Ocean City Nor’easters knock off Charlotte Independence in U.S. Open Cup

Unfazed by another long distance road game, the Ocean City Nor’easters advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night with a 3-1 win over Charlotte Independence.

Coming off a first round win over AFC Ann Arbor 600 miles away from home a week earlier, the Nor’easters jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Independence in the first seven minutes of the half and added another goal before the break to go up 3-0.

“It was an extremely hard fought game,” head coach John Thompson said in a news release. “It’s never easy to play on the road, especially when you have weather delays but our boys were professional from the first to the last minute.”

Kyle Gurrieri put Ocean City on the board in the fourth minute when he followed up a deflected shot from Williams N’Dah that hit the post. Three minutes later Gurrieri scored again off a cross from Deri Corfe.

Fredlin Mompremier, who led the team with eight goals in PDL play last season, made it 3-0 to the visitors just before halftime.

Charlotte, which competes in the USL, pulled a goal back when Jorge Herrera received a cross from Sam Vines in the 58th minute. But they wouldn’t get any closer trying to stop Ocean City from booking themselves another road game back in North Carolina on May 22 against North Carolina FC.