PREVIEW: Nor'easters look to keep unbeaten streak alive at Lehigh Valley Wednesday night
Ocean City has won five straight against United
The Ocean City Nor’easters will try to remain unbeaten when they travel north to take on Lehigh Valley United on Wednesday night.
The game will take place at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
A live video stream has not yet been announced. Be sure to check out Ocean City’s social media platforms for updates (@OCNoreasters).
The Nor’easters come into Wednesday’s match after a season opening win on the road last Saturday. They defeated Real Central New Jersey 1-0. Sander Roed (Louisville / Tranby, Norway) scored the lone goal for the Nor’easters in the 55th minute. Nick Pariano (Duke / Philadelphia, PA) delivered a cross to Roed who made a run through the middle of the box and volleyed it past the goalkeeper at point blank range.
With the win, the Nor’easters extended a number of streaks and broke a club record. The Storm extended their season opener unbeaten streak to seven games. Ocean City’s club record road unbeaten streak reached 15 games. Their last road loss was June 15, 2019 at Reading United.
The most impressive accomplishment came with Nor’easters goalkeeper Felix Schafer (Santa Clara / Berlin, Germany). Last year’s USL League Two Golden Glove winner made two saves and earned his sixth career clean sheet. He extended his personal shutout streak to 499 minutes, which breaks the club record of 460 minutes set by Adam Edwards in 2007. The streak dates back to last season.
Ocean City and Lehigh Valley have met 15 times, with the Nor’easters winning 13 of them. The only two losses have come on the road. The Storm have won the last five meetings, including a two-game season sweep last year. On June 8, the Nor’easters came back to win 2-1 at Carey Stadium (“The Beach House”) with Nicolas Cam Orellana scoring both goals in the final 20 minutes. Current Nashville SC goalkeeper Ben Martino picked up the win in goal for the Storm. Three days later, Ocean City traveled to Bethlehem, Pa. where they won 3-1 on goals from Alessandro Arlotti (Harvard / San Remo, Italy), Daniel Diaz-Bonilla (Syracuse / Vienna, VA) and Galen Flynn (St. Louis / West Hartford, CT)
While Ocean City has just one game under their belts, Lehigh Valley will be playing in their fourth game of the season on Wednesday. They lost their season opener on the road, 3-0 vs. Philadelphia Lone Star FC on May 13. They returned home and picked up their first point of the season with a 1-1 draw with Reading United AC. Lehigh Valley nearly had all three points but Reading scored an 84th minute equalizer. Last weekend, they hit the road again but lost to West Chester United, 2-0. Collin Muller scored United’s lone goal of the season against Reading.
Last year, Lehigh Valley struggled with a 1-12-1 record, finishing in last place in the Mid-Atlantic Division.