The Ocean City Nor’easters (8-1-5, 29 points) concluded the USL League Two regular season on Sunday night at Carey Stadium against West Chester United SC (7-2-4, 25 points).
This was the third meeting between these teams with the season series at 1-0-1. In addition, the Nor’easters won the Mid-Atlantic Division championship last Wednesday when West Chester United SC and Real Central New Jersey finished a draw 1-1.
The Nor’easters put their 28-game regular season unbeaten streak on the line, including 13 at home. The last time the Nor’easters lost a regular season game was on July 9, 2021, against West Chester United SC. West Chester United SC would end the streak after taking advantage of miscues by the Ocean City defense.
In the second minute, Marcus Brenes put West Chester United SC up 1-0 after launching a shot past goalkeeper Sebastian Doppelhofer and into the net. In the 14th minute, Ocean City tied the game 1-1 when Alessandro Arlotti threw the ball onto the field with Leonardo D’Ambrosio outmuscling a West Chester United SC defender before kicking the ball into the net. It was D’Ambrosio’s second goal of the season. In addition, it was Arlotti’s eighth assist of the year.
Fourteen minutes later, Harrison Coron beat Doppelhofer one-on-one to score a goal which put West Chester United SC back in the lead 2-1. Three minutes later, Jamie Davis made a cross pass from the left side of the field to the right side of the box toward Galen Flynn. Flynn headed the ball into the top right corner of the net and the game was tied again 2-2.
Two minutes later, Vincent Petrera one-timed the ball into an empty net for a 3-2 lead. The Nor’easters trailed 3-2 at halftime.
In the 54th minute, Sander Roed passed the ball to Jaime Davis for a long-distance shot into the back of the net that tied the game 3-3. From there it was all West Chester United SC. Joshua Pulla (68th minute, 88th minute), and Dominick Bachstein (90th minute) made it 6-3 for West Chester United SC.
The Nor’easters lost the game by the final score of 6-3 and West Chester United SC was eliminated from playoff contention. The Nor’easters will now look ahead to the playoffs against the Long Island Rough Riders next weekend.
