Preview: Nor'easters hit the road to take on New York Red Bulls Under-23s tonight

Ocean City and the Red Bulls will kick off tonight at 7 p.m. in Whippany, NJ

Preview: Nor'easters hit the road to take on New York Red Bulls Under-23s tonight

The Ocean City Nor'easters enter a crucial stretch of the USL League Two season when they travel to Whippany, NJ to take on the New York Red Bulls Under-23s tonight.

The Nor'easters are hoping to carry some momentum back into league play after a 4-0 exhibition win last Friday over Atlantic City FC of the NPSL. Deri Corfe, who is leading the team in scoring, scored a goal and added two assists. Corfe, last year's team MVP, has been involved in at least one goal in every game (friendlies included) during the 2019 season.

The Storm's key stretch of the season as the Nor'easters will play road games against the Red Bulls tonight, and then travel further north to take on division leaders and long-time rivals Reading United AC on Saturday. After those two games, Ocean City will have seven regular season games remaining, with six of them being played in front of their home fans at Carey Stadium ("The Beach House").

The Nor'easters enter the game tonight with a 2-2-1 record. A win over the Red Bulls would launch them right back into the division title race, leap frogging them into fourth place.

The Red Bulls have been one of the top teams in the Mid-Atlantic Division the last few years, winning the division in 2015 and 2017 and finishing second last year. However, they have gotten off to a slow start this season. They enter tonight's game with a 3-3-0 record and are seven points out of first place. They won their season opener at home against Evergreen FC, but then lost three straight games. But they appear to have bounced back, having won their last two games, both 2-1 results on the road against Lehigh Valley United and FA Euro New York. 

The Red Bulls U23s, joined Lehigh Valley as another team that enjoyed success in the NPSL (winning the league title in 2014) and left to join USL League Two. However, unlike United, the Red Bulls continued their success into USL League Two, qualifying for the playoffs three times and reaching the league championship game in 2015.

The Nor'easters have a history with the Red Bulls outside of league play, as Ocean City defeated them in the First Round of the 2013 US Open Cup when New York was part of the NPSL. Last year, the Nor'easters hit the goal post four times in a 3-1 road loss early in the season and earned a 1-1 draw at home. The Nor'easters lead the all-time series 4-3-2 and have yet to lose to the Red Bulls at the Beach House (3-0-2). 

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