The Ocean City Nor’easters closed out the 2010 Premier Development League season on a sour note, losing to the West Virginia Chaos 2-1 on Saturday night at Carey Stadium.

Kyle Miller scored in the 33rd minute, but the defense gave up two goals in the final three minutes of the match to give Ocean City their first-ever losing season as a member of the PDL.

 

West Virginia Chaos (5-9-1) 2:1  Ocean City FC (5-6-5)

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Ocean City FC Lineup	School / Hometown
GK - Bret Mollon	Temple / Washington, MI
DEF - Sal Pistone	Stockton College / Blackwood, NJ
DEF - John Fletcher	Eckerd College (’08) / Uxbridge, ENG
DEF - Kevin Strunk	Lehigh / Downingtown, PA
DEF - Alex Weidman	Monmouth / Linwood, NJ
MID - Junior Chapman	LaSalle / Ocean City, NJ
MID - Max Hamilton	Monmouth / Medford, NJ
MID - Giovanni Tacconelli	Lenape HS (Iona) / Mt. Laurel, NJ
MID - Neal Melchionni	Lehigh / Marmora, NJ
FWD - Terry Gibbs	Bloomfield College / London, England
FWD - Kyle Miller	Holy Cross / Woodbury, NJ
Substitutes
Kevin Curran	Loyola College (MD) / Ocean View, NJ
Giancarlo Granese	Hofstra / Ocean City, NJ
Byron Carmichael	Marshall (’03) / Lumberton, NJ
Ryan Richter	LaSalle / Southampton, PA
MJ Nestor	Wildwood Catholic (Iona) / Avalon, NJ
McKenzey Scott (GK)	Wildwood Catholic (Drexel) / Cape May, NJ
Scoring Summary
33rd (OCEAN CITY)	Kyle Miller (Terry Gibbs)
87th (WEST VIRGINIA)	Justin Clark (Unassisted)
88th (WEST VIRGINIA)	Chris Bohach (Unassisted)
GAME STATS	OCEAN CITY						WEST VIRGINIA
Shots	12						15
Saves	4						7
Fouls	19						14
Offsides	11						1
Corners	5						0

The Ocean City Nor’easters closed out the 2010 Premier Development League season on a sour note, losing to the West Virginia Chaos 2-1 on Saturday night at Carey Stadium.

Kyle Miller, a member of the PDL Team of the Week, scored in the 33rd minute, but the defense gave up two goals in the final three minutes of the match to give Ocean City their first-ever losing season as a member of the PDL (OC joined the PDL in 2003).

In fact, by finishing with a 5-6-5 record, this is the first time since their inaugural season in 1997 that they have failed to win at least six games.

The match started off on a positive note with Terry Gibbs providing the spark. Gibbs, who finished in a four-way tie for second place on the team in scoring (3 goals, 2 assists, 8 points), hit the post on an attempt early in the match, but also set up the opening goal.

In the 33rd minute, Max Hamilton crossed a ball to the far post to Gibbs, who controlled the ball nicely and played it across the mouth of goal to Miller who tapped it home for his fourth goal of the season.
Miller has been very productive since joining the team midway through the season, playing in nine games, scoring four goals and being named to the PDL Team of the Week twice. His four goals gives him eight points to join Gibbs in the tie for second place on the scoring list with John Fletcher (4 goals) and Ryan Richter (3 goals, 2 assists).

The Nor’easters made a number of subs, giving some younger players some playing time in the final game of the year. Goalkeeper Bret Mellon started his fourth game of the year for Ocean City, and kept a clean sheet through the first half while making two saves. At halftime, Super-20 player and recent Wildwood Catholic graduate McKensey Scott replaced him to make his PDL debut. Scott will be attending Drexel University in the fall.  

Throughout the second half it looked as though the Nor’easters were going to hold on to their 1-0 lead, but in the 87th minute that lead would disappear. The Chaos crossed the ball into the penalty area and Scott would come off his line to retrieve it. Unfortunately, just as the ball arrived at the young goalkeeper, West Virginia’s Justin Clark slid in to meet the ball at the same time, sending the ball into the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
 
With barely enough time to catch their breath, the Chaos would add another a minute later. They sent a long ball up the field, which found Chris Bohach who fired a left-footed shot from about 10 yards out into the back of the net.

"It was really the story of our season," said head coach Neil Holloway about the game. "It was a disappointing way to end a disappointing season."

It was the first time in five all-time meetings that the Chaos had defeated the Nor’easters. Ocean City’s all-time record against West Virginia is now 2-1-2. The visitors avenged a 3-2 loss back on June 12, a game that saw three different goalscorers for OC (Byron Carmichael, Max Hamilton, Terry Gibbs).

"We managed to play a lot of youngsters this year," said Holloway. "They’ve learned some tough lessons about the game, like holding on to a lead and being disciplined at all times. We’ll take those experiences, add some more talented players, and come back stronger than ever next year, ready to re-join the league’s elite."

The season ends with Byron Carmichael finishing as the club’s leading scorer for the fourth consecutive season with a career-low five goals and a career-high five assists (15 points). Carmichael was the team leader in goals, assists and points. It was a down year offensively, as the team only managed 23 goals, the lowest total in the team’s 14-year franchise history.