The oldest active rivalry in all of the United Soccer Leagues will be renewed on Saturday night at Alvernia University in Reading, Pa. The undefeated Ocean City Nor’easters (3-0-0) will try to remain in first place in the Mid-Atlantic Division when they travel north to take on Reading United AC.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

For fans unable to make the trip to Reading to cheer on the Nor’easters, there will be a live stream available. Check out the Nor’easters social media accounts (@OCNoreasters) for updates and links.

This will be the 56th all-time meeting between Ocean City and Reading in a rivalry that dates back to 1997 when both teams were professional teams in the USL’s lower divisions. They have met at least once in every season since 1997 (they did not play in 2008 and 2009) and Ocean City leads the all-time series 24-22-9.

This will be the first of two regular season meetings between the clubs. Last year, they met three times with Ocean City winning twice, and the third meeting finished in a 1-1 draw. The Storm are unbeaten in their last six meetings (4-0-2) with Reading. This is their longest unbeaten run against Reading since 2007. 

The Nor’easters have started the season with three straight wins. This is the third straight season that they have started the campaign undefeated in the first three games. They enter Saturday’s contest looking to add to a number of impressive streaks. The club is unbeaten in the last 18 regular season games, which is one shy of the club record set back in 2005. Ocean City’s road unbeaten streak is at 16 games which is a club record. The last time the Storm lost a road game in the regular season was on June 15, 2019 when they fell 2-0 at Reading United.

It was a big early challenge for the Nor’easters in 2023 as they played the first three games of the season. In less than a week. They began with a 1-0 road win over Real Central New Jersey on May 20. Sander Roed scored the lone goal in the 55th minute and Felix Schafer earned the clean sheet in goal. Schafer’s shutout broke the club record for a shutout streak dating back to last season 499 minutes). A few days later, they traveled to Lehigh Valley United and earned a 3-1 win. Roed added two more goals and North Carolina-bound teenager Andrew Kitch scored his first Ocean City goal. LVU’s late goal in that game snapped Ocean City’s shutout streak at a club record 587 minutes.

Last weekend, the Storm welcomed Philadelphia Lone Star to the Beach House for Ocean City’s 26th home opener (20th as a member of USL League Two). An 8th minute goal by Andrew Kitch was all the Nor’easters needed for the 1-0 win. Goalkeeper Stefano Camerlengo earned his second straight win and kept the clean sheet with a penalty kick save in the 77th minute.

Reading enter Saturday’s contest in fourth place in the Mid-Atlantic Division with a 1-1-2 record. Last Saturday, they finished with a 2-2 draw at home to West Chester United (3-0-1), who currently sit in first place in the division, having played one more game than Ocean City.

United fell short in back-to-back USL League Two championship games in 2018 and 2019, but then after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 and 2021 seasons, they haven’t been the same. In 2022, they finished in fifth place with a 4-7-3 record, which was one of their worst seasons since joining the league in 2004. In 2023, they still struggled, by their standards, with a 5-4-5 record.

Sam Hershey leads Reading in goals with three in four matches. Hershey, who was a star player at NCAA Division II school Lock Haven University, also played as kicker on the school’s (american) football team. He is set to transfer to American University in the fall.