Whenever teams representing Coronado and The Bishop’s School enter the swimming pool, that contest is likely to become the lead item in this column. This week is no exception. Although there will be other major tournaments and numerous big games this season, the Islanders vs. the Knights always brings out the competitive best in both schools and fans flock to watch their matches.

The opening round if this winter’s heavyweight prize fight went to Bishop’s by the score of 11-8, in a game played at the Knights’ home pool. A large and boisterous crowd was on hand, including most of the CHS Boys Water Polo Team, there to support their fellow athletes. Several Coronado graduates and many parents were in the crowd.

Bishop’s scored first, a mere 34 seconds into the contest. Coronado’s Katie Estrada countered almost immediately with a goal from an assist by Danielle Goldblatt and the battle was on. Sarah Van Norman was nearly unstoppable for the Knights in the early going, scoring twice before freshman Ashley Young could answer for Coronado. Two more goals from the Knights made the score 5-2 Bishop’s at the end of the first quarter.

The teams traded goals in the second quarter, with the Coronado scoring coming from Goldblatt on an assist from Carly Hoshko and an unassisted goal from Sabrina Anonas. Islander goalie Morgan Ronimus elevated her game in the second quarter, and was credited with two of her three steals and four of her six saves in the period. Coronado trailed 7-4 at intermission.

The pace picked up considerably in the third quarter, especially if you were rooting for the Islanders. Sophomore goalie Alex Adamson, who shares time with Ronimus in goal, was in the cage and made a spectacular save on a Knights’ shot attempt from point blank range, with 5:40 remaining in the quarter. The save seemed to energize Coronado and team Co-Captain Estrada scored 15 seconds later on an assist from fellow Co-Captain Mollie Patrick. The third quarter didn’t lack for action and with 18 seconds remaining, Young scored her second goal of the game on an assist from Alana Burgess.

Coronado narrowed the deficit to 7-6 at the end of the quarter and the Islanders were very much back in the game. The down side to big comebacks is that often so much energy is expended getting back into the game that not enough oomph is left to win it. Bishop’s scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter to go up 9-6. The teams then traded goals, with Coronado’s first goal of the quarter coming on a breakaway by Hannah Sebenaler on an Adamson assist. Sebenaler’s second goal and Coronado’s last of the game came on Patrick’s second assist of the contest. The final score was 11-8, which means that the Knights earned bragging rights for the month of December.

Head Coach Dave Throop knows there are more meetings coming between the two teams, with the next one slated for Wed. Jan. 24 at the Coronado Aquatics Center. “It’s a trade off. When you play a team like that early (in the season), you’re hoping that after an early loss there is time to recover and that the game doesn’t shake your confidence. I told the team, ‘look, it’s over with. We’ll target to play them once a month.’ We’re asking a lot of advanced things from these girls, which is similar to what we did a few years ago with the Boys Team. It will take a little bit of time.”

The good news from the week was that it started Wednesday with a 16-2 defeat of University City, the Bishop’s game was played Friday and the week concluded Saturday with a 10-1 victory over Scripps Ranch. “I told the girls that no matter what, I wanted them to dominate on the defensive half of the pool Saturday and challenge every shot,” Throop said. “Katie Estrada and Hanna Sebenaler had four goals each in the game.”

The team doesn’t play until they return to action Wed., Jan. 3 against Scripps Ranch at Coronado. However, team workouts a plenty will be held over Christmas Break.

Girls Soccer Concludes Busy Week

The Girls Varsity Soccer Team managed to play five games last week and posted a 3-2 record in the process. The week started Monday with a 4-2 victory over Point Loma, with the offense coming on two goals from Leah Hatheway and one each from Katie Ferrar and Colleen Burns.

Wednesday Coronado hosted Serra and won 3-0. This time Hatheway and Burns were joined in the scoring column by Mackenzie Coutts. “That was a good game,” said Head Coach Kiko Medina. “That was a game we expected to get a (positive) result in. The girls were able to play a little bit because they didn’t feel the pressure.”

Probably the competitive highlight of the week came Friday night at home, when Coronado defeated Western League rival La Jolla by the score of 1-0. As you might have guessed, the lone Islander goal was credited to Hatheway on a scramble in front of the Vikings net. “Leah got credit for the goal on a set piece from Rosie Harris, who crossed it over. Leah got her head on it. She placed the pressure on the keeper.”

The La Jolla team featured two evenly-matched teams competing at a high level. The scoring opportunities were few in number on both sides. The Islander defense which includes Harris, Sandy Shepherd, Courtney Ryan and goalie Lauren Shuffett bent on a couple of occasions, but didn’t break.

One of the entertaining elements of an Islander soccer game is the amazingly strong throw-ins from the sidelines provided by Emily Kopp. Depending on the location of the throw, Kopp often reaches the penalty box on her laser beam tosses. “We’ve scored four or five goals on throw-ins this season already,” said Medina. “We’re using that to our advantage quite a bit.”

Unfortunately, Hatheway left the La Jolla contest late in the second half with an injury and didn’t return to the field for the next two contests. The final two games of the week were a 4-1 loss to Poway and a 2-0 loss to El Capitan, both in the Lady Vaquero Tournament. “Leah has a slight tear in her hamstring,” said Medina of his junior offensive star. “She should be fine when we get back into it after the New Year. The three games over the week took it out of us. The girls didn’t have any legs and they were exhausted. Not having Leah hurt us as well.”

The final game before the break will be the Islanders final game in the Lady Vaquero event, when they face Western League rival Our Lady of Peace. Planning to fight the Pilots when Coronado is at full strength and more importantly when the game matters, Medina will rest a lot of his players. “We’ll rest the players that need rest and bring up some JV players to give them some playing time.”

Boys Soccer Races to 10-2 Start

Cramming four games in since our last literary visit, the CHS Boys Soccer Team won all four contests to push their record to 10-2 for the season.

Last Saturday, as part of the Grossmont Tournament, Coronado hammered Brawley 5-0. Christian Herrera scored a goal, and then assisted on two tallies by Christian Bond. Tadeo Valle also scored for Coronado, with the fifth score coming on an ‘own goal’ by Brawley.

Monday in a non-league game, Coronado defeated Horizon 2-0. Bond again scored, this time with Nick Hamilton as the other goal scorer.

Wednesday in another non-league game, Coronado played University City, like Coronado, a Division III semi-finalist from a year ago. “It was a big game,” said Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu. “There was a playoff atmosphere. It was much more intense than a regular non-league game. Jake Vita scored in the last minute of the first half and we scored two goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half. The final was 3-0.” Dan Ross and Matt Ganyard scored the second half goals for Coronado.

Saturday brought the quarter-finals of the Grossmont Tournament, where they found Hilltop waiting. Coronado, on goals from Vita and Ganyard, emerged victorious 2-1.

Helping fuel this exciting run by Coronado are defenders Charlie Wood and Connor Marconne, goalie Jeff Bucklew and midfield standout Hamilton.

Monday it’s on to the Grossmont Premier Division semi-finals, where the Islanders will play Rancho Buena Vista, the largest soccer-playing school in the CIF San Diego Section. With an enrollment three times the size of Coronado’s, the Islanders have an opportunity to truly be giant killers. If they can get past the Longhorns, Coronado will play Tuesday at 3 pm in the semi-finals. Both of these games will be played at Grossmont High School.

The team is off after the conclusion of the Grossmont Tournament until after Christmas, but they return to play Wed., Jan. 3 at home against Valhalla at 5:15 pm. Friday Jan. 5 at 6 pm the Islanders will host Mission Bay.

Girls Basketball Splits Four Games

By now, you’ve picked up on the ‘let’s play a lot of games going into the break’ theme of this week’s column. Not to be left out, the CHS Girls Basketball Team took to the hardwood four times and gave as good as they got.

Tuesday Julian descended from, well, Julian and fell to the Islanders 56-30. Tiffany Depfer led Coronado with 17 points, followed closely by Bria Phillips with 16, to go along with eight points each from Kelsey Branch and Arrielle Luna.

“We won the game rather easily,” said Head Coach Toler Goodwin. “We outscored Julian 20-6 in the first quarter. We got to play everybody.”

Coronado then traveled to Mar Vista and came away with a 40-37 road win. Phillips poured in 14, followed by Luna with nine points. Branch and Emily Bell added six each. Depfer rounded out the scoring with five points. “The Mar Vista game was our first close one, with the exception of the Chula Vista game,” Goodwin said. “It made us be better with the basketball and made for a good team win. We got a couple of opportunities that we were able to take advantage of.”

The final two games were a 55-27 home loss to Marian Catholic and a 56-21 loss to Westview. The loss to Marian found Bell, a sophomore post player, competing well against the Marian pressure defense. “We’ve got Emily being more aggressive offensively,” Goodwin commented. “We’ll need that productivity to be successful down the road. She struggled offensively earlier in the year.” Bell finished in double figures against the Crusaders with 10 points.

Goodwin added that sophomore guard Melissa Humphrey has used her defensive ability to earn a starting slot on the team. “She really does a good job defensively, especially on the ball. We use her as a shutdown defender on the ball and to take away the other team’s No. 1 scoring option. She gives us better energy defensively.”

Completing last week with an overall record of 4-6, this week the Islanders host San Ysidro Tuesday evening at 6 pm. They return to the court the following Tuesday (Dec. 26^th) in the Montgomery Tournament. Their first three games will be Tuesday against Oceanside at 3:30 pm; Wednesday at 8 am against Montgomery; and Thursday at 3:30 pm against Point Loma. The results in pool play will determine the opponent and time of Friday’s game.

Boys Basketball Pounds Mountain Empire

Never one to follow the script (packed game schedule leading into the holidays), the Boys Basketball Team played one game last week and took it out on Mountain Empire by the score of 70-15. Chas Marks led the 12 Islander players who scored in the game, with 27 points. Coronado had a unique scoring pattern to the game, scoring 22 points in each of the first three quarters of the game.

Liam Cronan chipped in 9 points, Matt Fowler added eight and Benson Lorden contributed six points. The game marked the return of Lorden to the team, after recuperating from a broken arm for the first five games of the season.

Despite Lorden’s return, Coronado is still battling the injury bug according to Head Coach Sandy Dillon. “Geoff Worley has shin splints in his left leg and JJ Pontes is out with his broken ankle until after the New Year. And we’re waiting for the results on Cole McLean’s MRI from the other day. It’s nice to be 4-2 (overall record), but we’re still all banged up.”

Thursday Coronado hosts Canyon Crest at 7:30 pm, for their lone action this week.

Although they torpedoed my carefully crafted theme for this column, honesty compels me to report that the team is busy next week, as they host their annual Islander Christmas Tournament starting Wed. Dec. 27. On that date they host Lutheran High School at 1:30 pm, followed by Julian in the evening session at 7:30 pm. Sweetwater is the opponent Thursday the 28^th at 7:30 pm, while San Ysidro completes the Coronado portion of tournament on the 29^th at 8 pm. The teams all play each other through out the four days of the tournament.

CHS Sailing Team Performs Well in Anteater Regatta

Prep sailing is somewhat confusing for the un-initiated (that’s me) as it is based around seven major regattae (note the Latin plural) that are spread throughout the school year. The first six of the events are qualifiers for the Pacific Coast Championships, where the Top 20 teams in California compete for the right to participate in the National Championships.

The latest in the six qualifying races this sailing season was the Anteater Regatta. After you get past the unlikely title, the event gets tonier because the host is the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. Fifty teams from all over the state compete in the event.

Representing the CHS Varsity Sailing Team were Pike Harris, Ryan Sullivan, Nick Gomez-Hall, Cragan Smith, and Kirsten Krock.  That portion of the squad took 11^th place overall in the Gold Fleet. According to Head Coach Jon Rogers, Sullivan was the lone Islander to win an individual race, although there were several other Top 5 finishes.

Harris was the skipper and Krock the crew in one boat, while Sullivan worked with either Gomez-Hall or Smith depending on the sailing conditions.

The Junior Varsity consisting of sailors Alexa Cavalieri, Philip Lozier, Lisa Joy Juergens, Alex Wood and Hayley Eyers finished fourth in the Silver Fleet.

Several other Coronado residents competed in the Regatta for their schools. Four sailors were from Francis Parker and included for Gia DeMichele, Cooper Dressler, Ryan Foote, and Robbi Robyn. Tom Preston sailed representing The Bishop’s School.

The next major prep sailing event is the Rose Bowl Regatta, hosted by USC. It will be sailed out of the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and will be held Jan 6-7, 2007.

“After the Rose Bowl, we will start training for team racing,” said Rogers. “Because the next regatta isn’t until the Stanford Cardinal Regatta at the end of February. Team racing is an aggressive style that is a lot more technical and very rules oriented. It’s more of a team competition.”

Zach Dunlevy Memorial Fund

Zach Dunlevy, 18, son of long-time Coronado residents Dave and Cindy Dunlevy passed away a week ago due to alcohol poisoning. While living in Coronado, the younger Dunlevy became actively involved in lacrosse, a sport he hoped to pursue at Limestone College, where he was a freshman.

A memorial fund has been established in Zach’s name. Donations may be sent to: Zach Dunlevy Lacrosse Memorial Fund, c/o Lafayette Bank and Trust, 2329 North Salisbury Street, West Lafayette, IN 47906.

Natterings

Congratulations to Coronado High’s Ben Thorne for being named to the All-County Second Team as a defensive lineman. The honor capped a season where Thorne was named the Islander Team MVP and the Central League Defensive Player of the Year.

Congratulations also to Coronado residents Bobby Erskine, Matt Kiernan and Jay Harbaugh for their roles in the football title earned by St. Augustine. The Saints defeated Point Loma 17-7 for their second straight CIF Division III title.

Erskine was a team captain, led the team in tackles and was the Defensive MVP for the Saints. Kiernan was also a team captain and the team’s offensive center. Harbaugh was a defensive stalwart, though hurt for much of the year. Congratulations to all three on their gridiron achievements.

Last week marked the passing of Kansas City Chiefs Owner Lamar Hunt, one of the founders of the American Football League, which was merged into the National Football League in 1966. Hunt was one of three sons of oil baron H.L. Hunt and used a substantial portion of his considerable wealth to dabble in professional football, soccer and tennis.

Lamar had the reputation of being frugal and modest, despite his economic status, which I always found to be somewhat humorous. In 1968, I was a runner on the Chiefs stats crew, a job which revolved around taking the typewritten copy from sportswriters around the suite level of the old Kansas City Municipal Stadium to the Western Union operators, who would then transmit the copy to the visiting club’s hometown papers.

En route from typewriter to the Western Union location was Hunt’s owner’s box. During three consecutive home games that season, I personally witnessed Norma Hunt, Lamar’s wife wear three different, full-length mink coats to the games. Lamar may have been frugal, but only to a point.

Hunt also staged the World Championship Tennis doubles finals event in Kansas City for many years. The tourney allowed residents of the Heartland to see the best tennis players in the world, back when Stan Smith, Illie Nastase and others played doubles as well as singles. It was a great, though under attended event, and was eventually moved from its original home in K.C.