Season and streak end with a bang: Haledon crushed by United

In their last game of the season Haledon Lyceum suffered the biggest home defeat of the year. Squandered scoring chances and costly defensive errors resulted in a 2:6 devastating loss to the second team in the overall standings, Mt. Olive United. Despite the loss Haledon remained third in the NJSL over-30 NJ Division.

This game was to prove, if Haledon can compete with the best, as 3 of their 4 former losses came against top two teams. It seemed more than likely considering the fact, that in recent weeks everything was going Haledon's way, who was riding a 7-game win streak.

And maybe they would prove all that, if it were not for the 10th second (!!!) giveaway resulting in a 1:0 goal for the visitors. And maybe Lyceum would beat United, if they had found some answer for the visitors' keeper, who must have stopped at least dozen shots. And maybe the win streak would reach 8, if it were not for the string of costly errors at the beginning of the second half, which helped United build a 3:0 lead.

Haledon tried to surmount a comeback, when Bajon finally got them on board with his 10th of the season midway through the second period to make it 1:3, but that was the closest they would get. United's response was fast and lethal: two more goals in quick succession. Bajon scored his second of the game, tapping in a cross from Moczerniuk from close range, before Mt. Olive capped the scoring with a strike of the day: left footed rifle straight into the top-right corner of Haledon's goal.

It was this kind of game where everything went well for the visitors and almost nothing worked for Haledon. Despite having a commanding edge in shots on goal Haledon was not able to convert even in point blank situations. Defensively the effort was not the same without Kurlandski and Hausser, who missed the game due to an illness. Haledon also played without two players, Ryan and Flores, who scored 4 goals in their last outing against AC Rosso.

Lyceum ended the Spring half of the season the very same way they opened it, when they lost to Kearny 2:6. But sandwiched between these two tragic performances was this 7-game win streak, in which they played some really solid football and outmuscled the opponents by a combined score of . If the demolishing of the middle/bottom squads trend continues next year they will once again be a threat to elite teams. If they actually can beat them - that's a whole different ball game.

June 19th, 2011, 8:00
Roe Street Field, Haledon, NJ
Make-up game:

Haledon Lyceum - Mount Olive United 2:6 (0:1)
1:3 -Bajon (10), 2:5 - Bajon (11)
Haledon: Stepien - Huebner, Rehberger, Estrella, Domenick Stampone - Rehberger, Moczerniuk, Shelley, Mazzei - Bajon, Witek (Quieroz, Arango, Penk, Bergesen)

After last week of make-ups:

1. Kearny Scots 18 44 14-2-2 60:19 +35
2. Mt. Olive Utd 17 41 13-2-2 47:16 +31
3. Haledon 18 37 12-5-1 65:41 +24
4. AC Rosso 16 30 9-4-3 45:32 +13
5. Nutley Krank 17 26 8-7-2 39:29 +10
6. Livingston United 16 15 4-8-4 28:47 -19
7. Denville Derby 16 19 5-7-4 41:47 -6
8. Paramus 13 9 2-8-3 27:49 -22
9. AC Montgomery 16 8 1-10-5 26:58 -32
10. SFC 1933 18 4 1-16-1 15:57 -42