Photo by Jack Verdeur (IG: @jackverdeur)

The Ocean City Nor’easters added to their club record unbeaten streak with a 3-0 win over Real Central New Jersey on Wednesday. Three different Ocean City players scored for the visitors at Ben Cohen Field at Rider University in Lawrence Township, N.J.

Goalkeeper Nathanael Sallah (Nebraska-Omaha / Hamburg, Germany) made his Nor’easters debut and earned a clean sheet as the Storm extended their regular season road unbeaten streak to 22 games.

Ocean City improves to 2-0-0 on the young season, one point behind first place West Chester United, who has played one more game.

Next up, the Nor’easters will travel further north when they take on Lehigh Valley United on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Nor’easters controlled the first half and opened up the scoring in the 16th minute. Nolan Spicer (Notre Dame / Bay Village, OH) played a ball down the left wing to Marco Silva (Marshall / Coopersburg, PA) who sent in a low driving cross. The ball found its way all the way through the box and found a sliding Colin Veltri (Elon / Mays Landing, NJ) who redirected the ball into the back of the net. For the Nor’easters’ 2023 Breakthrough Player of the Year, it was his first career goal with the club.

In the 39th minute, the Storm had an opportunity to extend the lead when a foul in the box led to the referee pointing to the spot. Saad Chaouki (Univ. of Portland / Montreal, Quebec), who was enjoying a homecoming after playing his freshman season last fall at Rider University, stepped up to take the penalty kick. However, Chaouki, who is heading across the country to play at the University of Portland this fall, would not be able to double the lead. RCNJ goalkeeper Eddie Demarco guessed correctly and saved his PK attempt by diving to his right.

Just a few minutes after halftime, the second goal would finally come from Agustin Resch (Seton Hall / Arata, Argentina). The play began from a Marco Silva corner kick which was cleared out momentarily but right out to Chaouki. His attempt to put it on goal misfired and ended back into the crowded penalty area where the ball managed to find the foot of Resch who scored his first goal in what was his first start for the club.

In the 72nd minute, the Nor’easters would put the game away, and once again, Marco Silva was involved. Silva sent a ball in behind the RCNJ backline to Theo Da Silva (Univ. of Rio Grande / Sao Paulo, Brazil) who beat the keeper for his first goal. For Marco Silva, it was his team-leading third assist.

Any chance of a comeback for the home team was thrown out when Matthew Reed was shown a second yellow card in the 83rd minute, leading RCNJ a man down for the remainder of the match.

With the win, the Nor’easters remain undefeated (6-0-3)  in nine all-time meetings with Real Central NJ. It was the first game decided by more than one goal since June 19, 2022.