The Ocean City Nor’easters’ historic 2022 season came to an end on Friday in Newport News, Va. The Mid-Atlantic Division champions fell, 3-1, after a second half comeback by the Long Island Rough Riders. The team’s 2022 record will finish at 11-1-4 including the postseason and Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

Despite the result, head coach Kevin Nuss had nothing but pride for what his group accomplished.

“I’m extremely proud of our effort and ability to stay and fight together as a team,” he explained. “I’m happy I got to be a small part of this team this season.”

This was an uncharacteristic result for the Nor'easters this year. The 2022 team was statistically the best defensive team in club history. They set a club record for team goals against average (0.64), and fewest goals allowed (9). Friday's game was the first time this season that the Storm had allowed more than two goals in a game.

“Unfortunately, tonight was not our night but that is the game and we aren’t defined by our result tonight,” Nuss added.

The match started off well enough for the No. 4 seed. Ocean City forward and Delran, N.J. native MD Myers opened the scoring after a great display of team passing. After starting from Golden Glove winning goalkeeper Felix Schäfer in the 29th minute, the ball hit four OCN players including Myers before finding the back of the net all within 15 seconds. Midfielder Jeorgio Kocevski pulled off a great spin to avoid an oncoming Long Island defender before passing up to Myers near the left side of the box, where he finished into the top left corner.

Outside of that one goal the game remained even throughout. The No. 5 seed Long Island Rough Riders have a storied history against Ocean City, being the second-oldest rival the team has, dating back to their first meeting in 2001 when both teams were professional sides. Even without that background, the two clubs finished with great records in 2022, leading many to expect the game would be close. The fans at TowneBank Stadium were treated to a mix of styles and tactics, meaning they were entertained either watching from the stands or from the nearby bouncy castles.

Coach Nuss knows that once you enter the playoffs there are no easy wins. Every team earned their place into the tournament and was going to play like it.

“At this point, every opponent is tough and Long Island was a good opponent,” coach Nuss said. “We were able to create some tactical problems for them in the first half but [in the] second half they came out with good energy.”

That second half was where things started to come apart. Despite the sun setting the temperature still sat around 90 degrees with humidity being a factory. Both teams slowed down as the game progressed but OCN bore the most negative results.

The first blow came in the 71st minute when defender Bjarne Thiesen kicked the ball from just behind the centerline all the way into the OCN box. Long Island forward Matthew Vowinkel challenged Schäfer for the pass, eventually beating him out for it with his head. The ball bounced into the back of the net to make it a tie game, 1-1.

It was the first goal allowed since June 29 in a 2-1 road win over West Chester United. After ending that game with 72 minutes of shutout soccer, the Nor'easters defense ended the regular season with four straight clean sheets (3-0-1) to end the regular season. Combine that with 70 minutes without allowing a goal, that totaled a 502-minute scoreless streak, which breaks the club record of 460 minutes set in 2007 (Adam Edwards).

While the Nor’easters hoped the hydration break four minutes later would help them, the match continued to slip away. The closest the team got came in the 82nd minute. A corner kick resulted in Daniel Diaz-Bonilla getting the ball on the right side. His pass into the box was headed over the crossbar by leading scorer Alessandro Arlotti.

Long Island stuck the critical blow not long after in the 85th minute. After a shot was blocked by an OCN player and a rebound rang off the right post, newly-introduced substitute Justin Weiss slammed in a high shot past Schäfer to make it 2-1. It was his third goal in seven games as he continues to have a great closing stretch of the season.

Ocean City began to play up more desperately for an equalizer but instead allowed the Rough Riders more space to work with whenever they got the ball back. LIRR forward Ryan Carmichael followed up his playoff clinching hat-trick from last week with a stoppage time goal to make it 3-1. The result was sealed as the theme from Ted Lasso blaired over the TowneBank Stadium speakers. No amount of believing was going to save the Nor’easters season as the final whistle blew not long after.

Long Island moves on to face No. 8 seed Vermont Green FC on Sunday afternoon. The wildcard knocked off top seed and host Lionsbridge FC, 2-1, in Friday’s nightcap. With both the Lions and the Nor'easters falling, this means both undefeated Eastern Conference teams exit the playoffs.

This is not unusual in USL League Two history. There have been 25 teams to finish the regular season undefeated, and only one of them (2010 Portland Timbers U-23s) have won the championship. In fact, of the 25, 13 of them lost in the opening round of the playoffs. This year was the first year in league history that four teams finished without a loss, and three of them (Ocean City Nor'easters, Lionsbridge FC, Texas United) lost on Friday. Only the Des Moines Menace survived their first round matchup.