A pair of clutch penalty kicks by Nick Pariano (Duke / Philadelphia, PA), including the game-winner in second half stoppage time was enough to deliver the Ocean City Nor’easters a narrow 2-1 playoff win over the Hudson Valley Hammers.

The win sends the Nor’easters to the USL League Two Eastern Conference Final which will take place on Friday against the Chesapeake Division champions Lionsbridge FC (11-2-1). Lionsbridge defeated the South Atlantic Division winners North Carolina Fusion U-23s 3-1 on Sunday night.



The Eastern Conference Final will take place on Friday, July 28 followed by one of the national semifinals between the Eastern Conference and Central Conference winners on Sunday, July 30. The location of both games will be the same and will be announced on Monday.

VIDEO REPLAY: Nor'easters vs. Hammers (Eastern Semifinals)

With the win, the Nor’easters completed a weekend playoff sweep. They had a dramatic 2-1 win over the Metropolitan Division champion Long Island Rough Riders on their home field at the Mitchell Athletic Complex in Uniondale, N.Y. Jack Sarkos (UCLA / Margate City, NJ) scored the game-winner in the 83rd minute. Less than 48 hours later on Sunday afternoon, the Nor’easters beat the Metropolitan Division’s second place team by the same scoreline, on the same field.

Stefano Camerlengo (Missouri-KC / Pescara, Italy) made several big saves in goal for the Nor’easters as he improved his unbeaten season record to 9-0-5. His goals against average in all competitions is now sitting at 0.71 which is the third-best single-season mark in club history.

It will be Ocean City’s first trip to the Eastern Conference Final (USL-2 Quarterfinals) since 2016 and the fifth time in the club’s USL League Two history (2004, 2009, 2013, 2016, 2023).

“It was a fantastic team performance once again,” said Nor’easters head coach Matt Perrella. “We didn't feel like ourselves today with the heavy legs [After a game on Friday night] but guys battled and ultimately did enough to win, and that's what counts. Whatever comes next we're going to do our best to battle and get the result. One at a time, we've had that in our heads all season long.”

After both teams traded chances in the first half, the opening goal of the game came in the 39th minute. A free kick was taken by Pariano on the left wing in the Hammers’ half of the field. The ball was immediately cleared out, but it was controlled by the Nor’easters and they switched play over to the right wing where the ball fell to Maruki Kawahara (Nebraska-Omaha / Tochigi, Japan) gathered the ball at the edge of the penalty area, took a touch into the box and a Hudson Valley defender took him down. The referee immediately pointed to the spot to award the penalty to Ocean City.

Pariano stepped up, and drove it low to the goalkeeper’s right, but the netminder dove to his left and the Nor’easters were up 1-0. It was the fifth time in the last six games that Ocean City had scored the opening goal.

Just like the Rough Riders did on Friday night in the opening round game, the Hammers equalized. In the 54th minute, Neto found just enough space on the left side of the penalty area, near the touch line to squeeze in a low cross. He sent it into the six-yard box, Camerlengo got a piece of it but it fell to another Hammers player right in front of goal who fired a shot at point-blank range. Camerlengo made a quick reflex save, but the rebound deflected out to the top of the box where Alex Zielonka hit a shot through traffic and into the back of the net. 

As the clock ticked past the 90th minute, both teams continued to fight to avoid extra time. The Nor’easters won a throw in on the right sideline and quickly tossed it in to Jamie Davis (New Hampshire / Cheshire, England) who quickly turned, dribbled up the right wing and played the ball to last year’s team MVP Alessandro Arlotti (Harvard / San Remo, Italy). Arlotti had a defender take the ball away from him as it rolled toward the end line, he could have given up on the play, but he went on the attack to try to win the ball back. And he did just that. He stole the ball back right at the end line and dribbled toward the goal as two defenders closed on him. He quickly cut back away from the touchline but one of the defenders tripped him up and for the second time, the referee pointed to the penalty spot.

And for the second time, Pariano was handed the ball and he took the PK. This time, he went the opposite direction, firing to the goalkeeper’s left, as he dove to the right and the Nor’easters regained the lead. For Pariano, it was the fourth penalty kick goal (third of the 2023 season) in the last two seasons in an Ocean City uniform. It was the seventh goal of his Nor’easters career and fifth of 2023.

“Nick has ice in his veins,” said Perrella. “It was great for us to get in position to earn those penalty kicks, Maruki and Ale [Arlotti] drew them and Nick has been clinical from the spot since he's been with us.”

It was just the third time in club history that a player scored two penalty kicks in the same game. The first time it happened was in 2019 when Claudio Repetto (who currently plays for Miami FC of the USL Championship) scored a first half goal from the spot and then added a 90th minute equalizer to earn a 2-2 road draw against Evergreen FC on July 3, 2019. The second time it happened was the very next game (July 7, 2019) at home against Reading United AC when USL League Two MVP Deri Corfe scored a hat trick (two first half PKs) in a 4-1 win.