The Ocean City Nor’easters will kick off the club’s 27th season on Saturday night when they host the Philadelphia Lone Star FC at Carey Stadium (“The Beach House”) in Ocean City, N.J.

It will be the Nor’easters’ 21st season as a member of USL League Two as they enter the campaign seeking a third straight Mid-Atlantic Division championship.

The game will kick off at 7 p.m. at America’s Greatest Family Resort.

Single-game tickets for Nor'easters home games can be purchased for $10 each. Season memberships, which include all seven regular season home games and any potential exhibition games (like FC Monmouth on June 4), are $50. 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.

For fans unable to make it out to the Beach House, the Nor'easters are continuing to partner with BFA Productions to provide a live video stream through the digital streaming platform Sports Engine. Local broadcast veteran Mike Frankel will be back to handle the play-by-play duties. Fans can follow the action live at Sports Engine here. There will also be live updates provided on the Nor'easters' X (Twitter) account (@OCNoreasters).
 

Saturday will mark the 11th all-time meeting between the Storm and Lone Star FC. Ocean City leads the series 8-1-1, and are currently unbeaten in their last seven meetings against Philadelphia. The first time the two clubs played was in the First Round of the 2017 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup at the Beach House. Fredlin Mompremier, Tyler Collishaw and Akeil Barrett all scored for the Storm that day, with Ignacio Tellechea adding a pair of assists.

Last season the Nor’easters swept all three games against Philly. They won 1-0 in Ocean City’s home opener on May 26 with Andrew Kitch scoring the game-winning goal. On June 21, they traveled to Philadelphia and came away with a 4-1 win thanks to a club record-tying trio of assists from Alessandro Arlotti. On July 7, the Storm completed the sweep at the Beach House with a 3-1 win as Sander Roed scored a goal and added two assists.

The Nor’easters have one of the best home records in USL League Two history. Ocean City has the fourth-best home record since joining the league in 2003 (95-29-30). The Storm have won five straight home openers and have only lost one home game in the last two seasons (10-1-3).

The Nor’easters enter the 2024 campaign after back-to-back Mid-Atlantic Division championships. In 2022, under head coach Kevin Nuss, they finished the regular season undefeated for just the second time in club history (11-0-3).

When Matt Perrella took over as head coach he carried that momentum into the 2023 season. After already clinching the division, they lost their first game in the last regular season game of the season to West Chester United. The loss would bring one of the longest unbeaten streaks in league history to an end at 28 games. The Storm would finish 8-1-5 and would make a third straight playoff appearance.

After consecutive 2-1 road wins over the Long Island Rough Riders and the Hudson Valley Hammers, the Nor’easters’ playoff run would end in extra time on the road against Lionsbridge FC. They would fall 4-2 in the Eastern Final (USL-2 Quarterfinals).

This year, the Nor'easters have brought in a talented core of young players, combined with seven returning players, including 2022 USL League Two Golden Glove winner Felix Schafer, who leads an outstanding group of goalkeepers.

For the Philadelphia Lone Star FC, they already have three games under their belt and all three were wildly different results. After losing their season opener at home to West Chester United 5-0, they rebounded a week later with a 4-0 win over Real Central New Jersey.

Then, earlier this week they got a rematch with West Chester on the road and earned a tough 2-2 draw. West Chester jumped out to a 2-0 lead at halftime, but Philly battled back and Mamadou Diarra and Aboubacar Camara each scored a goal in the first three minutes of the second half to tie the game.

Alexander Tarway leads the team with two goals (both were scored vs. RCNJ) with four different players listed with one each. Temple University goalkeeper Flannan Riley has been in goal for the club’s first three games. 

Last season, Lone Star finished in fifth place in the Mid-Atlantic Division with a 3-9-2 record.