Ocean City Nor'easter Open U.S. Open Cup Wednesday Night; Tickets Are Free

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Tickets for Wednesday night’s game between the Ocean City Nor’easters men’s soccer team and Junior Lone Star FC in the first round of the 104th Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup are free of charge to all fans, the team announced on Tuesday. The free tickets are presented by the Friends of the Ocean City Nor'easters Foundation.

The Nor’easters begin their eighth appearance in the second-oldest, continually operating soccer tournament in the world on Wednesday night, May 10, at Carey Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

The tournament is open to professional and amateur teams from Major League Soccer (MLS) to Sunday beer league teams and everything in between.

A record 99 teams qualified for this year’s tournament, including 56 amateur teams. A total of 21 teams qualified for the tournament from the Premier Development League (PDL), of which Ocean City is a member.

Ocean City was 9-5-0 in the regular season last year, and won the Eastern Conference championship, paving the way for their inclusion in this year’s competition.

Wednesday night marks John Thompson’s debut at Ocean City Nor’easters head coach. On Tuesday, he said the game comes a little earlier than the team would’ve liked.

"We have a short period of time to get our players in sync as they only began arriving this weekend, so the short prep time isn't ideal,” Thompson said. “We will have 20 out of the 26 signed players for this game so we will be able to field a strong team."

Ocean City begins its regular season of play in the Premier Development League at home on Friday, May 19. They will play their first two games over the course of three days against the Evergreen Hammers. Both the May 19 and May 21 games are at home.

The Nor’easters learned they would play in the U.S. Open Cup game a full nine days earlier than the first game against the Hammers, on April 12.

Junior Lone Star FC, an amateur team from Philadelphia, consists mostly of West African immigrants, many from Liberia and has been a beacon for the African immigrant community in and around the city. There will be a familiar face on the opposite bench as former Nor'easters midfielder Zoncher Dennis is listed on the JLS roster.

"Junior Lone Star are a tight knit group who train together every day," Thompson said. "We will be an organized unit with good chemistry."

Junior Lone Star FC is competing in the tournament for the first time. It qualified by winning two qualifying matches last fall.

"I think we have plenty of quality in our attack to cause them problems and we have depth if we need to try something different," Thompson said. "The lads are excited to have the opportunity to play in the Open Cup so they are motivated to make a name for themselves in this competition like the 2013 group did."

In 2013, Ocean City shut out the New York Red Bulls U23s (NPSL) and the USL's Pittsburgh Riverhounds before nearly upsetting the Philadelphia Union of MLS. The Nor'easters scored a 90th minute equalizer at PPL Park, stunning the home crowd, only to see the Union score a game-winner in stoppage time.

That's the magic of the US Open Cup. An amateur team like the Nor'easters can be put on the same field as a team from Major League Soccer and anything can happen.

In fact, Ocean City has upset five professional teams and have won eight games in the tournament since joining the Premier Development League (PDL) in 2003. Only two amateur teams in the country (Michigan Bucks, Des Moines Menace) have more upsets and wins than the Nor'easters.

The winner of Wednesday night’s game will face the Harrisburg City Islanders in the second round next week. A complete list of the first round matchups and the potential second round matchups is posted at thecup.us.

The attached image was provided