Coronado High School’s Girls Soccer Team entered last week in an exact tie atop the Western League standings with nemesis Cathedral Catholic. The Lady Dons’ schedule seemed to favor them as the regular season drew to a close. Both squads had La Jolla as a common opponent and potential spoiler.

From a Coronado perspective, the week didn’t start well as the Islanders lost a home contest with La Jolla 3-2 Wednesday evening. At roughly the same time, Cathedral was home with the Academy of Our Lady of Peace. To give you a sense of perspective on the odds of this latter contest going well, Coronado won their two games with OLP by an aggregate score of 7-1.

However, OLP played Cathedral evenly and emerged with a 0-0 tie. In prep soccer, a victory is worth three points in the standings and a tie is worth one point.

Entering their final games Friday, Coronado was on the road at Christian and emerged with a 3-0 victory. La Jolla played the spoiler for the second time in a three-day span, tying Cathedral 2-2. As the late George Michael used to say, “Let’s go to the videotape.” Coronado ended the season with a Western League record of 7-2-1 and 22 points. Cathedral was 6-1-3 good for 21 points and second place. La Jolla closed fast against the first two teams in the league, finishing with a mark of 6-2-2 and 20 points. The Islanders tied for the league title two years ago with Cathedral and Coronado has now won the Western League outright for two consecutive seasons.

Islander Head Coach Kiko Medina was concerned heading into the game against the Vikings Wednesday evening. “We beat them 2-0 at their place, but we beat them by being lucky in finishing our chances. They had some players coming back from injuries. Give credit to La Jolla. We got down 1-0 when we made some mistakes we had talked about not making. La Jolla has two strong forwards and we didn’t play them correctly. We came back and tied it up. Then we went down 2-1 and tied it up again. We gave up a foul with under two minutes to go and they converted the penalty shot. It was unfortunate, but we didn’t finish some of our chances.” Olivia Lillegraven scored both goals for Coronado.

But the really good news is that La Jolla continues on in the Division III playoffs while Coronado goes to Division IV. We’ll have more on that later.

Friday Coronado shuffled out to El Cajon, defeated Christian 3-0 and came home with the Western League title. “I don’t think Christian had a legitimate shot on target,” Medina said of the Patriot’s offensive attack. “We rested quite a few girls and gave several girls playing time. Brianne Clifford had a nice free kick for the first goal. Stephanie Hamilton created space for herself and finished for the second goal. The third goal came off of a great corner kick. We made our proper runs and Kaitlyn Couture had a good finish on that one.”

Christian has been known to have issues with their playing field when it rains, but Coronado dodged a bullet there, according to Medina. “Their field is usually really, really hard. But the rain softened the field and we were better able to touch the ball.”

Advancing on to the Division IV playoffs with the Western League title under their collective belts, Coronado earned the No.2 seed and a first round bye. Thus the Islanders will play the winner for the First Round game between Escondido Charter and Holtville, with Escondido being the higher seeded club. Saturday’s Quarter-finals kick-off will come at CHS at 5 pm.

Islander Girls Water Polo Reaches Semi-Finals with Win over Mission Bay

Traditionally the water polo playoffs are the first to begin in the fall for boys and in the winter for the girls and this year was no exception to that rule. By virtue of their No. 4 seed in Division III, the Islanders got to sit out the First Round and started their playoff round in the Quarter-finals. Islander Head Coach Dave Throop provides a report.

“I felt we had a good week of preparation going into the CIF playoffs and Quarter-finals, and we were looking forward to our first playoff game.  Our opponent turned out to be Mission Bay, and they were game in the early going.  

Coronado was ahead 4-2 at the end of the first quarter and the score was 7-4 at the half.  We played everyone on our roster by the conclusion of the first half, which did influence the score a little, but we felt the game was never in question.  We stayed with our strongest rotation of about seven or eight players for the third quarter and pulled away with a 3-0 run, making the score 10-4 at the end of three quarters.  Each team traded a goal in the fourth, for the final score of 11-5.  

For the game Shelby Couture had six goals, while Lauren Carroll had four, and Kendall Martin scored a goal to go with four assists.  Rebecca Bayer led the defensive effort for the perimeter players with three steals and fellow freshman Jaicey Tyler had two swipes as well.  Gabie Darlak contributed two assists and a steal.  Candyce Day did a nice job establishing position and drawing multiple defenders as our center. Brooke Bernardy had five steals, to go with nine saves, directing the defense in front of the goal.   

With the victory, the team plays on Wednesday night at La Jolla High School against the No. 1 seed Bishops at 5:45 pm.  Every year is different, and every team is different, and this group is looking forward to playing Wednesday night.  We could use some home town support, so we'd appreciate any kind of crowd we can muster.” Allow me to add that the intensity of a Coronado vs. Bishop’s water polo game is a sight to behold.

Boys Soccer Wins Central League and Earns Division IV No.1 Seed

Coronado’s winter sports success story to date, although all of them are good, is being told by the Boys Soccer Team as they are 21-1 overall, winners of the Central League title and holders of the No. 1 seed in Division IV. Furthermore their lone loss this season was to Hoover, and Coronado returned the favor in their return match, defeating the Cardinals 2-1.

However, the slate is wiped clean for the playoffs and the Islanders need to go on a three-game run to make their 2010-11 campaign a memorable one. Islander Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu discussed the ramifications of his team’s remarkable record. “It’s scary a little bit. Obviously I don’t think there were any expectations of that going into the season. It’s a tribute to the hard work and dedication of the players. And you have to get lucky and have composure. Thursday we took Clairemont a little lightly and we were losing 1-0. Everything was clinched but we played with pride and made it a 5-2 final. We didn’t let down, which is important for kids that age. By the same token, we have to win our next three games. We’ll be a flop if we don’t win it all.”

The last sentence, I took to be somewhat tongue in cheek, as Hiatt-Aleu continued to discuss his team. “We have an opportunity for the second time to earn the hat trick, winning our tournament, the league and the CIF. If we work hard, we’ll get it done. It will be interesting. Everybody was complaining about their seed and they don’t want to play us. In the Quarter-finals we’ll play the winner of the La Jolla Country Day and High Tech High game, which will be La Jolla Country Day. They should have been seeded at least No. 5 and they were No. 8. I’ve seen them play this year and they’re good. We’ll see what happens.”

Game time for Friday’s Quarter-finals game, which will be played at Coronado, is 6 pm.

Islander Girls Basketball Team are Co-Champs of Central League

Entering last week the Islander Girls Basketball Team (19-7, 11-1) had to win their remaining two regular season games to grab a share of the Central League crown. First they had to defeat league-leading Kearny and then down rival Christian. Their advantage was that both were home games. And so they went out and won both contests.

When asked about defeating Kearny 35-25, Islander Head Coach Toler Goodwin responded that he was pleased with his club. “It was a big step for these kids. We were right on the doorstep twice since Kearny came into the league two years ago. They lost on the last night of the season by three points two years ago, when most of our kids were freshmen. And we lost a close game last year. This was a get-over-the-hump type of game. It lets our kids know they can beat Kearny. It’s nice to have a league title after being so close these last couple of years.”

As you can tell from the score, neither team tickled the twine with any consistency, but the game was played with considerable intensity, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. Although everyone contributed to the win, particularly strong efforts were turned in by Alex Evans, Peri Curtis and Nicollette Abrantes.

Evans, who missed the first showdown with Kearny due to illness, had 19 rebounds, four steals and eight points. Goodwin discussed the 5-foot, 7-inch Evans and her rebounding strategy. “Her approach is, when the ball is shot, it’s a pass to me. Any really good rebounder has to have that mentality. Her 10 offensive rebounds gave us extra possessions. She went to the free throw line 12 times and just kept adding points.”

Curtis had one of her patented games where she had an entry in each of the positive statistical areas. Curtis finished with 11 points, six rebounds, two assists, four steals and four blocked shots. Her primary defensive assignment was Kearny’s center, who coincidentally is Curtis’ primary competition for 2011 Central League Player of the Year honors.

The third Islander who stood out was Abrantes, who was the team’s leading scorer with 12 points. Coronado entered the fourth quarter trailing 21-20 and Abrantes scored nine points in the final stanza and the Islanders scored 15 points to the Komets’ four.

Meganne Weissenfels did an outstanding defensive job on Kearny’s primary outside shooting threat and Cory De Marco had eight assists, three rebounds, two steals and played an excellent floor game directing the Coronado offense.

On Friday night, which was Parent Night, the roles shifted a bit as Coronado dominated Christian 47-26. Curtis had 19 points, three rebounds, three assists, five steals and four blocked shots. Again she squared off with the opposition center and did a nice job. Evans had 13 rebounds, to go with eight points, five assists, and five steals. Abrantes had eight points, five rebounds and two steals.

“We played a sloppy first half against Christian,” said Goodwin of his club. “We looked a little disjointed. That happens sometimes during Parent Night. We had a nice little burst heading into halftime. In the fourth quarter we had a 19-2 run. We got into a nice rhythm, Peri made some steals and we had good on-ball defensive pressure from Samantha Kirk. Cory and Alex did too. Sam did a nice job of staying with their best outside shooter.”

The CIF San Diego Section office apparently has business machines that eat paperwork. The first indication of that fact was that Coronado, the No. 6 seed in Division IV, originally had received a bye, but will now play Preuss Academy Tuesday evening at 7 pm.  Mysteriously after the playoff first bracket was released, the Preuss post-season application was found.

Asked what he knew about Preuss, Goodwin said, “Not a lot. We had a couple of common opponents. Everybody they beat, we beat. It’s a No. 6 vs. No. 11 matchup, but it should be relatively competitive. They have a couple of guards and one post player we have to account for. We’ll work on a little bit of everything and make sure we are ready to go.” That game will tip-off at 7 pm at CHS.

Should form hold, Coronado will travel to Mater Dei of San Diego Friday night for a 7 pm game. “If we get there,” Goodwin added, “we’ll give it everything we have to get that win.”

CHS Boys Basketball Wins Central League, Earns No. 4 Seed

Last week the Coronado Boys Basketball Team (22-6, 10-2) entered play need one victory to clinch the Central League title and instead they earned two victories. For their efforts they won the title and also earned the No. 4 seed in Division IV behind Parker, La Jolla Country Day, and Bishop’s.

The week opened on the road at Kearny and the Islanders emerged with a 54-52 win. Islander Head Coach J.D. Laaperi was quick to praise power forward Luke Gillingham and give him a great deal of the credit. “First and foremost Luke was our week-long MVP. He was our best player by far. He did the same things in both games, including rebounding, playing defense and scoring when we needed it. Kearny kept scoring points in bunches and Luke kept righting the ship. He got a key basket or a key rebound all night long.

According to Islander Assistant Coach and stats maven Greg Johnson, Gillingham had nine points and six rebounds against Kearny. Other statistical standouts included Danny Hebert with 17 points and five rebounds; Justin Hebner with seven points and four assists; Billy Schmitt had four points and six rebounds, and Jordan Jacobs and Harley Ralph had five points each.”

The league title was already in hand Friday night, but Laaperi thought that a win was important for Division IV seeding purposes. “We knew we had to beat Christian to secure the No. 4 seed. If we lost, we would drop to No. 5 or No. 6. Christian was going to come in and play hard. We wanted to finish on a high note. It was Senior Night and we always get up for Christian.”

The game wasn’t pretty but the victory was the important issue and Coronado prevailed 53-45.

Midway through the second quarter, Coronado held a 26-11 lead. With 4:44 remaining in the game, Christian was in front 41-38. The relatively rapid decline wasn’t a mystery to Laaperi. “It’s funny, when we decide to play defense, they had a hard time getting the ball past half court. It was the same as the first game out there. We’d get up 10-15 points, give it up, and then re-take the lead. It’s enough to drive me nuts.”

Hebner was Coronado’s leading scorer against Christian with 18 points, three of which came on a long jumper that tied the game late and helped Coronado re-establish their momentum. Hebert added 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and five steals. Gillingham was huge again with nine points, nine boards, three steals and played great interior defense. Schmitt had five points, five rebounds and a resounding blocked shot at a critical time.

In addition, Jordan Jacobs had four blocked shots, but the block of the evening went to sophomore forward Dylan Gouthro who seemingly came out of nowhere and slammed a Patriot shot to the floor late in the third quarter for an important defensive stop. Gouthro showed some serious ‘skilz’ in the process.

If you remember the CIF’s propensity for paper-eating machines, well darned if it didn’t happen again over the weekend. This time the Coronado Boys Basketball Team thought they had a first round bye, but Palo Verde (7-11, 4-2 in the four-team Desert League) slipped some paperwork over the transom at the CIF office and now the Islanders will host a Wednesday evening playoff game at 7 pm. In turn, Palo Verde gets to make the drive over from Blythe.

If form holds, Coronado will likely host Army-Navy Saturday evening at 7 pm. “They have a 7-1 sophomore,” said Laaperi of the Warriors (14-11, 3-7 in the Coastal League South). “We beat them last year by 10 and it took everything we had. I’ve only seen them on tape this season. Offensively they go through their big guy and on defense, they try to funnel everyone to him.”

Track and Field Preview

Coronado High School Head Track and Field Coach George Green weighs in with a preview of the Boys and Girls squads. “Like all other spring sports, track is now underway minus a number of athletes still in winter sports. But anyone still interested in coming out can meet with the coaches any day after school on the track at 3pm.

We have a lot of new participants, especially on the girl’s side, and a small core of veteran athletes who should make an impact at the CIF Finals this season. Topping that list is pole vaulter Will Bartsch, who is one of only four San Diego Section vaulters who cleared 14 feet last year. Joining him in that endeavor this year is his freshman sister, Lauren Bartsch, who is already clearing eight feet.

Two other freshmen who should make an impact are high jumpers Sierra Smith and Abigail Callahan, both of whom jumped 5'4" in middle school. The significance of that is both were good enough in middle school to qualify for the California High School State Meet. Our high jump coach, Kerry Elders, himself a 7-2 high jumper in his day, has been waiting for these two athletes for the last three years. 

Other top returnees are Sadie Gimber in the 400-meter run, Aryan Shay in the 800-meter run, and Maddy Danielson in the 300-meter hurdles. Sadie's 58.99 mark from last season ranks her sixth among returning San Diego Section one-lappers and now that she's concentrating on running instead of losing valuable training time to soccer, who knows how fast she'll be. Gimber, sophomore Elise Umansky, and 300-meter hurdle specialist Danielson, should comprise three legs of a pretty good 4 x 400 relay team. There are several girls who could move into the fourth slot including Samantha Kirk and Cassie Callahan. Danielson's 47.22 mark from last season ranks her among the Top 10 in the county for the 300-meter hurdles with Callahan not far back.

The girl's 100-meter hurdle squad is deep with Danielson, Callahan, Olivia Lillegraven, and Danielle Swanson forming a pretty good 1-2-3-4 punch (in no particular order, by the way).

Shay's 800-meter mark of 1:58.64 makes him a division threat and he's focused to drop that time even lower. Miler Will Funk and Shay joined forces at the Valentine's day 10 K to win the men's two-person team trophy with Nate Wilson (cross country and lacrosse) and Ryan Keeney (cross country, soccer, baseball) placing second. 

The usually  strong girls distance team is down to Meg Sweeney, Nicole Davies, and Ashley Engelman after losing Sallie Privett and Adie Davies to graduation, and Annie Lovering to a soccer injury. Sweeney's marks from last season in both the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs will put her among the top league and division runners this season.

Also returning from last year are Lauren Bower (sprints and long jump), Brittany Hallawell (high jump), Stephanie Hamilton (jumps and mid-distance), Nadine Monzon (sprints and jumps), Shiloe Parsons (sprints and jumps), Yvonne Wood (jumps), Michael Cerdinio (distance), Nate Ferraco (hurdles), Jack Gold (pole vault, hurdles, sprints), Bobby Mansueto (sprints), John Scales (sprints and jumps), Stavros Markakis (throws), Carlos Montes (distance and pole vault), Jorge Rodriguez (throws), and Freddy Smith (throws).

This by no means is a complete list as we had a large pre-season signup of new members, most of who are not on this list. For more info about the team, not to mention thousands of photos, see our website IslanderTrack.com.”

Thanks to Girls Soccer Fundraiser Sponsors and Volunteers

February 4th, the Girls Soccer program held their Fourth Annual Golf Tournament at NAS North Island’s Sea N Air Golf Course. Once again the event was a huge success with over 70 golfers and volunteers in attendance. The event raises funds to support the continued success of the Girls Soccer program. Major sponsors for the event included Burger Lounge and the Optimist Club of Coronado.

Over the past three seasons the team, under the direction of Head Coach Kiko Medina, won the CIF title in 2008 and 2010 and was a finalist in 2009. Medina wished to thank event Chairs Jeff Couture and Lori Couture for their efforts in running the tournament. “I’d like to thank the Coutures for their tireless work and contributions to the program for the past four years.”