After nearly three hours after the scheduled 7 p.m. kickoff at Carey Stadium (“The Beach House”) in Ocean City, N.J., the lightning strikes finally ended. Once the game finally kicked off, the Ocean City Nor’easters defended their home field at America’s Greatest Family Resort with a 2-0 win over Lehigh Valley United on Sunday night.

Alessandro Arlotti (Harvard / San Remo, Italy) and Jack Sarkos (UCLA / Margate City, NJ) scored a goal each and Stefano Camerlengo (Missouri-KC / Pescara, Italy) earned his fourth clean sheet of the season in the second to last regular season game of the season.

VIDEO: Ocean City Nor'easters 2:0 Lehigh Valley United

The win sets up a thrilling regular season finale at the Beach House next weekend. On Sunday, July 16, the Nor’easters (8-0-5), who are in first place in the Mid-Atlantic Division, will host second place West Chester United who is currently eight points behind Ocean City, but WCU has three games yet to play. A win or a draw will clinch a second straight division title for the Nor’easters and a third straight USL League Two playoff appearance.

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 have ever done it (Des Moines Menace 2018-19).

Right now, Ocean City is one of six teams in the entire league that are undefeated at this stage of the season (Chicago City SC, Flint City Bucks, Park City Red Wolves SC, Fort Wayne FC, Texas United).

Sunday’s game against West Chester United will be played at Carey Stadium. All home games 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 Mike Frankel will be handling the play-by-play duties. Fans can follow the action live at Eleven Sports.

Sunday night’s 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.

Once the game finally kicked off the Nor’easters opened the scoring in the 22nd minute. Ocean City was putting on significant pressure on the LVL goal. Moments earlier, after United cleared out a Nor’easters corner kick, Brad Dildy (Charlotte / San Antonio, TX) carried the ball back into the offensive third and set up Jack Sarkos for a shot that forced a diving save from goalkeeper Lance McGrane (Michigan State). That would lead to another corner kick and Jamie Davis (New Hampshire / Cheshire, England) would serve it in. Arlotti would head the ball on goal from close range and McGrane made an impressive reaction save, but Sarkos was there inside the six-yard box to tap it in for his first goal of the season.

In the 39th minute, another rebound would lead to another goal. It was a great build up from the Nor’easters as the ball was played across to the right wing where Galen Flynn (St. Louis / West Hartford, CT) avoided a tackle and touched it forward on a run. As last year’s Creative Player of the Year approached the penalty area, he played the ball across to the middle where he found Colin Veltri (St. John’s / Mays Landing, NJ) who immediately laid it off to Sander Roed (Louisville / Tranby, Norway) at the top of the box. Ocean City’s leading scorer lined up a left-footed shot and McGrane made a diving save to his right, but once again, was unable to control the rebound. Arlotti was chasing the play and pounced on the ball and volleyed it into the net for his third goal of the season.

The goal was Arlotti’s 11th of his career, which moves him into a tie for 7th on the club’s all-time goalscoring list. Last year’s team MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, is now tied with former pros Simon Becher (2021), Ryan Heins (2003-07), and Ryan Richter (2008-10). He now has 35 career points (11 goals, 13 assists), which ranks 7th on the club’s all-time scoring list.

They would go into the halftime break with a 2-0 lead and the defense would hold strong throughout the second half and preserve the team’s fifth shutout of the campaign.

With Sunday’s win, Ocean City completes the three-game season sweep of Lehigh Valley and improved its all-time record against LVU to 16-2-0. The only two losses have come on the road. The Nor’easters are 9-0-0 all-time against Lehigh Valley at the Beach House. The Storm have won the last eight meetings, including a two-game season sweep last year.