Photo by Jack Verdeur

The Ocean City Nor'easters played a tough game against Lehigh Valley United on Wednesday night, but managed to come out on top. The team was led by the foot of Sander Roed who had two goals in the match and teenager Andrew Kitch scored his first goal in an Ocean City uniform to give the Storm a 3-1 win. Ocean City has now started the season with a perfect 2-0-0 record.

With the win, the Nor'easters extend their unbeaten streak (that dates back to the 2021 season) to 17 games, and the club record road unbeaten streak is now at 16 games.

The goalscoring started early and often in this matchup with Andre “Dede” Sabino passing the ball to Sander Roed outside the 18 for the first goal of the match in the 3rd minute.

Last year's team MVP Alessandro Arlotti had a few great chances at goals in the first 20 minutes of the match but they were halted by the LVU goalkeeper. Arlotti left the game with an injury later in the first half.

Ocean City goalkeeper Stefano Caramalengo made his debut with the club and had a few great saves around the 32nd minute to maintain the clean sheet through the first half.

Medford native Andrew Kitch, who will play his college soccer at North Carolina this fall, had his first goal for the Storm in the final minutes of a hard-fought first half. Kitch's goal put Ocean City up 2-0 heading into halftime.

After the break, Roed made it look easy in Bethlehem, Pa. when he scored his second goal of the match with a cross from outside the box from Jamie Davis. With a 3-0 lead, Ocean City was firmly in control. For Roed, it was his third goal of the season, after scoring the lone goal in the Storm's 1-0 season opening win last weekend.

It seemed like only a glimpse of what’s to come as the summer progresses.

In the 88th minute, LVU scored a late goal to get on the board. It was a second ball shot from inside the box. However it was not enough to defeat the Nor’easters.

The late goal snapped the Nor'easters' club record shutout streak at 587 minutes. Felix Schafer, last year's USL-2 Golden Glove winner, still has his personal shutout streak (also a club record) of 499 minutes entact. 

The win is also the sixth in a row against Lehigh Valley.

With the 3-1 win, the Nor'easters will have very little time to prepare for the club's home opener on Friday. Ocean City will host Philadelphia Lone Star FC on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Carey Stadium ("The Beach House"). Tickets can be purchased online in advance by clicking HERE.