atlantic Division. The Nor'easters spoiled the club's inaugural game at their home at Mercer County Community College (a place that the Nor'easters called home temporarily during the 2003 season), beating them, 3-0. RCNJ's first trip to the Beach House also did not produce any goals with the Nor'easters winning 5-0 thanks to an Austin DaSilva hat trick.
	West Chester United SC 2021: 11-1-2, 1st place in Mid-Atlantic Division West Chester United, which was founded in 1976, has quickly become one of the top amateur clubs in the region since their first season of their adult soccer program in 2008. And while they have a long list of accomplishments in various leagues and tournaments, last year was United's first season as a member of USL League Two. Their inaugural season was a successful one, winning the Mid-Atlantic Division title with an 11-1-2 record. For the first time in club history (and what is very rare in league history), Ocean City played against West Chester United four times. The two teams met three times in the regular season and once more in the postseason. Ocean City handed WCU their first (and what turned out to be their only) loss in the Storm's home opener on May 23 by the score of 2-1. The two teams would share a point after a scoreless draw at West Chester on June 16, which gave Ocean City an 8-game unbeaten streak to start the season (the best start since 2004). The two teams would meet in a crucial late-season matchup in Ocean City with WCU winning 2-1 which clinched the division title for them, and clinched second place for the Nor'easters. The two teams would meet for the fourth time in the Conference Semifinals with West Chester edging the Nor'easters 1-0 on a neutral field in Leesburg, Va.