The Ocean City Nor’easters (8-0-5) will close out the 2023 USL League Two regular season on Sunday night with one of their goals already accomplished. Earlier this week, the Storm clinched the club’s second straight Mid-Atlantic Division championship. When they host West Chester United (6-2-4) at Carey Stadium (“The Beach House”) in Ocean City, N.J., America’s Greatest Family Resort, they will try to make more history.

A win or a draw on Sunday against West Chester would also complete a second straight undefeated season for the Nor’easters. Ocean City has never had back-to-back unbeaten seasons, and only one team in league history has ever done it (Des Moines Menace 2018-19).

The game kicks 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 Mike Frankel will be handling the play-by-play duties. Fans can follow the action live at Eleven Sports HERE.

The Nor’easters clinched the division and a third straight playoff berth after West Chester finished in a 1-1 draw with Real Central New Jersey this past Wednesday. The draw also eliminated WCU from playoff contention.

Entering the weekend, Ocean City is one of five teams in the entire league that are undefeated. (Chicago City SC, Park City Red Wolves SC, Fort Wayne FC, Texas United).

In their previous game last Sunday at the Beach House, the Nor’easters defeated Lehigh Valley United, 2-0. Kickoff was delayed nearly three hours due to lightning, but by the time the match finished, the Storm had earned their fifth shutout of the season. Jack Sarkos (UCLA / Margate City, NJ) and Alessandro Arlotti (Harvard / San Remo, Italy) each scored first half goals and Stefano Camerlengo (Missouri-KC / Pescara, Italy) earned his fourth clean sheet of the campaign.

The win extended the Nor’easters’ club record regular season unbeaten streak to 28 games (20-0-8) dating back to 2021. The team’s last loss came on July 9, 2021 against West Chester United. That WCU game was also the last time the Storm lost a home game. Their home unbeaten streak at Carey Stadium (“The Beach House”) is now at 13 games, which is the second-longest streak in club history.

West Chester United, which was founded in 1976, quickly became one of the top amateur clubs in the region since their first season of their adult soccer program in 2008. And while they have a long list of accomplishments in various leagues and tournaments, they didn’t join USL League Two until until 2021. The latest addition to their trophy case came last month when they won the Hank Steinbrecher Cup, a four-team “cup winners cup” of the reigning amateur soccer league champions. They qualified as the holders of the USASA’s Werner Fricker Cup. They defeated the USSSA champions Athletico Olanchoa in the Semifinal (2-0) before overcoming a two-goal deficit against USL League Two champions Ventura County Fusion and winning a PK shootout. 

When West Chester joined USL League Two in 2021, they won the Mid-Atlantic Division title with an 11-1-2 record. That year, Ocean City and WCU played four times. Each team won a game and the third finished in a draw. The two clubs faced off in the playoffs on a neutral site and West Chester edged the Storm 1-0. It was the first time the Nor’easters had played a team four times in a single season.

Last year, the Nor’easters completed a three-game sweep of the Predators with two games being played in Ocean City and another on the road.

Sunday will mark the fourth meeting of the 2023 season between the two clubs. On March 21, the Nor’easters went on the road and beat WCU 3-1 in the opening game of the 2023 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The two teams had very different rosters with Ocean City getting goals from Andres Latorre, Dylan Evande, and Andre Sabino. Brady Hochman (Rosemont College / Clarksboro, NJ) was excellent in goal and earned the win.

In league play on June 6, Ocean City returned to Wayne, Pa. and won again, this time by the score of 2-0. Ryan Becher (UCLA / Hummelstown, PA) and Sander Roed (Louisville / Tranby, Norway) each scored that night. The two would meet for a third time on West Chester’s home field on June 27. The Storm would fall behind 2-0 in the opening 23 minutes, but fought back to score two goals in the final 15 minutes by Joao Oliveira (Bethel College / Santa Catarina, Brazil) and Sander Roed to earn a 2-2 draw and keep the club’s record unbeaten streak alive.

Ocean City enters Sunday night’s regular season finale with a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) against West Chester. The Storm lead the all-time series at 6-2-2.

Sander Roed continues to be the top scorer for Ocean City with seven goals and two assists (16 points), while Alessandro Arlotti leads the team in assists with seven (to go along with three goals). Nick Pariano (Duke / Philadelphia, PA) is the team’s third leading scorer with 8 points (3 goals, 2 assists), leads the team in minutes played (1,092) and is one of three players to play in all 13 games (Brad Dildy, Joao Oliveira).

Goalkeeper Stefano Camerlengo has started all but one of the club’s games this year. He has a 7-0-5 record with four clean sheets and a 0.67 goals against average.