The Ocean City Nor’easters had their 2023 USL League Two playoff run come to an end in the early morning hours on Saturday. Ocean City lost a 2-0 first half lead and ultimately gave up a pair of goals in extra time and fell 4-2 to the hosts from Lionsbridge FC in the Eastern Conference Final.

Nick Pariano (Duke / Philadelphia, PA) and Colin Veltri (St. John’s / Mays Landing, NJ) scored the goals for the Nor’easters.

The game didn’t kick off until 11 p.m. Kickoff of the first game of the playoff doubleheader at Townebank Stadium in Newport News, Va. was delayed because of extreme heat.



Lionsbridge will take on The Village SC, the Southern Conference champions, in Sunday’s USL League Two national semifinal. The Villages defeated Little Rock Rangers in penalty kicks in the opening game of the day. The winner of Sunday’s match will advance to the USL League Two Final on Aug. 5. The location of the Final is still to be determined. 

The Nor’easters opened the scoring after the Lionsbridge defense was unable to successfully clear the ball in the 6th minute. The ball was sent up to the right wing and the player cut back to his left at the edge of the box where he fired a shot. The ball was deflected and ended up in the center of the box. A Lionsbridge defender was unable to clear it and Colin Veltri pounced on the opportunity, blasting a shot into the back of the net. It was Veltri’s first goal of the 2023 season. 

A little more than 10 minutes later, the Nor’easters took advantage of a mistake at the back. A Lionsbridge defender sent a pass back to the goalkeeper. Ocean City’s Nick Pariano and Alessandro Arlotti (Harvard / San Remo, Italy) put pressure on the netminder and when he tried to play the ball to a defender, the ball deflected off of Pariano and fell to Arlotti. The Harvard standout could have taken a shot on goal, but instead sent a pass back to Pariano who shot it into the empty net to give the Storm a 2-0 lead.

For Arlotti, it was his ninth assist in all competitions, which ties a single-season club record. For Pariano, it was his third goal in the last two games after scoring both goals in the Nor’easters’ 2-1 win over Hudson Valley Hammers in the conference semifinals last Sunday.

Lionsbridge would fight back in the 31st minute with a goal off a corner kick. The ball was driven in and Adam Kirkwood headed it in from close range to cut the lead in half, 2-1.

Two minutes later, the home team would find an equalizer. The ball popped up in the air and Christian Hatley, Lionsbridge’s leading scorer, brought the ball down and immediately shot the ball from about 40 yards out. Stefano Camerlengo was off his line and had no chance as the ball ended up in the back of the net.

The half would end tied at 2-2.

In the 83rd minute, the Nor’easters’ had the best chance of the half when a beautiful through ball was sent in behind the defense to Daniele Verdirosi. He found himself one-on-one with the onrushing goalkeeper but he shot wide of the goal.

Just after 1 a.m. Eastern Time, Lionsbridge broke the goal drought in the 96th minute. From another corner kick, a flick header ended up just inside the far post to complete the comeback for the home team.

In the 111th minute, Lionsbridge would put the game away with a counter attack goal.

The Nor’easters fought hard to the very end, but ultimately the season came to the end with a loss in the Eastern Conference Final.