Very little has come easy for the Ocean City Nor’easters this year, and Saturday night’s 3-2 win over the West Virginia Chaos was no exception. The Nor’easters played with a man advantage for the vast majority of the match, but saw the shorthanded Chaos come back to tie the game twice.

Ocean City got goals from Max Hamilton, Byron Carmichael and the game-winner in the 75th minute from second half substitute Terry Gibbs. The win was the club’s second in a row and keeps their record against the Chaos unbeaten in four all-time meetings (2-0-2).

The physical battle between the two clubs got off to a heated start in the 18th minute when Jamie Davies of the Chaos hammered Ocean City defender Kevin Curran with a two-footed tackle and was shown a straight red card.

"West Virginia was a very physical team tonight," said Ocean City head coach Neil Holloway. "They weren’t just going to lie down just because they were down to 10 men. It was a hard-fought victory, but I thought we were the better team."

A common occurance in the sport of soccer is the team that goes down a man, often plays harder than the team with the advantage, and the game remains competitive. That certainly was the case on Saturday night. 

The Nor’easters got the first goal of the match in the 32nd minute when William Swetra sent a corner kick into the penalty area where it found the foot of Max Hamilton, who volleyed home his first PDL goal. For Swetra, it was his first assist of the season.

The visitors would take the 1-0 lead into halftime, but it was the hosts who would answer just after the break. In the 52nd minute, Justin Gordon would pull the game level after a scramble in the box, only to have the Nor’easters regain the lead four minutes later.

Carmichael would give the team that 2-1 lead on a play that would begin at the Nor’easters’ backline with Kevin Curran. He played a ball up the wing to Ryan Richter who played a ball through to Carmichael, who struck it with his left foot and past West Virginia netminder Jordon Lower.

In the 68th minute, the shorthanded Chaos would equalize again, this time on a set piece. A free kick from about midfield would find the head of Mark Young who sent a high looping ball toward goal and just out of reach of Ocean City goalkeeper Tunde Ogunbiyi and into the back of the net.

Terry Gibbs would come off the bench to save the day for the Nor’easters, scoring the game-winner in the 75th minute. Swetra sent in another corner kick, which was nodded back toward the goal by defender Kevin Strunk and Gibbs was there on the doorstep to tap it home to make it 3-2. 

"We’re getting back into the winning habit," said Holloway. "Hopefully we can keep it going, there’s still a long way to go."

Ocean City continues their streak of road games next Saturday, June 19 when they travel to Greensboro, NC to take on the Carolina Dynamo.