Preview George Diamond

After officially clinching the Mid-Atlantic Division title for the third year running, the Ocean City Nor’easters (8-1-0) will travel to Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium on the Widener University campus for their last road game of the 2024 USL League Two season against Philadelphia Lone Star (3-5-1). The match is scheduled to kickoff at 6 p.m.

Fans unable to attend tomorrow's game should be sure to follow Ocean City’s Instagram and Twitter/X accounts to follow along for live updates throughout the game. Streaming details will be shared if available.

Last time out the Nor’easters suffered their first defeat of the season, dropping a tight 1-0 game to foes West Chester United. Despite the result snapping their perfect record, with the Real Central New Jersey and Reading United game ending in a draw, Ocean City mathematically clinched the division title on Saturday, June 29 with 24 points and a +20 goal difference.

While the first place spot in the Mid-Atlantic is no longer up for debate, second place is still up for grabs. Whoever holds 2nd will qualify to the play-in round of the USL-2 postseason.

WCU currently holds that position on 17 points from 10 games. Reading holds 3rd with 14 points but RCNJ are close behind on 13 points. Philly occupies 5th place on just 10 points but with only 9 games played, they have a game in hand on RCNJ and WCU.

In short, Philly needs to win out to have a chance of making the playoffs, but a loss will eliminate them from playoff contention.

Lone Star will take heart in having won two of their last three games. A 3-2 victory against Lehigh Valley United Rush and a wild 4-3 comeback against Reading United surround their recent loss against Ocean City.

In that game against Reading, Philly came back from being down 3-1 at halftime to winning 4-3. Mamadou Diarra scored a brace and he now leads the team in scoring with 5 goals. He also scored the lone Lone Star tally in each previous game this year.

The Nor’easters won’t have any reason to take their foot off the gas though. After losing against West Chester, Head Coach Matt Perella and his team will be looking to get back to winning ways. A victory on Wednesday would see the Nor’easters sweep Philadelphia in the regular season’s series, a feat the team accomplished last season. 

The Storm come into this game riding a 25-game road unbeaten streak (18-0-7) that stretches all the way back to July 3, 2019. A result will see that streak have lasted 5 years, to the day it was set, against Evergreen FC (currently named Northern Virginia FC).

OC and Philly have already met twice this season, both matches coming at the Beach House. The Nor’easters won both contests with scores of 4-1 and 3-1.

The most recent game saw captain Josh Jones (Louisville / Hatfield, PA) score a brace and defender Kaelan Debbage (Spring Arbor / Queensland, Australia) put in a two-assist performance. Center back Agustin Resch (Seton Hall/ Arata, Argentina) opened the scoring with his 3rd goal of the campaign.

Those results improved the Storm to a 10-1-1 overall record against Lone Star in the all-time series. Their only loss against Philly came on June 23, 2021 in Ocean City.