Ocean City Nor'easters

USL League Two

https://www.uslsoccer.com/usl-league-two

The Ocean City Nor'easters currently compete in USL League Two (previously the Premier Development League), which runs from May through August. USL League Two is a development league operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL). It is currently considered the top-level men's amateur soccer competition in North America, although it has no official designation as such from the US Soccer Federation. USL League Two features more than 70 clubs from the United States and Canada and is considered to be the fourth tier of national competition in the United States, behind Major League Soccer, the USL Championship, and USL League One.

History

After being founded in 1996, the club debuted in the 1997 season under the name the South Jersey Barons as a professional team in the D-3 Pro League. Their biggest highlight of their six seasons as a pro team was finishing with the best record in the D-3 Pro League in 1999. Despite winning the league's regular season championship, they had to play both playoffs games on the road, falling to the Western Mass Pioneers in the title game.

After a change in ownership, the Barons moved to the Premier Development League in 2003 and made history the following year by becoming only the fifth team ever to go through the regular season with an unbeaten record (14-0-4).

In 2005, the South Jersey Barons were taken over by local businessmen Russ McPaul and Giancarlo Granese. Their first act as new owners was to move the Barons to Ocean City, N.J. and rename the team the Ocean City Barons. While the team played the majority of their home games in Ocean City from 1997-2004, the Barons made Carey Stadium ("The Beach House") on the Boardwalk between 5th and 6th streets the club's permanant home.

After the 2009 season, the club rebranded its self, becoming the Ocean City Nor'easters and taking a blue and orange color scheme. The club's success continued with Eastern Conference championships in 2013 and 2016 and four more appearances in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

Since joining USL League Two in 2003, the Nor’easters have the seventh-best regular season record and the fourth-best home record. If you include the entire history of the league (which dates back to 1995), despite joining the league eight years into its existance, the Nor'easters have the seventh-most wins of any club.

The Nor'easters also hold the distinction as one of two USL League Two clubs in history to have three players win the league's most valuable player award. Ruben Mingo was the first in 2004, Chevaughn "Chevy" Walsh took home the award in 2016 after leading the league in scoring, and most recently, Deri Corfe tied for the league league in scoring and won the award in 2019.

2021 will mark the club's 24th season and during this time, more than 90 Ocean City alums have moved on to play professional soccer, including Jeremiah White who became the first alum to earn a cap with the senior U.S. National Team. Click here for a list of all of the Ocean City alums that have played or are currently playing professionally.

For more information on the Ocean City Nor'easters or to "Follow the Storm", check us out at www.oceancityfc.com/followthestorm or text "FOLLOWTHESTORM" to 22828 to join the "Storm Watch" e-newsletter.

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