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Nicolas Cam Orellana's stoppage time winner stuns West Chester United

Nor'easters come back to beat West Chester 2-1 at the Beach House to remain undefeated

Nicolas Cam Orellana's stoppage time winner stuns West Chester United

The Ocean City Nor'easters' second game at Carey Stadium over Memorial Day weekend appeared to be headed to a draw on Sunday night. Ocean City had overcome an early West Chester United goal and tied the game on an Alessandro Arlotti (Harvard / San Remo, Italy) goal in the 49th minute -- his third goal in as many matches. 

But deep into second half stoppage time, a quick counter attack led to Nicolas Cam Orellana (Keiser Univ. / Santiago, Chile) scoring a dramatic game-winning goal against the Mid-Atlantic Division leaders in front of the home fans. It was Cam Orellana's second goal of the season, and it was assisted by his brother Benjamin Cam Orellana (Univ. of Rio Grande / Santiago, Chile)

With the 2-1 win, the Nor'easters sweep their two-game Memorial Day weekend home stand at the Beach House in Ocean City, N.J., America's Greatest Family Resort.

The Nor'easters remain undefeated at 2-0-1 and move within two points of first place West Chester, with two games in hand.

Ocean City will take their undefeated record on the road for their next game on Saturday, June 4 at Reading United AC. 

"What a huge win," said Nor'easters head coach Kevin Nuss. "We not only executed our style of play but we fought to the end. I’m proud of this team and how they are coming together and what they were able to do tonight. We are only getting better!"

Just a few minutes into the match, West Chester took the lead. Levi Maruca received a long pass on the left wing from goalkeeper Kent Dickey. He brought the ball down and cut to the right and dribbled into the middle of the field. After beating a defender, he freed himself up to launch a curling shot from 25 yards out which he put into the side netting beyond a diving Ben Martino (Virginia Tech / Pittsburgh, PA).
 

Alessandro Arlotti of the Ocean City Nor'easters celebrates after scoring a goal in the 49th minute against West Chester United at Carey Stadium in Ocean City, N.J. on Sunday, May 29, 2022. Photo: Jack Verdeur

 

The Nor'easters appeared to be rattled because the ball was given away and WCU turned it immediately into a scoring chance. Lyam Mac Kinnon received a pass in the box, but Ocean City defender Abdi Salim kept him in check until Martino could come off his line to smother the ball and shut down the attack.

In the 11th minute, the Nor'easters created their first scoring chance when Arlotti played a ball through to Rodrigo Robles (West Virginia / Miranda de ebro, Spain) who fired a shot that forced a save from the West Chester goalkeeper.

About 10 minutes later, Maruca nearly scored a replica of his opening goal, but when he cut to the right into the center of the field his shot went to the opposite side of the goal and Martino was able to make the diving save.

In the 27th minute, Benjamin Cam Orellana (Univ. of Rio Grande / Santiago, Chile) launched a shot from 30 yards that forced a save from Dickey.

A minute later, the Nor'easters continued to put on the pressure as Nicolas Torres (Palm Beach Atlantic / Linares, Chile), raced up the left wing and played a ball up to a teammate who played it quickly to Arlotti who hit a shot from the left side of the penalty area which hit off the crossbar. 

After a few Ocean City scoring chances were sent wide of the goal, the teams went into the halftime break with West Chester leading 1-0.

The Nor'easters continued their momentum into the second half and it paid off with an equalizing goal in the 49th minute. Salim played a long ball out of the back up the right wing where Galen Flynn (Fordham / West Hartford, CT) tracked it down and immediately chipped the ball into the middle of the box. The ball found the head of Gyorgi Kamaras (Baker Univ. / Budapest, Hungary) but the ball bounced back out to the top of the box where Arlotti was there to volley the ball into the back of the net. With that goal, Arlotti has scored a goal in three straight games, which leads the team. 

Arlotti becomes the first player in Ocean City's 25-season history to score a goal in each of the first three games of the regular season.

West Chester took control, creating the majority of the chances for a good 20 minute stretch of the second half. Only one of their chances forced a save from Martino, though.

In the 77th minute, West Chester's second half sub Jacob Gosselin broke through two Ocean City defenders and was able to get off a tough-angle shot from the right side of the box. Martino made the save, but the ball struck him in the face and he lost one of his contacts and had to leave the game. Felix Schafer (Santa Clara / Berlin, Germany) who was in goal in Friday's 2-1 home win over Philadelphia Lone Star, came off the bench to replace him. Schafer would make two saves in the remaining 10 minutes of the game as West Chester pushed for the winning goal. The biggest of those two saves was another Gosselin shot on a multi-player break in the 84th minute. The second was an easier save but led to the game-winning goal. 

In the fourth minute of stoppage time, West Chester received a free kick in a dangerous position about 40 yards from goal. After a couple of WCU headers, the ball fell to Gosselin who attempted a bicycle kick which was easily saved by Schafter. The German goalkeeper who will be transferring from Grand View University (IA) to Santa Clara University in the fall, launched an immediate outlet pass up the field where the Nor'easters had numbers on the counter attack. Arlotti collected the ball at midfield, who played it out wide to Benjamin Cam Orellana on the right wing. Benjamin found his brother Nicolas Cam Orellana, who had just come into the game as a sub about 15 minutes ago, at the top of the box, who settled the ball and blasted a low shot past the diving goalkeeper in what proved to be the game-winner. Cam Orellana tore off his jersey in celebration to reveal a shirt from his home country of Chile as the crowd in Ocean City and his teammates went wild.

"This was the first time I have ever shown my Chilean shirt after scoring a goal since I set foot in the United States," said Cam Orellana afterr the game. "It was a gift from my mom before coming to the States from Chile in 2018. She gifted me that shirt to protect me and bless me when playing football. I scored more than 50 goals in college wearing that shirt as a second skin but I have never shown it in public after scoring a goal because I wanted to reserve it for a special moment. I couldn't have come up with a better moment than scoring this late goal playing next to my own brother [Benjamin Cam Orellana]."

For Nicolas, it has been a difficult journey to get healthy again, but he feels like Nor'easters head coach Kevin Nuss is bringing him along little by little. Nicolas played the first half on Friday against Philadelphia, and came off the bench late in the second half in tonight's game. He has scored two goals in two games, totaling 63 minutes of playing time.

"I had ACL surgery about one year ago and it has been difficult getting back to playing at the level I was at prior to the surgery," said Cam Orellana. "I am happy that the coach is giving me minutes little by little to get back at where I need to be to play at the next level."

There were still a couple of minutes of stoppage time remaining largely due to the delay with Martino losing his contact, but the Nor'easters defense held on for the win.

MATCH REPLAY / HIGHLIGHTS:

 

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