Last week in this space, it was noted that the Coronado High School Girls Lacrosse Team has developed a lethal, three-pronged scoring attack featuring senior Marissa Nagler and sophomores Greer Goebels and Hannah Sebenaler. The offensive philosophy developed by Head Coach Jessica Battle, roughly stated is, if opposing defenses concentrate their attentions on one member of the trio, the other two will pick up the slack.

Our rare moment of clairvoyance came to fruition last weekend as the Islanders hosted La Jolla in a City Conference showdown. The last time the two clubs met, Coronado emerged with a 14-12 overtime victory. The rematch saw the Islanders again emerge victorious, this time by the score of 9-5. With the well-earned victory came the 2006 City Conference title.

"All-in-all, every single person on the field stepped up and did what they needed to do to win," said Battle. "We’re back to getting goals from everyone. That definitely helped."

‘Everyone’ would be specifically defined as four goals and an assist from Nagler, three goals and two assists from Goebels, all of which went nicely with two goals and an assist from Sebenaler.

Scoring is obviously important, but defense wins championships. Battle was enthusiastic regarding the effort she received on the defensive end of the field. "Our defense played fantastically. Lindsay Naple and Angela Naple played great. Our goalie Alyssa Littin had eight saves. The defense did such a great job, that they couldn’t get shots off."

A routine 13-5 win over Patrick Henry earlier in the week, combined with the victory over the Vikings, pushed the Islanders record to 15-2. Coronado is currently ranked No. 3 in the CIF San Diego Section by a "San Diego Union-Tribune" writers’ poll, tucked in behind No. 1 La Costa Canyon and No. 2 Poway. One of Coronado’s two losses was a 10-9 affair with Poway a month ago.

But the polls don’t carry much weight with Coach Battle. "There’s no rhyme or reason to them. I’m anticipating being ranked third going into the playoffs. Even if we beat La Costa Canyon, they will probably still be No. 1."

Battle’s troops have two remaining regular season games. The first is a home tilt this Saturday at 10 am against the aforementioned Mavericks of LCC, who defeated Coronado in the CIF championship game a year ago. The other is the following Monday against Rancho Bernardo. The CIF playoffs will begin May 13^th. Bet that the Islanders, with their offense and defense humming along nicely, will be ready for the challenge.

Last week Coronado defeated Scripps Ranch in Boys Swimming 94-89 and 96-80 in Girls Swimming. But CHS Swim Team Head Coach Dave Throop was even more impressed with the mental approach his team is taking at this juncture in the season. "We break down the season into phases. The last third of the year is the time to go out and apply what they have learned. What was most impressive is that the guys and girls were up there (Miramar College) to race. To do that in a meet setting is good."

As with most teams, the swim program has a few success stories, where student-athletes have made great strides during the season. "One guy who has really come on and done a nice job is Sean Cook," said Throop of the sophomore freestyler. "A few months ago he was swimming on the JV level. Now he’s third on our depth chart in the sprint freestyle and he’s doing a lot of relay swimming for us. He’s working hard and has a great attitude. It’s good to see things coming along for him."

Freshman Alex Adamson has emerged on the Girls Team to be a force in the 100 butterfly event. Adamson spent the winter season on the Girls Water Polo Team as a goalie, which factors into the following story from Throop.

"We pulled Alex up from the JV for a meet against Bishop’s, where she swam against a field player from the Bishop’s water polo team. Alex gutted out a win, and she used her willpower to beat the girl. From that moment on, she was swimming on the varsity level and in the 100 fly for the rest of the season. Our boys and girls were yelling (at the Bishop’s athlete) ‘you just got beat by a goalie.’ Since they are both freshmen, they will are going to be linked together for all of their swimming and water polo careers."

Throop also mentioned sophomore aquatics athlete Alana Burgess for her development in the pool. "She is really turning the corner athletically. She has become our top breaststroker and one of our top freestylers. She has been in the shadow of a lot of the kids for a while and she has been a real pleasant surprise."

The squad’s final dual meet of the year is this Wednesday at 3 pm at the Coronado Municipal Pool against University City. Next week the teams will compete in the City Conference meet, which also serves as a qualifying meet for the CIF. Both Islander squads should be among those in contention for the Division II CIF championship.

"The girls have a pretty good shot at challenging for the title. The girls who have been active have been phenomenal. It will be interesting to see how they compete. We will do better than we did last year. I just have a feeling the girls will sneak up on some people. Their attitudes have been great.

I expect the boys to compete and we have a pretty good shot at winning the City Conference meet. We are a couple of swimmers and schools who have strengths where we are weak at times. We have some divers who will also score some points. We are deeper and stronger than last year. For 2 years, the guys have had a goal of winning the CIF meet their senior year."

We’ve opined over the years that coaching in sports is often a succession of peaks and valleys. Last week CHS Head Baseball Coach Sam Ceci was able to experience both within a period of 4 days. Wednesday the Islander bats were alive with the sounds of, well, pings, as Coronado kicked Clairemont 17-4. The Islanders rode a 9-run sixth inning to their second Western League victory of the season.

"We went up 3-0 and they tied it," Ceci related. "We went up 4-3 and they tied it. In the sixth we scored nine runs and it was over. We had 16 hits, which was nice to see. Our hitting star was Blake Spitzer, who went 3-5 with four runs scored. Jimmy Gersonde was 2-4 with an RBI; Mike Baker-Denson was 3-4 with two stolen bases and two RBIs; and Benson Lorden was 2-4 with two stolen bases."

According to Ceci, the mound staff performed well. "Kyle Pokorny started and did reasonably well until the fourth inning, when we had a couple of (defensive) misplays, which is where they tied it up. We went to Baker-Denson in the fifth and he gave up three hits and no runs and got the win. Josh Fink came in and threw the seventh inning for a tune-up."

The ‘valley’ portion of the week came Saturday, when the Islanders hosted University City in the make-up of a previously postponed game. The Centurions came into the game leading the Western League with a perfect 5-0 mark.

Ceci saved his senior ace Kevin Couture for the starting assignment and things looked good until the top of the seventh inning, as Ceci picks up the narrative. "We were up two runs at this point because we had scratched out a couple of runs. Kevin was on the mound and we were feeling pretty good. He did a great job, struck out 14, and went the distance. With one out, they put together a hit, a walk, another hit, an error and scored three runs. We were sailing along and it wasn’t particularly pretty to see them come back and take it away."

Couture, Gersonde and Alex Rowan all had two-hit days against U.C., who now sit atop the Western League standings with a 6-0 mark. Mission Bay is 5-1; Cathedral Catholic is 3-3; Coronado, Point Loma and La Jolla are 2-4, with Clairemont at 1-5.

Ceci praised the play of Spitzer, his senior infielder and situational catcher. "Blake has been one of our leading hitters this year. He’s hitting .343 with 23 hits, which is the most on the team. He has also stolen 11 bases. He’s a savvy kid and real instinctive. He always is going full speed and doing the right thing on the field, in the heat of the competition."

However, the team as a whole is facing some challenges. "We’re really struggling right now," said Ceci of his squad. "We’re not getting big hits or making key pitches. We’re finding ways to lose." Currently the Islanders overall record is 12-10 and they have yet to post their first one-run victory this season, one of the hallmarks of last year’s squad.

The Islanders will compete in Division IV in the CIF playoffs this year, as opposed to Division III in past seasons. The 16-team playoff field should be competitive, according to Ceci. "Santa Fe Christian seems to be the best team in the division. They are 14-1. From there on it gets pretty comparable. Coronado, Bishop’s, Francis Parker, La Jolla Country Day, Christian, Marian Catholic, and Horizon would be in there (the playoffs). Horizon has some pretty good athletes. The first round of the playoffs is single elimination. Thereafter, it becomes double elimination. We’re hoping to get a Top 2 seed, which means we wouldn’t play an ‘away’ game until the finals. It would be nice to get four home games, which would also be good for the program."

Playing in the Western League against larger schools, the only Division IV rival the Islanders have seen so far this year has been Parker. Coronado shut out the Lancers in both games they played.

This week the Western League schedule facing the Islanders is particularly tough. Coronado travels to conference leader University City Wednesday for a 3 pm game; they are at No. 2 Mission Bay Friday for another 3 pm tilt; then they host La Jolla Saturday at 2 pm.

CHS Track Coach George Green checks in with a brief, but relevant, report from his team. "The Boys and Girls track teams both lost to Madison last week and we are now in the busiest part of our season. We have a make-up meet with Clairemont Tuesday, a dual meet with Hoover Thursday, league prelims and finals next week, and division prelims and finals the following week.

Thrower Levi Lozano had a good day at the Escondido Invitational Saturday. He placed second in his division in the shot put with a toss of 40 feet, 6 inches. He also finished fourth in the discus throw with a throw of 113 feet."

The CHS Softball Team has had a tough time getting the gloves and bats to work in the same game this season. Wednesday they faced one of the section’s better teams in Cathedral Catholic and lost to the Dons, in large part due to eight errors.

But, the bats were working according to Head Coach Ed Shanholtz. "The positive out of the Cathedral game was that we didn’t strike out one time. We put the ball in play and had six hits. We were on that day with the bats. Jessica Davis-Ricci was 2-3; Sandra Cepin was 2-2 with a stolen base; Karli Massie had an RBI double."

The week’s second game was a 6-0 loss to University City, which according to Shanholtz contained some fine performances by the Islanders. "Sara Noceto pitched pretty well. We had two crucial mistakes that brought in four unearned runs, although we played better defensively than we did against Cathedral. Sara was 1-3 at the plate and Farrell Pompa was 1-2. Our catcher Rosie Harris did a consistent job behind the plate. She had a lot of good blocks (on pitches in the dirt) Friday. Sara’s drop ball was really working. Farrell made some nice plays at shortstop against University City."

This week the Islanders (5-11 overall record) host La Jolla Wednesday at 3:30 pm and then travel to Mission Bay Friday for a 3 pm game.

CHS Boys Tennis Head Coach Robbin Adair provides an update on his squad. "We had three matches last week. Our No. 1 singles player Krishna Samperio is still hurt (wrist injury), so Patrick Holman is playing first singles.

Monday we hosted Otay Ranch and fell 14-4, with Holman losing two very close sets before defeating their No. 3 by the score of 6-1. He played very well. Evan Wheeler also played well, losing three very close sets. In doubles Chris Mitchell and Matt Oakley won two out of three sets, while Daniel Grazian and Frankie Wheeler won one.

Tuesday we traveled to Scripps Ranch and got shut out. This is the second shutout that they have over us this season, but this one was closer than it looks. Of the 18 sets, we lost 15 of them 4-6, 5-7 or 6-7. Again Holman and Wheeler competed hard in singles along with Oakley, while Grazian and Frankie Harrison played very well in doubles.

Thursday we hosted St. Augustine and got beat 14-4. They managed to sweep Holman, Wheeler and Adrian de Arriba in singles, but in doubles Mitchell/Oakley took two out of three sets as did Grazian/Harrison.

This week we travel to Cathedral Catholic Monday and to University City Tuesday."

In a previous professional incarnation, Your Natterer worked in intercollegiate sports. Initially I was assistant athletic director at St. Louis University and then later an assistant commissioner with the now-defunct Metro Conference. So, I have flipped through the NCAA rule book a few times and live to tell the tale.

Some people I have spoken with in the last few days don’t fully understand the gravity of the NCAA’s coming investigation of USC and of their former star tailback Reggie Bush. Without getting too technical, the two concepts in question that may negatively impact USC’s football program are "extra benefits," and "institutional control."

First, the NCAA says that athletes in general and scholarship athletes in particular, cannot receive an "extra benefit" that is not available to the general student body, due to their participation in intercollegiate sports. Essentially they can’t receive money to play sports.

Second, the institution (pardon the NCAA jargon), in this case USC, has to complete an NCAA form each year saying that all of their athletes are in complete compliance with all NCAA rules. If the athletes are not in compliance and they compete in games, it is the institution’s fault for not having control of the athlete in question and the teams which represent the institution.

Extending this logic, if the allegations are true that Bush or Bush’s family received money from an agent while he was playing at USC, it is now USC’s fault due to the institutional responsibility concept. If an improper payment link can be established by NCAA investigators, then USC will have to forfeit all of their victories from last season and will likely have to return (or not be allowed to accept) the approximately $14-17 million they earned from the 2006 BCS Championship game played in the Rose Bowl vs. Texas. Further, Bush may have to return the Heisman Trophy, emblematic of the nation’s best collegiate football player. Keep in mind that this is not a case tried in court, but rather through the NCAA’s labyrinth judicial system, which has unique rules, to say the least.

Personally, I loved watching Bush compete for the past three seasons. Here’s hoping that USC doesn’t have to literally pay for Bush’s acceptance of outside funds while he was still enrolled at the school.