Ocean City Nor'easters Announce Men's Soccer Schedule for 2016

Ocean City, NJ -- The Ocean City Nor’easters men’s soccer team opens the 2016 season on the road at Lehigh Valley United Sonic on May 18, the club said this week.

After four straight road games to start the season, the Nor’easters will host long-time rival Reading United AC at Carey Stadium in the home opener June 4.

The team closes its 14-game schedule with five straight home games, including a July 17 game against the Baltimore Bohemians.

Every home game this season is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff, and every road game with the exception of two will also start at the same time.

To view the full schedule, visit oceancityfc.com.

Ocean City was 7-4-3 last season, the fourth straight season in which the team had seven or more wins.

Head coach Tim Oswald enters his fourth season with a career record of 38-14-6.

The Nor’easters enter their 20th season of play in the Premier Development League (PDL), which consists of 67 clubs from across North America, separated into four conferences.

Ocean City competes in the Mid-Atlantic Division, which is one of the three divisions within the Eastern Conference.

Their division rivals this year will be the Baltimore Bohemians, Evergreen FC, Jersey Express, Lehigh Valley United Sonic, last year’s PDL runner-up New York Red Bulls U23s and long-time rival Reading United AC.

Ocean City plays a home-and-home with each of its division rivals, plus an extra game against both Baltimore and Reading United AC.

The team with the most points in the Eastern Conference at the end of the regular season will play in the conference championship game. The second and third place teams in that team’s division will also earn playoff spots.

The top two teams in the other two divisions will also advance to the playoffs.

The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Division playoff teams will compete against each other, and the South Atlantic Division’s representatives will play each other to determine the other three teams that will play in the Eastern Conference finals.

The club has the sixth best overall record (112-51-43) in the league since 2003 and the sixth-best home record (60-22-22). They also hold the distinction as the team with the longest home unbeaten streak in PDL history at 28 games (23-0-5), which ran from 2003-06.

The team didn’t qualify for this year’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament, but with five upsets of professional teams in the tournament, only one club in the PDL has more (Michigan Bucks with 9). Qualification for the 2017 US Open Cup will be based on the results of the 2016 PDL season.