The Ocean City Nor’easters will bring another talented group of goalkeepers to the Beach House for the 2024 USL League Two season. This has been a long-time tradition in Ocean City. Since joining USL League Two in 2003, 21 netminders have moved on to play professionally. Among the names that have put on an Ocean City jersey include former MLS Cup MVP John McCarthy (2011-12) from the LA Galaxy (MLS), Tyler Miller (2012) from D.C. United, Logan Ketterer (2016) of CF Montreal (MLS), Jahmali Waite (2021) of the El Paso Locomotive FC (USL Championship) and the Jamaican National Team, Yannik Oettl (2021) of Indy Eleven (USL Championship) and Ben Martino (2022) of Nashville SC (MLS).

Below are the four goalkeepers who will be coming to play this summer in Ocean City, N.J., America's Greatest Family Resort.

The goalies on the 2024 USL League Two roster are listed in alphabetical order:

Marc Bonnaire (West Virginia - Warrenton, VA)

Bonnaire comes to Ocean City looking to create some momentum. Bonaire spent last season as the backup to Jackson Lee at West Virginia. Lee was one of the best goalkeepers in the country last season and helped the Mountaineers reach the national semifinals of the NCAA tournament. WVU was 17-3-4 last year, the most wins in program history. In the end, they fell short in the Sun Belt Conference Final but qualified for the NCAA tournament. There, they won three games before dropping a narrow 1-0 decision to Clemson in the final four.

Bonaire, who is entering his senior season at WVU, has a good chance at being the team’s starter as they look to take the next step and continue their national championship aspirations.

Bonnaire, who hails from Warrenton, Virginia, was one of the first recruits brought in by new head coach Dan Stratford ahead of the 2020 season. The Fauquier High School graduate played at the Virginia Development Academy for coach Matt Lacey. He played in 10 matches for VDA during the 2019-20 season, earning nine starts. Bonnaire earned all-district honors at Fauquier and also played basketball.

Donovan Friedhoff  (Montclair State - Toms River, NJ)

Friedhoff comes to Ocean City from North Jersey, hailing from Toms River. The Toms River North graduate played four years at PDA MLS Next, helping his team win four straight division titles. His team reached the MLS NEXT semifinals during his U-16 season, and made the quarterfinals three times.

Friedhoff is part of a NCAA Division 3 powerhouse at Montclair State, a program that hasn’t had a losing record since 2001 and has had 15 NCAA tournament appearances during that span. Last year, they reached the Sweet 16 and finished with an impressive 19-2-2 record. Friedhoff was part of a talented goalkeeper roster that included two 5th year seniors, so he didn’t see the field during his freshman campaign. But with those two seniors moving on, he is looking to compete for the starting job during his sophomore season this fall.  

Nathanael Sallah (Nebraska - Omaha / Hamburg, Germany)

Sallah just finished his junior season at Nebraska Omaha where he was part of an historic season for the Mavericks. While finishing below .500 in the regular season, Omaha got hot at the right time. Sallah was in goal for back--to-back shutout wins over Oral Roberts University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City to win the Summit League Tournament for the first time since 2017 and earn a spot in the NCAA tournament. (They would suffer a narrow 1-0 loss to Missouri State in the first round).

Sallah, who grew up in Hamburg, Germany, playing for Altona 93 Hamburg, was an All-Summit League honorable mention selection after earning six shutouts in 15 games (14 starts) and holding a 1.10 goals against average. He was also part of a goalkeeping duo who broke the school record for saves in a season (Sallah had 57 of the team’s 83)

Felix Schafer (South Florida - Berlin, Germany)

One of the most consistent traditions over the last 26 seasons with the Ocean City Nor'easters is the talented goalkeepers who have played at the Beach House. With all the future pros who have started in goal for Ocean City, Felix Schafer did something none of them have ever done. He was named the 2022 USL League Two Golden Glove winner as the top goalkeeper in the league. The award is based on statistics like goals allowed and save percentage. It was a historic year for Schafer who broke the single-season club record for goals against average with a 0.55. He just barely edged out Pat Hannigan’s 2004 mark of 0.56. Schafer was a big reason why the Nor’easters finished with the club’s first undefeated regular season since 2004. He finished the regular season with a 10-0-2 record and five clean sheets, which is one shy of the club record set in 2007 (Adam Edwards). He helped Ocean City close out the unbeaten regular season strong with four straight clean sheets (3-0-1). The clear cut choice for the Nor’easters’ Defensive Player of the Year award, Schafer was also a finalist for the USL-2 Player of the Year award. He won the fan vote, but would fall short in the overall voting.

Last summer, Schafer was only with the Nor’easters for a short time. He started the season opener on the road against Real Central New Jersey and with a 1-0 shutout win, he extended his personal shutout streak to a club-record 499 minutes dating back to the 2022 campaign. It would be the only game he would play last season as his college team, Santa Clara went on a tour of the United Kingdom. Schafer enters the 2024 season with a 0.50 career goals against average, which is the lowest in club history.

After starting his college career at Grand View University, Schafer transferred to Santa Clara. In his first season with the Broncos, Schafer earned the starting job and finished with a 1.36 goals against average and earned four clean sheets in 12 games. Last season, he split time with Jack Stoecker as SCU finished with a 7-7-3 record. Schafer will be graduating from Santa Clara this spring and then will be transferring to the University of South Florida this fall to get his masters degree.