Athletic teams at Coronado High School approach their regular seasons in a variety of ways. The alpha and the omega of the scheduling is represented by the Girls Water Polo Team, which played their first three games of the season last week, and the Boys Soccer Team which didn’t have any scheduled games, after starting their year 10-0-1 and winning two tournament titles. All of those victories were accomplished before the Christmas break.

The ultimate goal for each program is to reach the CIF Playoffs, where anything can happen after that. It would appear that midway through their season that each of the five CHS winter sports programs are well on their way to post season appearances.

After training hard over the break, the CHS Girls Water Polo Team launched in to their season, playing their way to a 2-1 record last week. First on the docket was a 17-1 victory over Patrick Henry, a program that in the past has had great athletes and CIF post season success. Next was a 15-9 victory over Western League foe La Jolla.

According to Head Coach Dave Throop, there was some drama attached to the game from the La Jolla perspective. "They just switched coaches. It was an emotional game, more for La Jolla than for us. They have a lot of talent and they came out with the game plan of trying to deny the ball to (Islander center forward) Katie Estrada. We have to work on being patient and attacking on offense, shooting on our third or fourth chance."

The La Jolla game allowed three Islander players to show by their success on the offensive end of the pool, that they will be important factors for the team all season. "Kelly Phelps established herself as a shooting threat, as did Molly Patrick," Throop said. "They had three goals each. Sandra Fernandez is essentially the point guard for our team and she had four goals and five assists."

The third game of the week was a Saturday night home affair against a powerful Newport Harbor team, owners of a 9-1 record entering the Coronado contest, and holders of a holiday tournament title of their own already in the young season. The Sailors prevailed over the Islanders 10-8.

Throop, knowing Coronado was playing a tough opponent, was not upset with the result. "I was probably more excited about our loss then either of the two wins. We were still in the game at the end and we had a chance. We felt that as the week became progressively more difficult, our girls responded well to it. I felt very positive about what Morgan Ronimus did in goal this week. She had 10 saves against La Jolla and six versus Newport. Her positioning influenced a couple of their shots."

Coronado’s depth of talent includes the all-important goalie position, where freshman Alex Adamson will receive varsity playing time this year. "Alex didn’t play any games at the varsity level this week," said Throop. "But she will play next week. We have the luxury of two potential starters."

Throop provided an overview of his team in the early stages of their season. "One key are of improvement will be defending the other team’s center forwards. That’s what cost us the Newport game. That will come with experience, and it’s something we need to focus on a little bit. The other area is the extra man situation. We have a lot of weapons and options (on offense). This is the hardest part of the game on the high school level. Handling the man down (defensively) is tough as well. We’re usually slow out of the gates (as a team to start the season), so if that is holding true, there is a lot to be excited about. I really don’t know if our team understands yet how good they can be. Our non-starters would be starting at almost any other high school in San Diego. The second group challenges the starters every day in practice. The games we’ve played prove that we have a lot of depth."

This week Coronado has a busy schedule on tap, playing at Cathedral Catholic Wednesday, followed by a home game Thursday against University City. Both of the games are scheduled for 3 pm. Thursday evening, the team travels to Santa Barbara, where they will compete in the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, a 16-team affair. Seeded No. 8, Coronado will play the host Santa Barbara team in the first round. Their possible second round opponent will be No. 1 seed Corona del Mar. Newport Harbor enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed.

During the second half of the Christmas break, the Girls Basketball Team traveled to San Francisco to compete in the West Coast Jamboree, where they went 2-1 in the Opal Division and won their bracket’s consolation championship. The schedule included a win over Middletown H.S., a loss to Healdsburg H.S. from the Sacramento area, and a victory over Winters H.S. from the San Joaquin Valley in the consolation title game.

Returning home, the Islanders played two games last week, winning both. "It was good for us to come back and keep a positive flow going," said Head Coach Toler Goodwin.

The first of the two contests was a 46-35 victory over Otay Ranch, which was more challenging than the score might indicate, as Coronado trailed by 12 points a halftime. "We played really poorly in the first half, like we had been on the road for a week, which we had," Goodwin said. "In the second half we made a couple of changes offensively, putting Brooke Becky at the high post, where we ran everything through her. That generated some offense for her and for her teammates too. And the kids decided to play some defense."

Jessica Davis-Ricci led all scorers with 13 points, followed by 12 from Becky, 10 from Farrell Pompa, seven from Tiffany Depfer and four points from Arrielle Luna.

Coronado played Steele Canyon Friday and came away with a 45-39 victory. Davis-Ricci, who re-discovered her shooting touch that was so important to last year’s team on the San Francisco trip, scored 19 points, including four three-pointers. Becky chipped in 16 points. The Islanders won the final quarter 18-8 to earn the home victory and to run their record to 9-6.

Goodwin knows that Davis-Ricci’s recent run is important to his team’s success. "Jessica got to San Francisco and scored in double digits every game and continued that last week. She made a huge difference in what we were able to do offensively. The production from Jessica means that Brooke doesn’t have to carry the whole load. One thing we are lacking is consistent offensive production from our post players. We need to start converting there."

All of this comes in time for the pending opening of Central League season, which starts Tuesday, Jan. 17 at Crawford. Goodwin thinks the circuit’s Top 3 teams will be Coronado, Christian and Crawford.

This week Coronado hosts Grossmont Tuesday evening for their lone game of the week. The JV game is scheduled for 5 pm and the varsity will play at 6:30 pm.

Cathedral Catholic, known as USDHS until the school’s new campus was completed and opened this year, was considered to be the class of Division III in the San Diego Section. But someone forgot to tell CHS Girls Soccer Head Coach Kiko Medina and his team that before Wednesday‘s game at Cathedral, which ended in a 1-1 tie.

"That was an excellent result for us," said Medina. "But the way the game played out, we should have walked away with the win."

Attending the game and offering a (possibly) biased, but nonetheless learned opinion regarding the outcome was former CHS Girls Soccer Coach Miles Ramirez. "If the referee had been in position to call Cathedral offsides, Coronado would have earned the win. My hat’s off to Kiko and the girls. Cathedral had their hands full."

The lone Coronado goal was scored by Kindall Caldwell from a corner kick. "She struck it first time into the corner," said Coach Medina. "She hit it well."

Medina added that another important contribution came from goalie Megan Mushovic. "Megan again played out of her mind. She was all over the place and definitely kept us in the game. Overall the game was a team effort. We did a good job of being compact and stingy defensively. The girls continue to work hard, which is what we need to continue to do."

Friday the Islanders played Scripps Ranch, which resulted in a 2-0 Coronado victory. Katie Ferrar and Becka Runyon scored the two Islander goals. "Megan again had a very good game," Medina said. "She stopped a penalty kick with 10 minutes to go in the game and was able to save it."

Coronado now sports a 9-1-3 overall record, and by virtue of their 1-0-2 mark in the Western League, sits in first place. This week the Islanders host Point Loma Wednesday at 5 pm and then travel to La Jolla Friday for a 3 pm game. Both games are important Western League contests.

As was mentioned in this column’s opening paragraph, the Boys Soccer Team has been off since the Christmas break. They return to play Tuesday, sporting an impressive 10-0-1 record, and host Mission Bay at Niedermeyer Field at 6 pm. Thursday they travel to Christian for a 3 pm contest.

Last week was a tough one for the CHS Boys Basketball Team, as they lost at home Tuesday evening to Montgomery 67-63 and then lost on the road at Imperial 48-44.

In the Montgomery game, Coronado stormed out to a 22-10 lead at the conclusion of the first quarter, but the Aztecs bounced right back in the second frame to take a 38-33 lead. The second half was evenly played by both teams.

Among the better Islander performances on the night were an 18 point, seven rebound effort from Chas Marks; 11 points and five rebounds from Matt Oakley; and eight points, five assists and two steals from Geoff Worley. Ryan Guard scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds, Blake Spitzer contributed eight points, and Bryan Reed had six points and six rebounds. A fine rebounding effort from JJ Pontes helped get the Islanders back into the game in the third quarter. At one point Coronado trailed 48-33, and Pontes corralled six rebounds over a three minute stretch to help rally the Islanders.

Coronado took the lead at 60-58 with 3:14 remaining in the game, but the Aztecs responded with a basket 14 seconds later. Oakley scored on a beautiful left to right baseline drive and layup, while being fouled. He converted the free throw attempt for the three point play. The Islanders didn’t score in the final 2:48 of the game and Montgomery ran off seven straight points for the victory.

Saturday afternoon Coronado headed for the desert to face Imperial. The result was a 48-44 victory for Imperial. "We won the second quarter 11-6 and it should have been 20-6," said Head Coach Sandy Dillon. "We didn’t take care of business in the second half. At the very end of the game, we turned the ball over a couple of times and they got cheap baskets. They ran a diamond press and we had a hard time throwing over it. The kids were unhappy losing last (Saturday) night and we just ran out of energy. The kids were exhausted. They were literally worn out."

Marks led Coronado with 14 points, followed by nine each from Oakley and Reed. Drew Zeller scored six points, with Worley’s four points and two more from Anthony Ott rounding out the scoring.

Despite the loss, several players competed well for Coronado. "Geoff Worley played well and Blake Spitzer played well. Matt Oakley played very well, starting the game and playing 27 or 28 minutes."

This coming week the Islanders have one lone game, hosting Sweetwater Wednesday at 7 pm. The Islanders are now 8-4 on the year, with Central League play starting in another week. The first week of league play will find the Islanders playing against league co-favorites Crawford Tuesday and Hoover Friday.

A reminder to all that are interested, that the Coronado Boys Lacrosse Clinics will be held on consecutive Saturday mornings at both the CHS and CMS fields, from January 28 to Feb. 25. Clinic times will be from 9-11 am.

The clinics are designed for boys in third through eighth grades. For new players, the clinics present an excellent opportunity to learn skills as well as the strategy of the game. The clinic fee is $100 per player, with checks made payable to: Coronado School Lacrosse.

Included in the fee are: a U.S. Lacrosse Association membership, a Coronado lacrosse sticker, a lacrosse ball, and a player mouth guard. Players provide a stick, cleats, and shoulder pads. Helmets, gloves and arm pads are available to be loaned, although a deposit is required.

Clinic registration dates are Jan. 14 and 21 from 9-11 am, and Jan. 28 from 8-9:30 am. Registration will be held at the Sixth Street entrance to the CHS football field. Questions may be directed to Sue Runyon at suerunyon@sbcglobal.net or Megan Stanley at megandyno@sbcglobal.net.

Circle January 20-21 on your calendar for the annual Ladies’ America’s Finest City Invitational tournament, played for the first time at the Coronado Aquatics Center. The La Jolla Coggan Family Pool will also host tournament games.

The Islanders will play in the first game in Coronado, scheduled for 2 pm Friday, Jan. 20 against Mater Dei. The other teams in Coronado’s bracket include Ventura and Valley Center. The remaining teams participating include Bonita, Cathedral Catholic, El Toro, Fallbrook, Irvine, La Jolla, Mission Bay, Mt. Carmel, Scripps Ranch, Torrey Pines, Vista and Whittier.