The Ocean City Nor'easters will begin their run in the 2022 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup on Wednesday, March 23 against Lansdowne Yonkers FC. The game will be held at Carey Stadium ("The Beach House") in Ocean City, N.J., America's Greatest Family Resort. A win will give the Nor'easters a chance to upset a professional team in the next round.

Just like every home game at the Beach House this season, kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Tickets are only on sale at the Carey Stadium gate on game day. General admission tickets are $10 each with all kids age six and under getting in free.

Also, thanks to Ocean City's partnership with local soccer clubs, any kids wearing their New Jersey Surf, South Jersey Elite Barons (SJEB) or Cohansey shirts will get in free.

This will mark the 10th time in club history that the Nor'easters will take part in the US Open Cup, one of the oldest cup competitions in the world. It will be the first time Ocean City has qualified since 2018.

The winner will advance to the Second Round where they will play a road game against professional side Rochester New York FC (formerly the Rochester Rhinos) of new MLS Next Pro league. One of the owners of Rochester New York is Leicester City star Jamie Vardy. The game will be played on Thursday, April 7 at 7p.m.

Modeled after England's FA Cup, the US Open Cup is a single-elimination tournament that is one of the oldest cup competitions in all of world soccer and has been the national championship for the United States since it launched in 1913. The tournament is open to professional and amateur teams from Major League Soccer to Sunday beer league teams and everything in between.

After the tournament was canceled the last year two years, the 107th edition of the US Open Cup will feature a Modern Era (1995-present) record 103 teams, 10 of them from USL League Two (USL-2).

Qualification is based on the Nor'easters' regular season record from last season (9-2-3) as the club finished within the Top 10 of remaining eligible teams.

"We are excited to be included in this year's US Open Cup and will immediately begin building a roster and preparing a competitive squad," said Nor'easters sporting director Tim Oswald. "Almost all of the players planning to be part of our 2022 roster will still be competing with their respective college programs this Spring so are ineligible for the event [when it begins in late March]. We will focus on recent college graduates who just finished playing collegiately and assembling some top local talent. I am sure we will see some Ocean City alumni that have retired from the professional ranks return to the Beach House for a cup run which will be exciting to see."

The Lansdowne Yonkers FC (also known as the Lansdowne Bhoys FC), are a member of Eastern Premier Soccer League, which is made up of elite amateur teams from New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Massachusetts and the Washington D.C. area. They qualified for the US Open Cup after winning the 2021 USASA National Amateur Cup championship. The club is a national power at the amateur level, having won numerous trophies, including the Amateur Cup twice, three National Fricker Cup titles (2017, 2019, 2021), as well as numerous league titles.

This will be Lansdowne's third US Open Cup appearance. The club has won three games in their two previous trips to the tournament, including their biggest win, a 2-0 upset win on the road against the USL's Pittsburgh Riverhounds in 2016. (Note: Ocean City alum Ovan Oakley played in that game for Lansdowne)

The Nor'easters are one of the most successful amateur teams in the country when it comes to the US Open Cup. Only two amateur teams in the country (Michigan Bucks and the Des Moines Menace, both of USL-2) have more Open Cup wins (11) and professional team upsets (6) than Ocean City has as a USL-2 team. Of those six wins over professional opposition, five of them were shutouts in front of their home fans at The Beach House.

The first pro upset came in 2005 with a 4-0 win over the Long Island Rough Riders (USL-2). The next two upsets came in 2007 and 2009 against the same team, Crystal Palace Baltimore. They followed up that 2009 win with a second straight stunner, a 1-0 extra time win over the Real Maryland Monarchs (USL Second Division). That earned them a date with D.C. United of Major League Soccer. They traveled to Maryland and lost a close 2-0 decision to the defending Open Cup champions.

In 2013, after shutting out the New York Red Bulls U-23s in Round 1, the Nor'easters claimed their fifth professional victim with a 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (USL), which earned them they advanced to Round 3 again where they had a chance to upset the Philadelphia Union (MLS). In that game, Emmanuel Kollie scored a 90th minute equalizer for Ocean City at PPL Park, but their upset hopes were dashed when the Union scored a controversial game-winner in second half stoppage time.

The club's only one-and-done appearance in the tournament came in 2014 when they fell to New York Greek American Atlas SC, a historic club that has won the tournament four times (1967, 1968, 1969, 1974).

In 2017, the Nor'easters defeated Junior Lone Star FC (Philadelphia Premier League) 3-1 before holding the Harrisburg City Islanders (USL) to a scoreless draw in Round 2. Ocean City were eliminated in penalty kicks, their first PK shootout in club history.

The last time the Nor'easters took part in the US Open Cup was in 2018 when they played three straight road game, beating AFC Ann Arbor (then of the NPSL, currently a USL-2 side) 3-0 before traveling to North Carolina to beat the Charlotte Independence (USL) 3-1. It was the club's sixth upset of a pro team. The Open Cup run came to an end with a 4-1 loss to USL side North Carolina FC.