Ocean City Nor'easters Fall To Harrisburg On Sudden Death Penalty Kicks In U.S. Open Cup

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Traditionally, players on amateur and semi-pro soccer teams use their appearance in the U.S. Open Cup to attract attention from professional teams and advance their careers. As the stage gets bigger with each passing round, more eyes focus in on the tournament, the second longest active soccer competition in the world.

While the Ocean City Nor’easters have done as good a job as any in this area in their tournament history — they have upset five professional teams over the years — there was an added bonus to appearing in the 104th edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup: they got to know each other better.

“They’ve been together all year, and we’ve only just met each other,” defender Daniel Nimmo said following Ocean City’s loss to the Harrisburg City Islanders on sudden death penalty kicks in the second round of the tournament Wednesday night at Carey Stadium. “We worked well together defensively. The way we played made me proud.”

Harrisburg entered the game with a record of 2-3-2. Ocean City played its first game last week, a 3-1 win over Lone Star FC in the first round of the tournament. At that point, the team was really new to each other, with players meeting each other as recently as earlier that day.

The teams went through 90+ minutes of regulation soccer without either side scoring a goal. After another 30 minutes of extra time, there was still no goal, although a seeming Harrisburg goal ended up being called back because a City Islander player was offside.

Even after one round of penalty kicks, there was no decision, as each team found the back of the net four times. It was only after four additional penalty kicks that Harrisburg walked away victorious, ultimately outshooting Ocean City, 6-5.

Harrisburg, a professional team from the United Soccer League (USL) will visit Ocean City’s Premier Development League (PDL) rival Reading United in the third round of the tournament on Wednesday, May 31. Reading advanced by upsetting last year’s North American Soccer League (NASL) champion New York Cosmos, 3-2.

“Penalties are luck of the draw,” said Nimmo, one of two returning starters from last year’s Premier Development League Eastern Conference champions, along with fellow defender Fraser Colmer. “If you make a save, you make a save, and you move on.”

Nimmo said preserving a true shutout against a professional team will bring the Nor’easters closer together as they begin their regular season campaign this weekend.

Making his first start of the season, goalkeeper Jimmy Slayton recorded two saves, equaling that of his Harrisburg counterpart Brandon Miller, including a remarkable fingertip save in the 25th minute to keep the game scoreless.

Harrisburg did outshoot Ocean City, 12-8, but one could argue Ocean City had the better chances throughout the game.

The Nor’easters also found themselves without two of their bigger scoring threats, with both midfielder Tyler Collishaw and forward Akiel Barrett leaving the game with injuries. Collishaw exited in the 67th minute, while Barrett went down in the 89th minute. Collishaw scored two of the Nor’easters goals in their win over Lone Star FC in the first round, and Barrett had some of the best shots of the night against Harrisburg.

As the game wore on, each side became tired and survived flurries from the opponent. Each team ended the game with five corner kicks, none of which could be converted into goals.

“We can draw confidence from this,” Nimmo said. “These guys get paid to play, and if we can play like this against them, we can dominate in the PDL.”

The Nor’easters will find out later this week when they open the league campaign against Evergreen FC at the Beach House on Friday night, 7 p.m. The teams will play once again back at Carey Stadium at 7 p.m. Sunday night. Nimmo said playing three games in five days is difficult, but the team is deep and disciplined, and will go into the game as fresh as possible.

While Ocean City won’t play Reading in the U.S. Open Cup, they will play them twice during the league season, including a matchup in Ocean City on Saturday night, July 1, 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, Reading will get the chance for more exposure as it advances in the tournament. Its win over the world-renowned Cosmos on Wednesday night is sure to open some eyes in the soccer world, and now it has the chance to play against another professional team in Harrisburg.

The winner in two weeks advances to the fourth round, when teams from Major League Soccer (MLS) join the fray.

Although eliminated from the tournament, Ocean City will still play against a pair of MLS academy teams. The New England Revolution Under-23s will visit Ocean City on Friday, July 7, while the Nor'easters will host the D.C. United Under-23s on Saturday, July 15. Both exhibition games will kick off at 7 p.m.

Harrisburg is now 2-0 against Ocean City in the U.S. Open Cup. In 2007, Harrisburg won at Ocean City, 2-1, in the second round of the tournament.

Ocean City’s last win against a professional team in the tournament came in 2013, when they upset the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, 1-0. The same year, they nearly defeated the Philadelphia Union, but the Union escaped with the 2-1 win with a stoppage time goal at the end of the game.

For more on this year’s tournament, visit thecup.us.

To see the Ocean City Nor’easters schedule for this season, click here.

Images courtesy Matt Ralph/Brotherly Game