Thematically this week’s edition of The Eagle & Times is a look back at the significant happenings of 2003.

Starting with the winter sports season of 2002-03, there were a total of nine league championships won by teams representing Coronado High School. The first two conference titles were won by the Boys Basketball and Girls Basketball Teams. The Girls Water Polo Team didn’t win their league title, but defeated The Bishop’s School in a thrilling overtime to capture the CIF Division II crown.

The spring sports teams brought five titles home, with championships won by the Boys Golf Team, the Boys Baseball Team, the Girls Track Team, the Boys Lacrosse Team and the Girls Lacrosse Team.

In the fall of 2003, the Boys Water Polo Team dominated the Western League, but fell a goal short to Bishop’s in the CIF Division II title game, but emerged as a CIF runner-up. The Girls Volleyball Team went undefeated in Harbor League play and captured that league title.

Girls Volleyball Head Coach Phil Trotter and crew held their post season banquet over the weekend. The individual awards presented included: MVP – Megan Mushovic, who was also Harbor League MVP; Team Captain – Janelle Kuhlow; Most Improved – Jamie Klages; Coach’s Award – Deidre Kelly; Islander Award – Katy Arnold; and athletes with over a 4.0 grade point average – Teal Jensen and Ashley Copp.

Over the holiday break the Girls Soccer Team under the direction of Head Coach Miles Ramirez, competed in the Spartan Tournament and won the Silver Division title, thanks to outstanding defense, expert goaltending by Jamie Klages and three well-timed goals from junior Erin Buss.

Starting tournament play, the Islanders defeated Point Loma High School 2-0 on goals by Jade Hughes and Ashley Walsh. In the following game against a good San Marcos squad, goals were scored by Buss and Hughes. Buss scored the lone goal in the 1-0 semi-final victory over Valley Center and repeated the achievement with the lone goal in the 1-0 championship victory over Escondido.

Buss has been a member of the Islander varsity since her sophomore year. According to Ramirez, "she’s right and left-footed and gives up depth at the outside mid position." Buss and Klages were named to the All-Tournament Team and were joined by Rhett Chase, Maureen Mulvey and Kelly Walsh. Klages, based on her four shutouts in goal, was named Tournament MVP.

The four tournament wins places the Islanders overall record at 11-0-2. "One of our goals this year is to win 20 games," added Ramirez.

Due to illness, injuries, and holiday travel, Ramirez had to juggle his lineup throughout the tournament. Rachel Poe, Ashley Copp, Ashley Walsh, and Jade Hughes have an assortment of injuries. As Ramirez said, "it’s not bad to have half of your team out and still win. We have tremendous depth, which is something we never really had in the past. Kids that normally are in a reserve position are now stepping up, gaining experience and playing at a higher level. The confidence is still there that we will win. Right now I’m real happy with what we have."

Among those contributing to the tournament title were sophomore outside marking back Angela Naple, Kylie Cusick and Anni Korhonen. 11-0-2

This week the Islanders have two Western League games on the schedule. Wednesday at Niedermeyer Field, they host USDHS at 5 pm. Friday at 3:15 pm, the Islanders host Scripps Ranch. "It will be nice to get home again," said Ramirez. "We’ve been on the road forever."

The Girls Basketball Team finished their play in the Santana Christmas Classic with a 67-51 victory over Patrick Henry, earning them seventh place against a tough field and moving them to a 9-5 overall record. Four Islanders, paced by 18 points from Alexis Castro, scored in double figures. Anne Marie Strohbeck scored 13 points, Janelle Kuhlow added 11 and Vanessa Gosenheim scored 10 points. The scoring was completed by Brooke Becky, Amanda Marks, and Nikki Hayden.

"We wore Patrick Henry out the other day," said Head Coach Toler Goodwin. "We had good balance in the scoring. The two games we lost in the Santana tournament were good for us. They were played at a perfectionist pace, where you have to be perfect to win. We lost by two points (to Ocean View) and seven points (to Ramona) to good competition. We played well against Ocean View in a game we lost."

Individually Goodwin likes the progress shown by his players. "Alexis gives us power inside and outside shooting ability. Vanessa plays at a pace that helps us compete, by handling the ball and taking it to the basket. Brooke and Anne-Marie are our best spot-up shooters and Janelle provides athletic ability and versatility to the lineup. Nikki had a real good game against Henry. She was able to defend on the perimeter against a guard. She did a terrific job."

The closure of Lincoln High School has Goodwin not entirely sure where the challenges will come from when Harbor League play starts. "Crawford and Hoover may have some talent coming from Lincoln, I’m not quite sure. I know Hoover has their best two players back from last year. Christian will be tough and they have the league MVP back from last year. Christian and Clairemont are the teams with the known returning talent and Madison has their two or three best players from last year back."

Before league play begins, the Islanders complete their tough non-conference schedule with a Wednesday home game against Scripps Ranch at 6 pm. Then Tuesday Jan. 13 they play at Mission Bay, one of the strongest teams in the county. "We have a couple of tests before we hit the league," added Goodwin. "We’re not backing off on the schedule before we start league play."

The Boys Basketball Team traveled to the desert to play Imperial Saturday and emerged with a 64-28 victory and an overall record of 11-3. Imperial features a 6-6 player named Danny Jones who Islander Head Coach Sandy Dillon says is a future Division I college-level player and the best player from that area that he has seen during his coaching career.

In an unusual offensive situation, Imperial only had three players score in the contest. Jones scored all of the Tigers’ points until midway through the third quarter.

Brett Milke paced Coronado’s attack with 17 points followed by Tony Moore with 15 and Jimmy Harrison with 12. Other scorers included Bobby Talley, Julian Cole, Will Nygard, Cote Perkins, Tommy Corcoran and Gene Pontes.

Dillon pointed to the play of Perkins and Pontes, who made contributions to the victory. "We got some really good minutes from Gene Pontes, who went 4-4 from the foul line and played good solid defense. And Cote played very well off the bench. I’m pretty pleased with the effort Saturday. You never know how kids are going to tolerate a trip (to the desert) like that. It’s a long ride out there, and then you have to sit for an hour and a half for the JV game."

In what has become a trademark of this year’s team, the Islanders were 20-22 from the free throw line. They may need that level of production from the charity stripe when they have an early-week game at Francis Parker, which is also 11-3. Saturday evening at 7 pm, the Islanders host Santana High School.

The Girls Water Polo Team spent a considerable amount of their vacation in training for the 2004 portion of their schedule. Included in the regimen was time in the weight room, time in the class room and a lot of time in the pool.

Head Coach Dave Throop said that due to facilities challenges, the team went through a 4-hour afternoon training block. "We touched on a lot of areas of concern and the group was able to maintain focus. They trained really hard. For them to respond the way they did was really positive. I was happy with the training. Their attitudes were awesome during the break."

An early week game against Scripps Ranch is followed a game Thursday against Patrick Henry at Allied Gardens. Saturday the Islanders face Foothill in a 3 pm contest at La Jolla High School. Foothill is "ranked No. 1 in all of the polls" according to Throop.

On a related note, the Peninsula Water Polo Club begins workouts this week for kids interested in learning and playing the game. For more information, contact either Randy Burgess at 851-9733 or Dave Throop at 851-9734.

Finally, I don’t have any ties, emotional or otherwise to the University of Southern California, but I admire the way Head Football Coach Pete Carroll handled the controversy surrounding the Bowl Championship Series and National Championship that wasn’t really decided in college football this year.

USC which earned a decisive victory in the Rose Bowl over a competitive Michigan squad, and ended their season ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. Louisiana State University won the Sugar Bowl with a 21-14 win over Oklahoma and the No. 1 ranking in the USA Today/ESPN poll. The latter poll is based on computer rankings which include a variety of factors including strength of schedule. The AP version is a poll of sportswriters and broadcasters.

In this day of the 20-second, ‘let’s promote me’ sound bite, Carroll exuded nothing but class during the constant and continual media interview process this past month.

The mythical championship game between USC and LSU that will never happen, would match the former’s offensive prowess against the latter’s defense. I suspect that USC would win the game due to a fine passing attack and superior team speed, but based on Carroll’s class act, I know for sure which team I would root for.