Brian Hiatt-Aleu has been at the helm of the Coronado High School Boys Varsity Soccer Team for 5 years and during that time, the Islanders have never defeated Harbor League rival Hoover on the road. A couple of ties were mixed in with a few losses, but Coronado had never left El Cajon Boulevard with a soccer victory.

The Islanders emphatically ended that streak Thursday afternoon with a 3-0 pounding of the Cardinals, courtesy of two goals from Stuart Gallant and one from Kelcey Fisher. Coupled with their 3-2 victory over Christian Tuesday, the Islanders now rest atop the Harbor League standings with a 3-0 record, and an impressive overall mark of 8-3.

"Hoover was probably the league favorite going into the season," said Hiatt-Aleu. "They have beaten some big-time teams like St. Augustine and Rancho Bernardo and all of their players play (off-season) club soccer. We went in there with a game plan and the boys executed what we wanted to do. We set the tone early with some hard tackles and they didn’t match us in intensity and they were taking us for granted. We held our shape in the back (defensively) and took our (scoring) opportunities when we had them. Hoover started yelling at each other, lost their composure and it was over."

In the week prior to the victory over Hoover, Hiatt-Aleu had stated that his team’s best effort of the season came in a victory over La Jolla, but that is no longer the case. "The Hoover game was a repeat of the La Jolla game, except better. We have learned to hold the lead and keep it together. It was hard for us to get our bearings back after the long Christmas break, but if we put our mind to it, we could be a pretty decent team. We have some size and our team is really fit. We put Stuart Gallant up front the whole game against Hoover, so that we could counter-attack."

Hiatt-Aleu recognized the efforts of several of his players. "Michael Dykstra played really well at center back, center midfielder Blair Geiss played a good game as did left midfielder Kevin Chenoweth."

The Christian game was less of an artistic success according to Hiatt-Aleu, but two more goals from Gallant and one from Pat Ahern gained Coronado another important league victory. "In the Christian game we actually didn’t play that well. We played down to the level of our competition, which we seem to do all the time. Charley Wood played well, as did Stuart Gallant. Benny De La Rosa did a lot of work up front, kept a lot of possessions for us and created a lot of fouls. It was the best game he has had this year. Now they believe in themselves a little bit."

Tuesday the Islanders host Madison at 3 pm and then play at Crawford Thursday at 3 pm. "Crawford has won the Harbor League for the past 2 years," said Hiatt-Aleu. "They actually were ahead of Hoover 3-0 at halftime and lost 5-4. It’s really anybody’s league. This season is really good for the boys. They’ve been working really hard."

With a very young team, coming off of a tough 0-2 week where they lost to Bishop’s and Foothill, Girls Varsity Water Polo Head Coach Dave Throop probably didn’t know what to expect from his team last week. They returned to Western League play with two games, followed by four games in the America’s Finest City Invitational, a tournament run by the CHS water polo program.

In retrospect, he needn’t have worried as the Islanders forged a 6-0 week and captured the title in their own tournament in dramatic fashion. When the smoke cleared, the Islanders could claim an overall record of 14-5, 7-1 in Western League competition.

The week started Tuesday with a 14-4 victory over Patrick Henry, with the leading scoring honors going to senior Elizabeth Hopkins with three goals. Senior Megan Braun shared time in goal with sophomore Morgan Ronimus and each were credited with three saves.

The following day the Islanders invaded La Jolla High School and according to Throop, sophomore driver Molly Patrick was the catalyst for the Islanders 10-4 victory. "We were down 3-1 at halftime, and she scored two consecutive goals within a minute of the beginning of the third quarter to tie the game."

Thursday, the Islanders returned to their home away from home, the La Jolla High School pool for the America’s Finest City Invitational, where they defeated Vista 11-5 in their first game of bracket play. Throop credited freshman center Sabrina Anonas for her efforts. Junior driver Emily Bigham scored four goals in the victory.

Western of Anaheim was the Islanders opponent Friday and the Islanders coasted to a 14-1 victory. Ronimus got the start in goal and freshman Julie Zeller completed the game, allowing Throop to say that "every varsity game Julie has appeared in as a goalie this season, the team has won." Sophomore Lizzy Hansen was the standout player of the game, being credited with two goals, an assist and two steals.

The going got a little more serious Saturday morning when Coronado played Fallbrook, led by former Islander Rachel Jordan. The Islanders prevailed 9-5, but Jordan scored four of the five Warrior goals. She was counter balanced by three scores from Katie Estrada, two each from Bigham and Hannah Sebenaler, and one each from Natalia Lopez and Hansen. Sandra Fernandez had three assists, while Braun was credited with 11 saves.

All of this set the stage for the championship final, which featured Western League opponent University of San Diego High School, led by Katie Rulon. She was the focal point of the Dons offensive attack, and scored a total of five goals. Early on it appeared that the Dons were going to run the Islanders out of the pool, as they took a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, a 6-3 lead at halftime, followed by the first three goals of the third quarter to take a 9-3 lead.

But the Islanders had USDHS right where they wanted them, scoring twice at the conclusion of the third frame to get the score to a more manageable 9-5 entering the final 7 minutes of regulation play. Freshman Hannah Sebenaler then went wild, scoring four of the team’s final five goals, for a total of six in the game, including the game winner in overtime. Elizabeth Hopkins scored the game-tying goal, but it was all Sebenaler, all the time otherwise. Final championship game score – Coronado 11, USDHS 10 in overtime.

Throop said of this team, "giving up nine goals in three quarters is pretty atypical for us and Megan. She had a total of nine saves and three assists and was finding Hannah on breakaway transitions. Megan was finding the player (Sebenaler) with the hot hand and letting her make the decision." Braun was named tournament Most Valuable Player for her contributions to the Islanders tournament championship. Estrada was also named to the All-Tournament Team.

Another key move by Throop was putting Fernandez on Rulon defensively at the end of the third quarter. "That really changed some things. Sandra did a nice job matching up with Rulon. In the first two and a half quarters, everything that could go wrong did, but we recovered."

This week the Islanders return to a more normal schedule, as they play Bishop’s for the third time this season Tuesday at La Jolla at 8 pm. They then travel to the Bud Kearns Pool Friday for a 3 pm game against, you guessed it, USDHS, for their third game of the season.

It’s hard to argue with near perfection, as the CHS Girls Soccer Team continued their dramatic march through their schedule last week. The Islanders defeated Serra 2-0 and then topped Western League rival Scripps Ranch 3-0 to run their overall record to 17-0-2 and their Western League mark to 4-0-1.

Only in soccer can a 2-0 result be considered a blowout, but Head Coach Miles Ramirez perhaps took as an omen that Rachel Poe scored a goal in the first 20 seconds of the game, followed somewhat later by a score from Sasha Vido. Starting goalie Jamie Klages, still nursing an injury sustained during the volleyball season, yielded her post to Megan Mushovic and the junior net-minder responded with a shutout. "It’s a nice luxury to have," said Ramirez of Mushovic backing up the University of Nebraska-bound Klages. "Megan is a very good goalkeeper and a talented, talented athlete."

The one-sided game with Serra allowed Ramirez to substitute freely in the second half, resting some of his regulars. "We threw a lot of people in the game in the second half and gave them some quality minutes. Katie Ferrer, our freshman center-mid did a great job holding the ball and playing quarterback for us. Greer Goebels held down the defensive mid position and did a great job."

The final score in the Scripps Ranch game is perhaps indicative of how good the Islanders are this season. The Falcons were finalists in the Barons Tournament, in the larger schools bracket, so they have some ability. "With our high pressure defense and our ball handling ability, we never allowed Scripps Ranch to get into the game," said Ramirez. "We got great minutes from Ashley Walsh, who had two beautiful goals. Marissa Nagler scored our other goal. We played an up tempo style and our speed took them out of the game. Ashley Copp, who is playing defensive mid is contributing greatly."

Somewhat ironically, Copp, who has played all over the field for Coronado and is currently anchoring their vaunted defensive backfield, is the second leading scorer in San Diego County. Goalie Klages and her defense are currently leading the County in shutouts, and the team collectively has allowed only six goals in 19 games.

The Islanders are starting to receive some region-wide recognition as they are listed at No. 3 on the "North County Times" poll, No. 4 in the "Daily Reader" poll and No. 7 in the "Union-Tribune" poll. Ramirez isn’t fazed by the rankings. "We still have a little hill to climb and we’ll climb it. I think this team will earn that respect. Our final destination is the CIF Finals. We realistically could go the remainder of the season without a loss, but I’m not holding by breath for that. Our realistic goal is to win league and win the CIF."

The next step on that road is a Monday afternoon home game against Our Lady of Peace at 3:15 pm, then Christian at home Wednesday, followed by an away game at La Jolla at 3 pm. "If we win these next three games, it will give us 20 for the season," observed Ramirez. "It would also give us a three-point lead in league late in the season."

In their lone game last week, the CHS Girls Basketball Team lost a tough Harbor League game at Crawford 40-39 in overtime. According to Head Coach Toler Goodwin, guard Jessica Davis-Ricci, who finished with five points, never really got in the flow of the game, due to foul trouble. "Jessica got three fouls in the first half, a quick fourth foul in the third quarter and she fouled out later. We had our chances in the game. We missed some free throws at the end of regulation and in overtime. Overall we were 15-30 from the line. They hit a free throw with 4.5 seconds to go in overtime to win the game. That was the margin."

Brooke Becky picked up the scoring slack with 21 of her teams’ 39 points. "She played a real solid game all the way around," said Goodwin of his sophomore guard. "Tiffany Depfer played pretty well and Amanda Marks was solid. But we didn’t get the big secondary scoring (from offensive rebounds) that we had been getting. They (Crawford) are big all the way around."

Friday evening’s games in the Harbor League left Hoover at the top of the pack at 2-0, with Coronado, Crawford, Madison and Christian all at 1-1, with Clairemont 0-2, so the conference race is still wide open. This week the girls travel to Hoover for a 3 pm varsity game Tuesday, followed by a home game Friday evening at 6 pm against Christian, as the first game of the Girls-Boys doubleheader with the Patriots. "This is a big week for us," Goodwin added. "Hoover is the top team in the league."

What a difference a week makes. A scant 7 days ago, the Boys Basketball Team was coming off of a 2-0 week, which included a great effort against Clairemont in their Harbor League opener. This week they went 0-2, losing their make-up game at home against a surprisingly good Imperial team by the score of 66-55. They then lost a league game at Crawford 63-48.

Against Imperial, Chas Marks scored 13 points to go with his three rebounds; Jonathan Smith contributed nine points and four rebounds; while Alex Fairman added eight points and seven rebounds.

The Tigers had no trouble handling the Islanders three-quarter court press and converted five lay-ups in the first quarter alone. The also shot 60 percent from the field in the first half and were 6-8 behind the three-point arc in the half. "We couldn’t defend anybody all night," Dillon said.

Against Crawford, Coronado held the lead at the end of three quarters 45-44, but ran out of gas against the taller and deeper Colts. Co-Captain Reid McLean wasn’t able to play as he had a significantly sized blister on the bottom of his foot. Dillon picks up the narration. "In the third quarter, we outplayed them, but we went into the fourth quarter with four guys with four fouls. We didn’t have a field goal in the fourth quarter. At the 2:20 mark left in the game, it was a seven-point ball game."

Despite the loss, Dillon acknowledged his club’s fine effort at Crawford. "We played Friday night as well as this group can play. Friday night they played with their hearts. They’re (the Colts) very quick and they get up and down the court. Chas Marks (10 points) played very well and Ryan Guard (three points) didn’t score much, but he handled the ball well. He just went after it really hard. Adam Munns played really well on defense and really battled in there. Bryan Reed played very well and had a couple of baskets. There weren’t any losers Friday night. The kids played really hard."

This week the Islanders host Hoover Tuesday at 5:15 pm and host Christian Friday evening at 7:30 pm, both important games in the Harbor League.

If this is late-January, it is of course the time to start thinking about Coronado Middle School spring sports. Tuesday, Feb. 8, at 7pm there will be the time for registration for CMS sports. The sign-ups will be held at Granzer Hall at CMS.

Spring sports include Co-ed Track, Boys Lacrosse, Co-ed Tennis, and Girls Basketball. Fees are $80 per student. Coaches for the respective sports plan to be on hand Feb. 8 to answer questions regarding scheduling and practice times. A sports registration form must be completed, and a prospective athlete must have had a physical within the last 12 months to be eligible to participate in sports. For the answers to questions regarding the appropriate forms and other requirements, please go the Islander Sports Foundation’s website at www.IslanderSportsFoundation.com for more information.