(Central New Jersey) Wednesday, May 29, 2024—Real Central NJ (RCNJ) lost to the Ocean City Nor’Easters (OC) at Rider University’s Ben Cohen Field, 0-3, in their third game of the season. The night was full of drama; it started with an eighty five minute rain delay, with rain that continued on through the night. Whether it was the constant rain or the delay, both teams were chippy all game.
“We didn’t give up,” said Real Central NJ head coach Brian Woods. “I thought we had a few opportunities to put the ball into the back of the net. We ended up only giving up three goals…I was obviously not pleased with the result but pleased with the effort the boys gave us.”
GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN
OC﹘Colin Veltri (Marco Silva) 16th minute: Marco Silva delivered a driven cross into the box, and Colin Veltri finished a half-volley for the first goal. RCNJ 0, OC 1
OC﹘Agustin Resch 48th minute: Agustin Resch took a bouncy shot off a deflection and scored the match's second goal. RCNJ 0, OC 2
OC- Theo Silva 60th minute: Silva rolled a shot past the keeper into the bottom left corner of the net in a one-on-one situation. RCNJ 0, OC 3
The man of the match was keeper, Eddie DeMarco, for his vigilance in goal, staving off countless attacks from Ocean City’s offense.
The first attacking chance of the game came for the Nor’Easters as Marco Silva dribbled his way deep into the corner of RCNJ’s defense and delivered a driven cross into the box. Their attack ended in an agile finish off a half volley from Colin Veltri in the sixteenth minute to put them ahead early in the game. RCNJ 0, OC 1
Ocean City’s attack proved continuous as they returned at RCNJ in the eighteenth minute. They delivered a quick pass across the box, resulting in a shot that ended up just right off the goal post.
Real Central NJ’s offense awakened in the twenty-ninth minute as Stas Korzeniowksi took his first shot of the season. Dribbling around the Ocean City defenders, Korzeniowski took a powerful shot at the near post toward the top corner. The shot was batted down by the Nor’Easters’s keeper.
Late in the thirty-eighth minute, the head referee awarded Ocean City a penalty after an Elias Betincourt slide tackle went awry. The Nor’Easters’ taker lined up the attempt, made his run-up, and struck the ball to the bottom left corner of the goal; however, RCNJ’s Eddie DeMarco read the shot perfectly and made a diving save for his first of the game
The half came to a close with a Nor’Easters header in stoppage time. The shot attempt came from a long looping cross from around the second third; it went just high of the crossbar.
Ocean City came out of the halftime break hot. In the forty-eighth minute, Agustin Resch controlled a deflected shot attempt off a corner kick and took a choppy shot that bounced its way past the RCNJ keeper for the Nor’Easters’s second goal of the game. RCNJ 0 - OC 2
In the fifty-fifth minute, Real Central NJ took just their second shot of the game, coming from Stas Korzeniowksi. The half-volley attempt came from Justin Brunow’s cross into the box, it was ultimately saved by the Ocean City keeper.
The Nor’Easters were awarded a free kick in the sixtieth minute, marked well outside the eighteen-yard box. The shot attempt soared just high of the top left corner of the crossbar.
Ocean City added another goal in the seventy-third minute off a counterattack spearheaded by Theo Silva. It ended in a one-on-one with the RCNJ keeper, where Silva sent a low shot rolling past him for their third goal of the match. RCNJ 0 - OC 3
The RCNJ men persisted late in the game, taking two more shot attempts. The first came in the seventy-fourth minute from Luke Pompliano, just beyond the penalty box, and ended up just high of the goal. The second was from Hugo Cakurda in the eighty-first minute, his shot was deflected by a defender deep into the box.
It was aggressive until the end, as RCNJ’s Matthew Reed obtained his second yellow card of the game and was ejected in the eighty-second minute.
“We showed that we fight and that we have passion,” Coach Woods said regarding the game’s aggressive chippiness. “We played with determination until the end of the game. I thought some of them were a little questionable, but they were just fighting through it to win for the club, and I was happy about that.”
Real Central NJ ended the game in a fitting way with a scare from the halfway line as the Nor’Easters tried to take advantage of Eddie DeMarco’s positioning high in the box. The shot was on target, but DeMarco made a diving save that allowed RCNJ to evade a fourth goal in stoppage time.
Coach Woods added, “We will have a few more pieces that we haven't had yet that will make us a lot better and put us in a better position. So, we’ll be okay.”
The RCNJ Women play tonight against the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals—Liberty at home on Thursday, May 30, 2024, at Ben Cohen Field at Rider University. Purchase Match-day tickets and season passes on the Real Central NJ Soccer website.
The next men’s match will be on Saturday, June 1, 2024, when they take on Reading United AC. Stream it here on the Real Central NJ website. Their next home match will be on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, against Lehigh Valley United. Tickets are available on the Real Central NJ website.
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