The CHS Boys Soccer Team is off to a nice start in the young season, posting a 2-0-1 record on their way to face La Jolla in the semi-finals of the Islander Invitational Tournament. Last week Coronado posted a 1-0 victory over The Bishop’s School, tied Mar Vista 1-1 and dominated Brawley 6-1. The latter score is the soccer equivalent of what the Chargers did to the Raiders Sunday evening.

The tournament final will be played between the winners of Monday’s two semi-final games, on Wednesday at 5 pm.

In the Bishop’s game, junior forward Matt Ganyard was credited with the game-winning goal. Jake Vita had the Islander’s lone goal in the tie with the Mariners. Against Brawley, Patrick Murphy found the back of the net twice, and single goals were scored by Ganyard, Travis Lindsay, Peter Kittiyasawadi and Eduardo Ruiz. Islander goalie Hugo Vera earned the shutout against Bishop’s and has yielded only two goals in three games this season.

During the Mar Vista game, Coronado seemed to have the better of the play and nine minutes into the second half, appeared to score a goal that was negated by a phantom hand ball call. Four minutes later Vita scored his goal, which was equalized by the Mariners in the 64^th minute of play.

"I was disappointed," said Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu of the result of the Mar Vista game. "I thought we had the best of the scoring opportunities. That would have been a good win."

Coronado played three games over the course of four days and Hiatt-Aleu discussed the contributions of several of his players. "Nick Hamilton played really well all week. He is pretty much our whole midfield. We have to stop him from trying to be everywhere at the same time. Jake Vita has provided a nice spark for us off the bench and Matt Ganyard has been a nice surprise. It’s also nice to have Jack Harms back and have him in there."

In soccer, a dominant goal scorer is hard to find. "Offensively we’re going to have to find someone to put the ball in the back of the net. Once they (opposing teams) figure out it’s Matt (Ganyard), Matt, Matt, they will try to shut him down all the time. We have other guys in Murphy, Vita and Austen Speer who’ll give us a nice, honest effort up there (in the forward position). They have determination and grit. They’re playing hard."

Callie Caldwell scored the game’s lone goal Saturday as the Coronado Girls Varsity Soccer Team defeated Western League rival University City in their first game of the Barons Invitational Tournament. Goalie Megan Mushovic earned the shutout.

The defensive backfield continues to be a strength of the Islander team, which was the CIF Division III champion two years ago, and the co-champion last year. "We’re doing well defensively," said Head Coach Kiko Medina. "Rosie Harris and Lindsay Naple had great games in the back row. Rosie really kept the back organized, while Katie Ferrar and Leah Hatheway played well in the midfield. Colleen Burns and Sasha Vido both had great games at forward. Honestly, everybody really contributed. Overall I was really pleased with the play. Everyone stepped up and when the freshmen went in, we didn’t have a drop-off in the level of play."

Specifically, the freshmen referred to by Coach Medina were left defender Sandra Shepherd, left mid Mackenzie Coutts, and center Brianna Baszak.

Playing a team in the same league prior to the beginning of league play, is something coaches don’t like to do, because they will face each other twice during conference play. Coach Medina requested that the tournament organizers change Coronado’s first round opponent, but to no avail. "It was a really physical game," said Medina of the Centurions vs. Islanders matchup. "It will make it harder to beat them the next two times we play them."

CHS Boys Basketball launched their season Friday night with a 38-36 home victory over Mar Vista. The game-winning basket was scored by junior forward J.J. Pontes on a nifty baseline drive, from an assist by senior backcourter Ryan Guard.

The game had a mid-season atmosphere to it, thanks in large part to a charged up crowd and a student cheering section dominated by members of the Islander football team. Pontes, fresh from the gridiron battles himself, received a lot of attention from the cheering section, even before he hit the winning basket.

"For an opening night in December, that’s (the crowd) about as big as it gets," said Head Coach Sandy Dillon. "Our kids couldn’t settle down. I told them that you got a small percentage of what you have at games played at Kentucky and Duke, with people and coaches hollering and screaming."

Chas Marks led the Coronado scoring effort with 15 points, including three 3-point baskets. Marks added six rebounds. Ryan Guard added 10 points to go with three steals and three assists. Bryan Reed, who was in and out of foul trouble much of the evening, contributed five rebounds, three points and three assists. Anthony Ott was the team’s leading rebounder with seven caroms to his credit.

The Mariners held a four point lead twice in the early going, before Coronado went on a 12 point bust out to make the score 21-15. Ott played a key role in the Coronado rally, with an offensive rebound and follow shot, a defensive rebound, a steal and an assist. Guard added a jumper, a steal and two lay-ups to the skein.

Mar Vista made another run in the third quarter to make the score 31-30 at the end of three frames. A Marks layup on an assist from Pontes, a three-pointer from Marks on an assist from Reed, and the Pontes game-winner accounted for Coronado’s scoring in the final quarter of play. The contest was played at a fast pace, with lots of up and down action.

"Chas Marks played really, really hard, no doubt about that," Dillon said. "Blake Spitzer played every position on the floor. Matt Oakley has a chance to be good. He’s as good a shooter as I’ve had since Brett Milke."

Credit guard Drew Zeller with an advanced case of basketball smarts, pointing out to the coaching staff at the conclusion of play, that the Islanders had a couple of fouls to give, as they were not yet in the penalty situation.

This week the Islanders play Midway Baptist Wednesday at 2:45 at La Jolla Country Day. They play again Thursday at 8 pm at Bishop’s. The opponents and the game times depend on results of the other rounds of play.

It was Mar Vista Week in Coronado last week, as the CHS Girls Basketball Team joined the Boys Basketball and Boys Soccer counterparts in competing against the Mariners at home. For their part, the Lady Islanders defeated Mar Vista 50-23 Thursday evening.

Coronado was firing on all cylinders in the opening quarter, running off to a 21-8 lead. At halftime, the score was 30-16. Game scoring leaders included Brooke Becky with 13, Tiffany Depfer added 10, Jessica Davis-Ricci contributed nine, and Emilie Waickwicz chipped in six points.

Saturday evening found the Islanders hosting Westfield High School from the Fairfax, Virginia area. It turns out that Westfield is the largest public high school in that state. Westfield was on a West Coast trip and had a team cancel a game on them at the last minute. CHS Head Coach Toler Goodwin had an opening to fill in the Coronado Thanksgiving Tournament final round played Saturday, so he agreed to host the Lady Bulldogs.

Despite all of that back story, and the fact that Westfield won 59-33, it was a surprisingly good game. A lot of the credit goes to Brooke Becky, who scored 23 points on the evening, including 13 straight Islander points at one point in the first half. Farrell Pompa and Depfer scored four points each, with Arrielle Luna adding two points and three rebounds.

Luna, a sophomore post player, spent most of the game being pounded on by her Westfield counterpart. "Arrielle competed very well. Freshman Emily Bell came in and gave Arrielle a break," said Goodwin. It’s good for Arrielle to see other bodies out there. It was a real eye-opener for her to see that."

Goodwin also recognized Becky’s contribution. "I thought that overall it was as good a game as she has played. She played well offensively and defensively. Westfield was bigger and stronger overall at every position. Not only for Brooke, but for everybody else, we have to get that focused effort against every team we play. We’ve got to attack the rim going to our left every once in a while."

One of the highlights of the game was a blocked shot by 5-foot, 2-inch Tiffany Depfer on a shot attempted by one of the Westfield forwards, who was roughly 8 inches taller than Coronado’s point guard.

This week the varsity plays one game, which will be a J.V./Varsity doubleheader vs. Julian. Coronado will host a JV tournament Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

The Fall Sports awards banquet circuit continued last week, allowing your scribe to continue to follow his "if it’s free, it’s for me" philosophy. The Boys Water Polo Team, which finished with a 22-7 record and a second place finish in the CIF Division II championships, held their banquet at the new Glorietta Bay Civic Center and Promenade.

The Varsity awards as announced by Head Coach Randy Burgess included: Team Captains - Devin Farrell and Patrick Queisser; Most Valuable Player – Sean Castillo; Most Valuable Offensive Player – Jesse Farquhar; Most Valuable Defensive Player – Eric Clapper; Coaches’ Award – Daniel Pedrotty; Most Improved Player – Joe Moffit; Golden Tassel Awards for Academic Excellence – Scott Simeral and John Landon; Islander Sports Foundation Award for Integrity, Sportsmanship and Friendship – Devin Farrell.

The JV awards presented by Head Coach Ian Silverman went to: Team Captain – Prince Sefa-Boakye; Most Valuable Offensive Player – C.J. Kerr; Most Valuable Defensive Player – Jake Hunzeker; Coaches’ Award – Phillip Bowen; and Most Improved Player – Lee Sebring.

Silverman performed the honors for the Novice Team as well. Award winners were: Team Captain – Brendan Farrell; MV Offense – Michael Aguilar; MV Defense - Joe Clarkson; Coaches’ Award – Jackson Hummeldorf; Most Improved Players – Paul Pedrotty and Francisco Heredia.

Congratulations to all of the award recipients.

CHS alumni continued to make a major impact on the world of collegiate water polo this season. Jesse Smith (CHS ’01) from Pepperdine and Thomas Hopkins (CHS ’02) representing Stanford, were both named to the All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation First Team. USC’s Tommy Corcoran (CHS ’04) earned Second Team honors. UCSD’s Jonathan Hopkins (older brother of Thomas, CHS ‘01) was named the Western Water Polo Associations Player of the Year.

Corcoran earned some measure of revenge over the weekend as his Trojans defeated the Cardinal 3-2 in the lowest scoring NCAA Men’s Water Polo final in history.

Make sure to circle Jan 20-21, 2006 on your calendar, as those are the dates of the Coronado Girls Water Polo America’s Finest City Invitational Tournament. Teams in the tournament will include Bonita, Cathedral Catholic, Fallbrook, La Jolla, Mater Dei, Scripps Ranch, Torrey Pines and others.

CHS Head Cross Country Coach George Green checks in with news from the world of Cross Country. "Although the high school and middle school cross country seasons are over, there is one runner who has extended her season through this coming weekend. CMS eighth grader Sallie Privett will compete in the USATF Junior Olympics Dec. 10^th, to be held at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI. Two weeks ago at the USATF Regional Youth Championships held at Mt. SAC, Privett’s team, the Southern California Roadrunners, won the girls youth division (ages 13-14) to advance to the finals.

Last Saturday, also at Mt. SAC, Sallie entered the West Regional Middle School Footlocker Championships as a tune-up. She almost didn’t compete, as she came down with the flu bug that has been going around. Sallie decided to give it a try anyway, started cautiously, and cruised to a 9^th place finish. Runners came from nine different western states to run in the event, ranging from New Mexico to Washington, Alaska and Hawaii.

The West Footlocker Regionals are one of four qualifying meets held around the country to qualify the Top 40 Boys and Top 40 Girls for the Footlocker National High School Cross Country Championships. The middle school race is a developmental event that attracts some of the best runners in the region.

Thursday and Friday of this week, don’t be surprised to see many gazelle-like young runners cruising around town. That’s because the Nationals are held at Morley Field and the runners stay at the Hotel Del Coronado. Many runners will log their pre-race miles around town.

Saturday morning, the girls will race at 9:15 am and the boys at 10 am. Whether you’re a cross country fan or not, this is a great opportunity to see some of this country’s best high school athletes in action. If you miss it in person, it’ll be aired nation-wide Dec. 21 on Fox Sports Net. I’ll have to settle for the broadcast version, because I’ll be in Rhode Island with Sallie. The Footlocker National Cross Country website is www.footlockercc.com."

Your Natterer hit the boo-boo trifecta last week. First, I referred to CHS Girls Basketball point guard Tiffany Depfer by her older sister Ashley’s name. Second, I thoughtfully spelled CHS Boys Basketball player Kasey Zapatka’s first name with a ‘C’ instead of the proper ‘K.’ And finally, Girls Soccer Coach Kiko Medina worked for the Albion Soccer Club, instead of the letter ‘V’ I tried to insert into the name of the team.

As Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon say on ESPN’s "Pardon the Interruption,", "We’ll try to do better next (in this case, this) time."

Hats off to the Coronado Middle School Boys Basketball ‘C’ Team, who have been practicing from 5:45 to 7 am for the past couple of weeks. There are a total of 11 kids on the squad, including: Kurt Beske, Hayden Deitrick, Jason Fielder, Collin Green, Joe Kusters, Cameron Mahdavi, Jack Mikesell, Jake Nicholson, Jose Sanchez, Austin Sengchan, and Devin Vaage.

The team is attempting to overcome my coaching and is improving on a daily basis. Congratulations guys and thanks for the continued great effort.