Recap by George Diamond

In a hard fought game that featured lots of opportunities for both sides, Ocean City Nor’easters (9-3-0) ultimately dropped their final match of the USL-2 Regular Season to West Chester United (7-3-2) via a Luchini brace.

In a first half that saw the Nor’easters have two great chances to score, it was West Chester United that opened the scoring, deep into stoppage time at the end of the half

Ocean City actually thought they had scored an early goal through Hale Lombard (Lafayette/Belleair Bluffs, FL). Colin Veltri (Elon/Mays Landing, NJ) was played into the box and squared a ball to Lombard who tapped home- but the flag was up for offside. 

In the 13th minute starting striker Andrew Kitch (UNC/Medford, NJ) was injured. Jalen Anderson (USF/ Hampden,CT) came on in relief.

In the 40th minute it was Veltri pulling the strings again as he blew past a defender and played Anderson one on one with the WCU keeper. He rounded the goalie and slipped a shot on goal from a tight angle but, it was cleared off the line at the last second by a defender.

Late into stoppage, after a couple of opportunities for the Storm, WCU regained possession and started a quick counter up the field. The midfielder battled multiple OCN players to keep the ball and played a through ball on a line to his winger. The low cross cut across the Nor’easters defense and found Luchini, who was open and tapped in from close range.

Shortly after, the referee blew the halftime whistle.

Rocco Hauefgloeckner (Temple/Kirchzell,Germany) subbed into the match for Kaelan Debbage (Spring Arbor/Queensland,Australia) at the half.

Despite pressuring West Chester, Ocean City were unable to work any clear chances. 

Around the 60th minute, Head Coach Matt Perella soon opted to make a triple substitution with Tre Wright (UCLA/Austin,TX), Andres Latorre (Bethel Univ. Indiana/Lima,Peru) and Arthur Widiez (Florida Atlantic Univ./Eze,France) checking into the game. 

Only a few minutes later however, Luchini found his brace. WCU had a corner kick and worked a shot on goal from it. Marc Bonnaire made the initial save, but Luchini was there to finish off the rebound- giving West Chester a two goal lead.

The Nor’easter started pouring numbers forward in an effort to score. They held a lot of possession and worked numerous attacks in and around the WCU box. 

In the 71st minute, a Haeufgloeckner through ball sent Moses Kafeero (Carleton Univ./Ontario, Canada) in behind. His cut-back found Widiez but the Frenchman didn’t get the right contact on it. 

Late in the game another Storm attack threatened the West Chester goal. This time Widiez’s pass was true and he found Kafeero. The Canadian defender shifted the ball to his right and fired a shot on target but the keeper was equal to the task.

In the dying seconds of the game, a late Nor’easter free kick produced a good shot from Agustin Resch (Seton Hall/Arata,Argentina) but the header was claimed by the WCU goalie. That was the last meaningful action of the game, as full time was blown only moments after. 

Despite the poor run of form to close out the season, losing 3 in a row at home, Matt Perrella now has the 2nd best 2-season start to a coaching career in OCN history with an overall record of 17-4-5 (2.15ppg). 

Colin Veltri, Agustin Resch, Arthur Widiez, and Theo Da Silva (Rider University/ São Paulo, Brazil) finish the regular season as the only players to appear in every game.

In the concurrent Mid-Atlantic game, Reading United defeated LVU Rush 2-1. This result means that despite the win, West Chester will finish in 3rd place, just outside the playoffs. 

Reading United will claim 2nd place in the division and will contest a play-in match on Tuesday which they need to win in order to advance to the Round of 32. 

The Nor’easters will return to action this Friday July 19th in the Round of 32 double-header at Carey Stadium. Their game will follow the opening round at 7:30pm The winner of that game will advance to the Round of 16 match, also played at Carey that Sunday the 21st at 7pm.

Tickets are now live for the 2024 Playoff doubleheader being hosted at Carey Stadium next Friday July 19th and 21st.

The Nor'easter's are offering two options for fans: A Weekend Pass (20$) which grants access to all 3 games held at Carey as well as Single Game GA tickets (10$). They can be purchased here.

All games will be broadcast live as the Nor’easters continue to partner with BFA Media. Streams will be available on Youtube and Sports Engine.

Make sure to follow Nor'easters social media on Twitter/X and Instagram for the most recent team news.