Great news continues to emanate from The CHS Girls Soccer Team, as they won their two games last week to vault their way to an impressive 14-0-3 won-loss record.

Perhaps of equal importance was the commitment by senior Rhett Chase to the Air Force Academy, where she will play NCAA Division I soccer, joining Dayna Queisser (University of California at Berkeley) as the second signed D-I athlete from the 2003-04 Islander squad.

"This is a great opportunity for her," said an enthused Miles Ramirez, head coach of the Islander squad said of Chase. "I’m glad she is going to continue her career. She’s capable of playing at the D-I level. It will just be a matter of time before she will earn a starting spot at Air Force."

Early in the week, Coronado beat Montgomery 7-0 on the strength of an outstanding effort by Ashley Copp, who had two goals and assisted on two others in the contest. Not to be outdone, Maureen Mulvey scored twice, and single goals were delivered by Alex Vido, Ashley Walsh, and Queisser. Junior netminder Jaime Klages was credited with the shutout.

"The real tale of the game was that five of the seven goals were off of attacking headers," said Ramirez. "It was a fun game. People fail to realize that our league is so stressful that every week is a championship game with one of the top teams in the county."

The second game of the week was a 2-1 win over Christian High School, which is a new entry in the Western League for girls soccer. "We came out sluggish," said Ramirez of the contest against the Patriots. "We had two shots in the second half and scored on both. Our goals were from Mulvey and Queisser. The game winner was by Mulvey, which was a set piece from a corner kick."

"In general, all of the girls are playing well," said Ramirez. "It’s nice to have Ashley Walsh back. Kelly Walsh and Marissa Nagler are starters who are playing out of position for us, to insure that we have our best lineup on the field. They are unsung heroes that don’t get recognized a lot. They make a big contribution to the team."

The Islanders, who were recognized by the Union-Tribune’s Sportswriters Poll as being the 10^th best team in the county last week, have two more league tilts on tap for this week. They host La Jolla High School Wednesday at 3:15 at Niedermeyer Field. Friday they begin the second round of Western League play in a 3 pm game against OLP that will be played at St. Augustine High School. The first round of league play ends with Coronado tied with USDHS atop the Western League.

The Boys Basketball Team split their games last week. They leapt to a good start with an 82-48 victory over Brawley and then started Harbor League play with a tough 55-54 loss at Hoover.

In the Brawley contest, four seniors accounted for 58 of the 82 points scored by the Islanders. Brett Milke scored 16 points, Jimmy Harrison 15, Julian Cole 14 and Tony Moore 13. The Islanders handily won all four quarters of the game, including a 22-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. "We played awfully well against Brawley," said Head Coach Sandy Dillon. "We were hitting on all cylinders."

The more important game was the Harbor League opener against Hoover, which marked the second time the two clubs have met, the first in a tournament at the beginning of the season, a contest won by the Islanders on a neutral court.

In last week’s game, the Islanders rode into battle without starting center Tommy Corcoran, who was on a water polo recruiting trip. Fortunately Dillon was able to call on another physical player in senior Gene Pontes, who assumed the important role in the middle. "Gene played his tail off," said Dillon. "He really played well. Tony Moore played guard and handled the ball really, really well. Bobby Talley played very well also. The gym was packed at Hoover the other night. The whole upper level was full."

Trailing by five points at halftime, and later by the score of 44-33, Coronado trailed by only one point with the ball in Hoover’s possession and 50 seconds remaining in the game. "We played realty solid defense and got the ball back and called time out," said Dillon. "We got a really good shot, but it didn’t fall. We’re two pretty even teams. They’re more athletic and quicker and we’re smarter."

This week the Islanders have only one game, as they host Clairemont Friday evening in a Girls/Boys doubleheader. The girls game will start at 6 pm and the boys game at approximately 8 pm. The Boys squad is currently 13-5 overall, and 0-1 in the Harbor League.

Speaking of the Girls Basketball Team, their week was similar to that posted by the Boys, except in reverse. Their first game was against No. 6 ranked Mission Bay, led by two future NCAA Division I players in center Amber Sprague and guard Amanda Rego. The pair combined for 38 points and held Coronado’s D-I player Alexis Castro to 10 points.

Head Coach Toler Goodwin took a somewhat humorous approach to the game by saying, "we didn’t shoot the ball very well. That always seems to ruin your offensive attack if you don’t shoot the ball well. They (Mission Bay) are a very good team. They came out and kicked our butts."

At one point in the game, the Buccaneers went on a 14-0 run, stretching their lead from 22-14 to the eventual halftime score of 36-14.

The good news was that the story was different against Hoover, sort of. "We had a similar effort against Hoover in the first half. We did a good job of taking their looks away," added Goodwin. "But we were 9-35 from the field in the first half and we were only 5-18 on shots in the paint. We got shots, but just didn’t put anything in the basket. We played better after that."

Goodwin was high on the effort of senior Nikki Hayden. "Nikki had a great week. She rebounded well in both games. She played as well as anyone we had in the Mission Bay game. She was much more active on the glass."

After Friday’s twin bill against Clairemont, the Girls play at Christian next Tuesday at 4:30 pm. Coronado is currently 11-6 overall, with a 1-0 record in the Harbor League.

The Boys Soccer Team earned a loss and a tie and Head Coach Brian Hiatt mourned the loss of points in the Harbor League standings that he had hoped to take out of the match at Madison. "The score was 0-0 and we could have played another two halves and we weren’t going to score. The points we lost there could come back to haunt us at the end of the season."

The Islanders other game was a 3-1 loss to Hoover, which was punctuated by some rather uneven officiating, at least from Hiatt’s perspective. "We were called for two penalty kicks that nobody understood. I hate to blame losses on referees, but there were two 50-50 balls that were called penalty kicks against us. We played much better than we played against Madison. Hoover is very good. They didn’t need the help."

The problem with the Islanders playoff prospects this season is that the competition in Division III is particularly tough, with some teams that are usually average, having exceptional seasons. Coronado, which has made the playoffs for three years running, has to pick up the pace to do so again this year. Hiatt sees this week’s home matches against Crawford and Clairemont as pivotal to making a playoff run. Currently the Islanders are 5-3-2 on the season.

"Our effort is really good," said Hiatt of his club. "We match up well for fitness, speed, strength and power, but our technical skills are a little short. We have beaten the teams which we are supposed to beat, but we haven’t beaten anybody good."

Hiatt noted the play of senior Phil Bond, saying "he has been our most consistent player all season." Also playing well is sophomore goalie Hugo Vera. "He’s done a good job in goal last week and this week, and he has made some good saves. He’s not giving up anything he shouldn’t be giving up."

The Girls Water Polo Team defeated La Jolla 10-3 last week before heading to the SoCal Invitational over the weekend. The Islanders had the misfortune to be the first opponent of Foothill H.S. after they had their 49-game unbeaten streak broken earlier in the week. The Islanders lost the game 10-5 for their second loss to Foothill in a 6-day span.

The Foothill loss was followed by a 10-8 loss to Santa Margarita, and then a 7-1 loss to Monte Bello. In their tournament finale, the Islanders defeated Irvine 10-1.

Head Coach Dave Throop wasn’t upset by his club’s losses to Foothill and Santa Margarita, saying the Islanders "played well and played tough. We had some opportunities and didn’t convert them. I was actually pretty happy with the way they played."

In the tournament victory, against Irvine, Throop saw some positive elements. "Our personality and determination showed and we played really, really well. We’re asking a lot from our players who are playing critical positions. Our centers and goalies don’t have a lot of experience, but they didn’t let up. Our goalies Coral Kubala and Megan Braun played well. We have been alternating them by the entire game, rather than by halves like we had been doing. Elizabeth Hopkins probably played the best for us overall during the week. She averaged two goals a game."

"The tournament was a great learning experience," Throop continued, speaking of his team which has an overall record of 4-7. "I really think we’re about to turn the corner. They’ve really improved since Christmas. We have University and USDHS this week, then we have our tournament which starts on Thursday and will be played at La Jolla High School."

Finally, don’t forget the fundraiser dinner and auction for the Coronado High School Sailing Team, which will be held Thursday, Jan. 29 from 5:30-8 pm. Adult dinner tickets are $15 and child’s tickets are $5 each. If you would like to donate an auction item, or need more information on the event, please contact Karen Paquin at 435-0643.