Coming off of their Christmas break, the Coronado High School winter sports teams collectively didn’t plan for torrential rains to stay in the area. In hindsight, the coach looking pretty smart right now is CHS Boys Soccer Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu, who didn’t schedule any games last week. No games, no make-up dates, at least for now.

From a competition standpoint, the team least affected by the weather is the Girls Water Polo Team and they managed to get all six of their contests completed, winning four. Their week started with two Western League games, the first a 10-6 victory over USDHS, a team that defeated the Islanders twice in three games last season. The following day Coronado defeated University City 11-6.

Highlights of those games were turned in by Elizabeth Hopkins and Megan Braun. Hopkins committed 10 steals total in the two games to key the Islanders defensive effort, while Braun was credited with 11 saves in goal against USDHS, including a penalty shot attempt. Head Coach Dave Throop said of his senior leaders, "I haven’t seen a better goalie that Megan this year. Elizabeth can be very effective on both the offensive and defensive ends of the pool. She can score when needed and she can defend most players." For good measure, Hopkins added three goals and Kelly Phelps scored twice against the Dons.

Against University City Katie Estrada scored twice and Hopkins added two more goals.

The Islanders then ventured north to play in the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, which features 16 of the best teams in the state. Their first round opponent was Corona del Mar and in a physical contest, Coronado came out on the short end of the 8-2 final score. Later that day, the Islanders defeated El Toro 9-5, with Emily Bigham leading the way with three goals.

That set up the first of possibly four matches this season against The Knights from the Bishop’s School Saturday morning. After trailing 5-2 at the conclusion of the first quarter, Coronado rallied to eventually lose by the score of 11-10.

Throop looked at the game as a valuable learning experience for his young team. "We came out tentative. We called a timeout and asked the team, ‘What are we going to do from here on?’ We needed to get back to the game plan and to our system. As the game progressed the girls started settling down. There was really a big shift of confidence over the course of the game. This game is meaningless in the big picture. We played them in a neutral pool and we got to see what they are up to. We did some good things as the game progressed."

Throop was pleased with the overall play of junior Sandra Fernandez. "Sandra had a great game, scoring three goals, with one steal and she drew exclusion. It solidified in my mind that she needs to be a point guard type player, a player who is the primary glue of the offense." Freshman Hannah Sebenaler scored two goals against the Knights.

The Islanders fourth game of the tourney was against Redlands, with Hopkins scoring three times, Braun being credited with five saves and Coronado won the game 10-5.

Throop normally leans toward a Zen approach when summarizing his team’s efforts, but he was impressed with a couple of stats that finds the Islanders with an 8-3 record on the season. "We are averaging 6.7 turnovers per game, which is one of the lowest turnover ratios that we have ever had. We are scoring eight goals per game on average. Those are signs that we’re doing some good things. We’re moving the ball intelligently and doing a good job of maintaining possession of the ball at this point of the season. As young as we are, with only two returning starters, that’s impressive."

This week the Islanders play at Bishop’s (Game 2) on Wednesday at 3 pm and then travel to Foothill in Orange County for a game Saturday. Foothill won the Santa Barbara Tournament and figures to be particularly tough at home.

Throop knows it’s going to be an interesting season. "We’re going to be up and down, on a roller coaster ride due to our (lack of) experience. But we’ll have a team that can give other teams fits from time to time."

Our counterparts at the "San Diego Union-Tribune" are officially on board the Coronado Girls Soccer Team bandwagon that your Natterer joined several weeks ago, as they ran a 4 column by 6.5 inch picture of Islander Kelly Walsh in Thursday’s editions, taken during Coronado’s home game against La Jolla.

Walsh and her teammates, paced by a goal-scoring header by Kendall Caldwell from a Sasha Vido corner kick, defeated La Jolla 1-0 Wednesday. The victory ran Coronado’s record to 14-0-1 and earned them the No. 8 ranking in the U-T Girls Soccer Poll.

Proving they are more adept at playing soccer than walking on water, the Islanders lost their home game last Friday against Our Lady of Peace to the elements, forcing the game to be postponed.

One of the unique story lines in the La Jolla game was that the Islanders and the Vikings have played three times, with Coronado winning all three games. The Islanders dominated last week’s contest, despite the low score. La Jolla was not credited with a shot on goal and only crossed into Coronado’s end of the field three times.

"It’s hard beating a team three times (in a season)," said Head Coach Miles Ramirez. "And we have to play them again (in Western League play). It gives the other team a chance to make adjustments, although we made some adjustments of our own. We knew they were going to try and hang back. If the would have run with us, we would have beaten them five or six to nothing."

The weather-related off day gave the Islanders a chance to re-load their roster as sweeper Maureen Mulvey returns from injury. Also, Ashley Copp, who re-aggravated a balky hamstring last week, has a chance to rest and return to health. Copp had been playing sweeper for Mulvey during her convalescence, but Coach Ramirez will now move Copp to an attacking mid position.

With rain forecast through Tuesday, Wednesday’s scheduled game with University City may be postponed as well. Ramirez hopes that Friday’s game at USDHS will go off as scheduled. "Hopefully we can get that game in because we have a few college coaches coming in to see that game. It’s nice to see the kids get the recognition they deserve."

Ramirez went on to compliment three of his players on their play last week. "Both Ashley Walsh at left mid and Kelly Walsh at right mid are playing extremely well on the outside. Sasha Vido is playing strong and hard up front. We want to be playing our best at the end of February. We have quite a way to go, but we’re making good strides."

Head Coach Toler Goodwin had a scheduling plan to play gradually tougher competition leading up to the Harbor League schedule. His team hosted Grossmont last Wednesday and fell to the hot shooting hand of the Foothillers Jaclyn Goldbarg, who scored 30 points. Grossmont won the game 58-30.

On the plus side, the Islanders, who had been having trouble advancing the ball against pressure defenses, played a very good first half, trailing 35-24 at intermission. Also much improved was their offensive ball movement. Defensively Coronado created several Grossmont turnovers in the first half, which kept them in the game. Basically the Islanders ran out of gas in the second half.

Post player Amanda Marks turned in a fine outing with nine points and nine rebounds. She was followed closely by sophomore guard Brooke Becky who contributed 10 points and eight rebounds. Jessica Davis-Ricci added six points and two rebounds.

The Islanders schedule for this week took an unexpected turn when Otay Ranch cancelled the game scheduled for Tuesday. Conversely, that leaves the decks clear for Goodwin to concentrate on Harbor League opponent Clairemont, who will invade Coronado Friday at 6 pm in the first game of a Girls-Boys basketball doubleheader.

"I think the Harbor League is going to be very even this year," said Goodwin. "There are new coaches at Hoover, Crawford and Madison, so we don’t really know what to expect. Some people think Hoover is the league favorite. I don’t think anyone is going to go through league play undefeated." The journey starts Friday evening.

It’s a fairly rare occurrence when a basketball game gets rained out, but that happened to the Islanders Friday evening. Their opponents from Imperial, who had to cross the mountains to reach Coronado, were leery of the weather conditions and postponed their game, which will now be played Wednesday, Jan. 19.

This is a potentially important game for seeding purposes in CIF Division IV playoffs. A victory over Imperial might serve as a tie-breaker of sorts, and save Coronado from having to make a trip to the desert come playoff time. Experts predict Imperial to win the Desert League, a four-team group that includes Calipatria, Palo Verde and Holtville.

The Islanders victory at Montgomery by the score of 39-38 wasn’t an artistic success, but a victory none the less and runs their record to 10-2 this season.

The contest was one of the few games played in recent memory where the winning team’s leading scorer wasn’t in double figures. Chas Marks led the Islanders with eight points, seniors Reid McLean and Alex Fairman both contributed six points, while Brad Munns and Drew Zeller added five points each. Coronado outscored Montgomery 14-5 in the fourth quarter to earn the victory.

"We were 7-28 shooting inside eight feet," marveled Head Coach Sandy Dillon. "We hadn’t played away from home in 10 or 12 days. We are inexperienced, it was cold and rainy and the kids couldn’t control themselves. Brad Munns and Chas Marks hit big-time three-pointers at the beginning of the fourth quarter. We got the lead and the kids played good basketball during the last couple of minutes when it was time to win."

This week the Islanders host Otay Ranch Tuesday evening at 7 pm, a team that Dillon describes as "bigger than us and way more athletic. They don’t have any seniors and they sometimes make mistakes at inopportune times." The week’s play concludes with Clairemont coming to Coronado for the Harbor League lid lifter. "Clairemont has four or five different presses and they take time off the clock on every possession on offense. It will be an interesting game. We set our schedule so we would be ready coming into this, so we’ll see.

Congratulations to Islander football Captain Jed Considine for being named to the First Team Defensive line in the All-State Small Schools All-Star Team by CalHiSports.com in their January 4, 2005 edition.