Photo: Jack Verdeur (IG: @jack_verdeur)

FULL GAME VIDEO / HIGHLIGHTS AT THE BOTTOM

Ocean City continued their strong start to the 2021 USL League Two campaign by smashing seven goals past Lehigh Valley United and keeping another clean sheet.

The 7-0 win on Wednesday at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa. broke the Nor'easters' club record for largest margin of victory in a road game. Ocean City improves to 2-0-0 on the young season.

Simon Becher (St. Louis Univ. / Brooklyn, CT) came off the bench and scored a second half hat trick in a 10-minute span to put the game away after MD Myers (High Point / Delran, NJ) and Luis Grassow (Kentucky / Munich, Germany) added goals, along with a brace from Tyler Watson (Cumberland / Simi Valley, CA). Yannik Oettl (Central Florida / Munich, Germany), the reigning 3-time American Athletic Conference Goalkeeper of the Year, made two saves to earn a shutout in his Ocean City debut.

"The group is encouraged to be exciting and creative in front of goal in training all the time, so to see them take it on board and execute is great," said Nor'easters head coach Alan McCann. "Both from the start of the game and then those that came off the bench executed very well"

Ocean City Nor'easters Hat Tricks (2003-present)

1. Ruben Mingo (2004, 2005) 2. Steven Miller (2008) 3. Byron Carmichael (2009) 4. Zoncher Dennis (2012) 5. Frank Tweneboa (2013) 6. Dwayne Reid (2013) 7. Matthew Vasquenza (2015) 8. Khesanio Hall (2015) 9. Chevaughn Walsh (2016 x2) 10. Alex Rose (2018) 11. Deri Corfe (2019) 12. SIMON BECHER (2021)

In the 24 seasons of soccer by the Ocean City Nor'easters, this marks the first time the club has begun the season with back-to-back shutout wins, and the first time the Storm have scored 10 goals in its first two games. The previous record was set in 2008 when Ocean City scored nine goals in the first two games.

"For our defenders and keepers, clean sheets are their goals, so to keep another one is a credit to them," said McCann. "They've worked hard for both so it's a great reward."

The Nor’easters were off to another fast start scoring in the first minute with MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalist MD Myers finding the back of the net from inside the six yard box. Bakary Bagayoko (Cumberland / Bronx, NY), who scored a pair of goals in the season opener, provided the assist on the opening goal.

The goal by the MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalist, scored within the first 45 seconds of the match, was one of the fastest goals in Ocean City history.

Bagayoko would play provider again three minutes later when he found Tyler Watson to give Ocean City a 2-0 lead.

Just before the half hour mark, Theo Quartey (Villanova / Accra, Ghana) flipped the ball into the box which found the head of defender Luis Grassow. It was Quartey's team-leading third assist of the season.

In the second half, Tyler Watson grabbed his second goal of the match in the 67th minute. The lone Californian on the roster received a pass from Felix Metzler (UConn / Frankfurt, Germany) and delivered a screamer of a shot that kissed off the crossbar and into the back of the net.

Simon Becher, who had subbed into the game in the 65th minute, made an immediate impact, scoring one of the fastest hat tricks in club history

After Gilbert Waso (Elizabethtown College / Elizabethtown, PA) was taken down inside the penalty area. Becher stepped up to take the penalty kick. His penalty was saved but the rebound fell back to him and he put it past the goalkeeper to give the Nor'easters a 5-0 lead in the 75th minute.

Five minutes later, Waso made a darting run down the right sideline and put in a curling cross to find Becher for his second goal of the game.

Becher completed his hat trick in the 85th minute when Montel Mackenzie (Tennessee Wesleyan / London, England) played a ball over the top of the LVU defense. The St. Louis Billiken launched a thunderous shot into the roof of the net to become just the 12th Ocean City player in the club's USL2 history to score a hat trick.

With the win, the Nor'easters have now won six of the last seven meetings against Lehigh Valley and improve their all-time record against LVU to 10-2-0.

Next up for the Nor'easters, Ocean City will take the club's nine-game unbeaten streak (dating back to the 2019 season) into Sunday's home opener. The Storm will host West Chester United at Carey Stadium ("The Beach House") with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online in advance, or at the Carey Stadium gate.

HIGHLIGHTS

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