The oldest rivalry in the entire United Soccer Leagues will add another chapter on Saturday night when the Ocean City Nor’easters host Reading United AC.

The 57th all-time meeting between the long-time rivals will take place at Carey Stadium (“The Beach House”) in Ocean City, N.J., America’s Greatest Family Resort. It is not only the oldest active rivalry in USL League Two, but it is the oldest among all USL Championship and USL League One teams.

This is a rivalry that dates back to 1997 when both clubs were professional teams in the USL’s lower divisions. They have met nearly every season since 1997 (they did not play in 2008 and 2009) and Ocean City leads the all-time series 24-22-10.

All home games at the Beach House kick off at 7 p.m.

Single-game tickets can be purchased for $10 each (general admission). The easiest way to purchase tickets is to buy them online through the Nor'easters website (OceanCityFC.com). Tickets can also be purchased at the Carey Stadium gate either with cash or with a smartphone.

Any youth, high school or college soccer coach is entitled to a free season membership for all home games at Carey Stadium. Coaches interested in season tickets just have to register and fill out a short survey by clicking HERE. Also, youth soccer players from SJEB FC, New Jersey Surf and Cohansey Premier can get in free by wearing their club's shirt to Carey Stadium.

For fans unable to make it out to the Beach House, the Nor'easters are partnering with BFA Productions to provide a live video stream through the digital streaming platform Eleven Sports, Local broadcast veteran Marc Narducci will be handling the play-by-play duties, filling in for Mike Frankel. Fans can follow the action live at Eleven Sports. A link will also be shared on the Nor’easters’ social media account.

The Nor’easters are returning home after a big midweek road win over Philadelphia Lone Star FC. On Wednesday, the Storm cruised to a 4-1 win over Philly. Alessandro Arlotti (Harvard / San Remo, Italy) tied a single-game club record with three assists. There were four different goalscorers on the night: Jamie Davis (New Hampshire/St. Peter's/Cheshire, England), Sander Roed (Louisville / Tranby, Norway), Nick Pariano (Duke / Philadelphia, PA), and Josh Jones (Louisville / Hatfield, PA) all tallied for Ocean City. Stefano Camerlengo (Missouri-KC / Pescara, Italy) earned his fifth win after holding Lone Star scoreless for 89 minutes. After he was subbed out, Philly spoiled the shutout by scoring on a free kick in stoppage time. Camerlengo enters the weekend with a personal 217-minute shutout streak. 

With Wednesday’s win, the Storm extended their club record regular season unbeaten streak to 23 games. The team’s last loss came on July 9, 2021 against West Chester United. The Nor’easters road unbeaten streak (also a club record) has now reached 20 games. The last road loss came on June 15, 2019 at Reading United.

The Nor’easters enter Saturday’s game with a 6-0-2 record on the season and remain in first place in the Mid-Atlantic Division. They are six points ahead of second place West Chester United, but the Storm have played one more game. Entering the weekend, Ocean City is one of 11 remaining undefeated teams in the league.

The Nor’easters’ top scorer this season is Sander Roed with five goals in six matches. Ryan Becher (UCLA / Hummelstown, PA) is second with three goals. Arlotti leads the team with four assists, followed by Brad Dildy (Univ. of Charlotte / San Antonio, TX) with three (all three assisted on Becher’s goals). Nick Pariano leads the team in minutes played (714) and joins Dildy and Joao de Oliveira as one of three players on the roster who have played in every game this season.

This will be the second and final meeting between the clubs this season. On June 3 in Reading, Ocean City’s reigning team MVP Alessandro Arlotti (Harvard / San Remo, Italy) scored a first half goal to put the Storm ahead but United scored an equalizer in second half stoppage time. The goal by Shuma Saski split the points, but the Nor’easters maintained a seven-game unbeaten streak (4-0-3) against Reading, the longest unbeaten run in the rivalry since 2007.

Reading have struggled this season, but are looking to turn things around and make a push for the postseason. This past Wednesday, they snapped a five-game winless streak (0-1-4) with a 1-0 home win over Real Central New Jersey. Sam Hershey, Reading’s leading scorer, scored the lone goal in the first half to give Reading a series win (2-0-1) over RCNJ which gives them a crucial tiebreaker over them. This season could have been very different. Reading enters Saturday’s match with a 2-2-5 record. They are tied with the Boston Bolts with a league-leading five draws. In fact, they are one of four teams in the league who have more than three draws. They are in third place in the division, just three points behind second place West Chester United, but WCU has played two fewer games.

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 season, they haven’t been the same. In 2021, 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 2022, they still struggled, by their standards, with a 5-4-5 record.