Winning begets winning and that is certainly true of the Coronado High School winter sports programs again this year. The Boys and Girls Basketball, Boys and Girls Soccer, and Girls Water Polo Teams combined for an 8-2 week. Together the five teams have compiled a 70 percent winning percentage this year on the strength of an overall record of 77-34-6.

The Boys Soccer Team posted a 2-0 record last week and are putting together a strong playoff run. Head Coach Brian Hiatt, who is in his fourth year as the head of the program, has made the playoffs each of the three previous years at CHS. He figured his club needed to win their final four games of the year to make the post season again. Last week’s 2-0 win at Clairemont and a 2-1 victory over Serra has kept the Islanders on pace to do just that.

Tuesday’s victory over the Chieftains came on goals from Buddy Marshall and Phil Bond, while Stuart Gallant and Bond supplied the scores in the win over the Conquistadors.

The bad news is that the injury bug, which waited most of the season to hit Coronado, has done so with a vengeance in the past week. Ryan Haig rolled an ankle on a tackle and couldn’t walk for two days and as late as Thursday the senior sweeper was on crutches. Marshall has an injured knee, Blair Geiss hurt the top of his foot and Patrick Ahern sustained a broken nose.

"We’re falling apart here at the end," Hiatt said. "Tuesday we played with only 10 players. Haig is the big one (injury). We have to cover the back (the defensive backfield) first and we have to put Stuart Gallant there, which hurts the offense. We’re doing our scoring on set plays, which have been strengths of ours since I’ve been here. The throw ins, the corners and the free kicks are all working."

Hiatt’s club is 11-5-2 and he figures he needs to win out against Christian and Preuss Academy this week, going into the CIF coaches’ seeding meeting Saturday. "There are a lot of good teams in Division III and we haven’t beaten anybody in the upper echelon except Crawford. There are five or six teams fighting for the No. 10-12 spots in the playoffs. We really need to win both of our games this week. That’s the key right there."

Head Coach Miles Ramirez and the Girls Soccer Team were 2-1 last week to push their overall record to a fine 17-4-4 mark. The loss came to University City 1-0 Monday, a game which Ramirez characterized as ‘frustrating.’ "We played exceptionally well, but couldn’t find the back of the net. University City found us off balance in the back and scored."

Wednesday found the Islanders in a tight contest with Christian, but Junior Rachel Poe scored after a beautiful run down the right side of the field. The game was tied 1-1 at halftime when junior goalie Jamie Klages scored "the goal."

We’ll let Ramirez pick up the narrative from there. "Jamie knew it was going to be difficult to see the ball due to the direction of the sun. We had a free kick after a foul at midfield. Jamie lined the ball up from 55 yards away, put the ball in the air, and it went about an inch under the crossbar. It was unbelievable. I have never seen a keeper score from that distance. If Coach (Islander Head Football Coach Bud) Mayfield had seen that, she would be kicking for him next fall."

Friday night was a combination Senior Night and Coronado Youth Soccer Night as the Islanders hosted Marian Catholic. The hosts weren’t very hospitable as they dominated the Crusaders 6-0.

"The girls had that extra energy Friday evening. Three of the four seniors that were able to play scored. Coronado Youth Soccer President Craig Turley did a great job of organizing the game on such short notice. The players were inspired by the attendance. Marian is a good team, but with that much inspiration, our players weren’t about to disappoint the parents, fans or students. Having the youth soccer players there made the night memorable for them."

Senior Cristan Alley played the first half in goal. Her classmates Teal Jensen scored on a corner kick play, Rhett Chase scored twice and Dayna Queisser scored her 18^th goal of the season. Junior Ashley Copp found the back of the net twice. "Sophomore Kindall Caldwell had a great game," Ramirez noted. "She came up from her outside back position and set up a few goals."

Senior Jade Hughes had surgery on her left knee to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and will be lost for the balance of the season. "Jade was in attendance at the game, which was another bright spot for the girls."

The Western League loss to University City knocked the Islanders out of conference title contention for this season. If Coronado can win Wednesday’s league finale against La Jolla, they will finish fourth in the league behind University City, University of San Diego High School, and Our Lady of Peace. University City and USDHS play each other Wednesday. If U.C. wins the contest, they win the league title outright. If USDHS wins, the Dons and the Centurions will share the league title.

Ramirez anticipates a seed in the Division III CIF playoffs somewhere in the 5-8 range, meaning the Islanders are likely to host a home playoff contest, perhaps Tuesday evening Feb. 24.

The Girls Basketball Team rode the strong play of Senior Alexis Castro last week to two Harbor League victories, which clinched at least a tie for the conference title for the Islanders. Castro sliced and diced second-place Christian for 31 points and 16 rebounds as the Islanders defeated the Patriots 57-42.

According to Head Coach Toler Goodwin, there was more to the win than Castro’s dominance. "I don’t think we would have won against Christian if our other players hadn’t played well. Christian made some other people make some early baskets. They (Christian) ran a triangle and two (defense) and put two defenders on Alexis. When they did that, other people made shots for us."

"Brooke Becky had 10 points," Goodwin continued, "with almost all of them coming on shots from the wing opposite Alexis. Janelle Kuhlow made a couple of shots and Amanda Marks made a basket early on from a feed from Alexis. Vanessa Gosenheim made a three-pointer in the first quarter. When it got a little bit tight in the third quarter, Brooke made three shots in a row from the wing. Then Christian changed defenses and Alexis picked up the slack from there."

The Clairemont game, which was a 64-35 victory for Coronado was a little less complicated. Castro contributed 22 points, 18 rebounds and seven assists and the Islanders cruised to victory. Seniors Anne Marie Strohbeck scored 13 points and Nikki Hayden added eight points.

Handicapping a CIF playoff bracket is a little like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall, but Goodwin still thinks the Islanders will be in the 3-4 range, if they win out over Madison and Crawford this week. "We’ll be 20-7 if we do what we should do," said Goodwin. "We’ve played some tougher teams this year. Parker’s win over us is going to help them. It depends on league values (league strength vs. other conferences in the county) and where everything comes out in the math."

The Boys Basketball Team overcame a 7-minute scoring drought against Clairemont to win 37-34 on the road. They added a 57-41 victory over Christian later in the week.

The Clairemont victory came on a steal and an assist from Brett Milke and a basket by Bobby Talley. After a Chieftain missed shot, Milke was fouled and made two free throws to seal the victory. Milke contributed 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the Christian victory.

Head Coach Sandy Dillon played what he termed as a ‘junk defense’ against Christian’s 6’, 5" freshman standout Tyrone Shelley, who has been shredding teams all year long. "We had four players in a man-to-man defense and Talley played a zone on Shelley. At halftime he had three points. He got five in the third quarter and 10 in the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach. Talley did a nice job against him."

Dillon is getting contributions from a number of players during the stretch run to the playoffs. "Tommy Corcoran played good defense all week and Cote Perkins has played well. He doesn’t score much, but he contributes. Jacques Spitzer came in and gave Tommy some good minutes off. Jacques is strong enough to go against a kid like Shelley."

The Islanders at 18-7 overall, 5-3 in the Harbor League, and are out of conference title contention, but their Division IV seeding should be in the No. 2-4 range. "Francis Parker should be No. 1 and in some order Coronado, Horizon Christian and La Jolla Country Day should be 2-4. It’s been a long season. We’re a Division IV team in a league with Division II and III teams. Right now LJCD is doing what we did last year, peaking at the right time. Bishop’s was pretty solid until a couple of weeks ago. I don’t care where we are as long as we are somewhere between 1-4."

The Girls Water Polo Team lost to Newport Harbor 9-6 in their only game last week, but since Newport is considered to be one of the best prep teams in the state and will be the No. 1 seed in the CIF Southern Section playoffs, there is no dishonor in that result. Currently the Islanders stand at 13-14 overall.

"Coronado had a hard time protecting the ball, especially in the first quarter," said Islander Head Coach Randy Burgess. "Newport went out and led 5-1 at halftime. In the second and third quarters, our defense notched it down and in the fourth quarter, we got some good looks on offense and outscored Newport 5-1. We painted ourselves into a corner when we were unable to protect the ball early."

Freshman center forward Katie Estrada led a balanced Islander scoring attack with two goals, followed by a goal each from Katherine Burt, Mary Lowe, Elizabeth Hopkins and Erin Jones. Defensively Hopkins added five steals and Lowe contributed four.

Coronado figures to be in the 3-4 range for the CIF Division II playoffs, which means they will likely play their quarter-final playoff game Saturday evening at La Jolla High School. The CIF semi-finals will be played Tuesday, Feb. 24 and the finals Saturday, Feb. 28 at 5 pm. A three seed might set up another Coronado vs. Bishop’s final. A four seed would mean that the teams would likely match up in the semi-finals.