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Nado Natterings |
A weekly column by David Axelson |
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Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation
28 Feb 2007 Issue #8
You had the feeling watching the showdown in the CIF Division II Girls Water Polo championship game between Coronado and The Bishop’s School, that the result would be decided at the very conclusion of the game. Unfortunately for the Islanders and the strong CHS cheering contingent on hand at the La Jolla Coggan Family Pool Saturday night, the Knights prevailed 6-5 to win their fourth consecutive CIF division title.
It was a defensive battle
throughout, as nearly four minutes elapsed before the game’s first goal, a nice
one-touch shot by Islander center forward Katie
Estrada from a Danielle Goldblatt pass. The score remained 1-0
at the conclusion of the quarter. Bishop’s scored first to start the second
quarter and 45 seconds later
Coronado would convert three of
their nine 6-on-5 scoring opportunities during the game and their next tally by
Hannah Sebenaler on an assist from Carly Hoshko fell into that category.
Less than a minute later after a save from Islander goalie Morgan Ronimus, Sabrina Anonas
scored on an assist from Young. Bishop’s countered at the
Despite the close score and the
physical play from both sides, it seemed at half time that
As Bishop’s celebrated their
victory, tears flowed freely at the
The championship final was the
fourth game between the two perennial water polo powers this season, with each
institution claiming two victories. Bishop’s won the first outing 11-4, with
“We were well prepared,” said Islander
Head Coach Dave Throop of his squad,
which completed the season with an outstanding record of 25-7. “You have to
take your hat off to Bishop’s. You can never discount the defending champions.
We didn’t execute late in the game like we are capable of and that was a
difference in the game. I still go back to what I said at the beginning of the
year, that this is the deepest team (from a talent perspective) that
Throop knew his team had been through an emotional and competitive experience. “They were obviously distraught and upset after the game. I told them ‘You played a good game and you played your hearts out.’ This was a very unique team and the best I’ve been around on the girls’ side. They worked very hard to get where they are.”
The 2006-07 squad contained six seniors, including: Lauren Corcoran, Maggie Sosnowski, Co-Captain Katie Estrada, Goldblatt, Ronimus, and Patrick. Throop offered some perspective on the development of the players. “One year early in their careers, that group finished 47th out of 48 teams in the Junior Olympics. Now, four of the six players have Division I playing opportunities in water polo. It’s great what they did and how far they came. You give your best effort and whatever happens, happens. I’m very proud of the whole group. The level of commitment the players and coaches make is very, very rare. I’m immensely proud of this group.”
Boys Soccer Aerodynamically Advances to CIF Semis
Watching the CHS Boys Soccer Team defeat
Perhaps because they were
unencumbered by their flowing locks and were now aerodynamically superior to the
opposition, the Islanders literally raced to a 2-0 lead over the Spartans (
Or, perhaps it had nothing to do
with being folicly challenged and the contest played out according to Head
Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu’s game plan.
“We knew that they played a slower-paced game, more of a ball control game. Our
plan was to come out strong, pressure early, and not give up anything in any
part of the field. We did not want them to get a rhythm going. In the first 15
minutes, the score could have been four or five to nothing. We finished two of
our early opportunities and that gave us a lot of confidence. Once they (
The lone Spartan goal came on a
penalty kick with
At least part of the team’s playoff success was due to the defensive backfield, according to Hiatt-Aleu. “I thought our defense played really well. Charlie Wood, Austen Speer, Connor Marcone and Jeffery all played well. They were solid and didn’t make any mistakes. Christian Bond also played well. He is one of our seniors who really wanted the game.”
The haircut deal has an added kicker if the Islanders win the CIF title, Hiatt-Aleu then is required to get a tattoo. Predictably, Hiatt-Aleu downplayed that part of the Faustian bargain. “It is more of a team bonding thing. This team is really united. They rally to support one another. They are all focused, have the same drive, and they all want to win just as badly as the others. That’s hard to find nowadays at any level. It’s a joy to be around that this year. I really hope for them that we can win it (the CIF title). They have worked really hard. If it ends Tuesday, I’ll be really sad.”
Hiatt-Aleu’s ‘Tuesday’ reference
is to the semi-final game between No. 3 seed
“We haven’t played them this year, but I saw the first half of their quarter-final game,” said Hiatt-Aleu. “They are all premiere club players and they can handle the ball well. They have eight seniors who start. Playing at home should be a little bit of an advantage. You know they are going to bring everybody (their fans).”
CHS Girls Basketball Season Ends in Loss to
The Islander Girls Basketball Team charged off to do battle in the
La Jolla Country Day gym Friday evening and came out on the short end of a
69-21 result. An indication of the magnitude of the assignment came in a phone
conversation with Islander Head Coach Toler
Goodwin after the fact. Goodwin noted that the Torreys had placed their
second-tallest player at 6-2 on
The next logical question, at
least from my perspective was, ‘How big is their tallest player?’ When Goodwin
answered ‘6-3’ basketball reality hit home pretty quickly. The tallest Islander
starter is Arrielle Luna at 5-9ish.
In fact
“They didn’t do anything we didn’t anticipate early in the game,” said Goodwin. “We turned the ball over a little bit. Five minutes into the game the score was 5-2 and we had missed several scoring opportunities. They made a couple of shots, their confidence went up and they went on a run. They did the majority of their damage in the second quarter.”
From a fan perspective, the
better game to watch was the quarter-final contest Tuesday evening between
Canyon Crest and Coronado, played at the Blumenthal Sports Complex. The
Islanders prevailed over the Ravens 51-48 (there will be a team nickname test
at the end of the semester), which featured a number of strong performances
from Islander players and a strong
Phillips led the Islanders in scoring with 21 points and in steals with five. Point guard Tiffany Depfer added 10 points and four rebounds, while Kelsey Branch had seven points and eight assists. Luna added five points and five rebounds and Melissa Humphrey chipped in four points and an additional five rebounds.
The twin highlights of the game for the basketball purist were two high picks and strong cuts to the basket that resulted in layups for the Islanders. The successful execution of the play requires a high level of basketball knowledge and was pretty to see.
“We knew Canyon Crest played a lot of overplay defense,” said Goodwin. “That made the strong ball cut available. For the last three weeks of the season, we worked 15 or 20 minutes a day on a motion or back screen offense. We worked on setting those plays up and looking for those opportunities.”
Goodwin was equally proud of the comeback forged by his team. “We got down 11 in the second quarter and it was a one point game at halftime. We were even at the end of three quarters. We made the plays necessary to win as we came to the end of the game. I thought we showed a lot of character. We didn’t get down on each other and we didn’t force bad situations trying to play catch up.”
According to Goodwin, several members of the team contributed to the victory. “We got some productivity out of Emily Bell and Angela Strohbeck. We got them some confidence early in the game, so when they went back in during the fourth quarter, they were able to play well on both ends of the floor. Tiffany played a strong game. She got us in some offensive situations which allowed for the back door cuts. She was setting up their defense and then we took what they gave us. Bria hit a couple of key shots as we worked our way back into the game. We set some good traps on defense with Bria, Tiffany and Kelsey. Then other people stepped into the passing lanes when we got the trap set.”
Two of Branch’s points came on a 1-and-1 free throw situation with 3.6 seconds remaining in the contest. The senior guard calmly hit both free throws to provide the important three-point span that in a worst case scenario would earn the Islanders at least a tie on a Ravens desperation shot.
“We had a group of kids who thought they were a team,” Goodwin said of the Islanders, who finished 17-12 on the season. “This was as complete a team as I have had from the standpoint of wanting to do things together, and not segregating anyone, as any team I have coached. They were willing to work together to be successful. I had a lot of fun coaching them.”
Girls Soccer Beats Santana, Falls to OLP
Playoff competition isn’t for the faint of heart and that concept would extend to the CHS Girls Soccer Team’s two games last week. The first contest was a 2-0 home victory over Santana, which featured goals by Kelly Walsh and Mackenzie Coutts and a shutout earned by goalie Lauren Shuffett.
“When we started out the game, we dominated,” said Head Coach Kiko Medina. “Then the girls got a little lax, but I was never really worried regarding our chances.”
The victory earned
The net result was that
Perhaps the roughest part came at
the conclusion of the game, described as follows by
“That’s very, very promising for
next year,” said
Boys Basketball Concludes Season at
Previewing his team’s first round Division IV playoff contest against Santa Fe Christian last week, CHS Head Coach Sandy Dillon opined, “We play well there (at Santa Fe Christian) and we are the same size and match up with them.”
All of that came to pass as
“They hit their threes and before you knew it, we were down 16,” said Dillon of the Eagles. “We got it down to four or five points right at the end. They ran out of steam against us in the fourth quarter and held on. At the end of the game, they went to the basket. It got to be a really physical game, with a lot of pushing and shoving. Benson Lorden came out of the game with blood all over him.”
Lorden, a senior, would finish with 10 points in the contest, trailing only Marks and Matt Oakley’s 11 points in the scoring column. Matt Fowler contributed eight points, with six more points coming from Cole McLean, four from Liam Cronan and two each from Blake Malkemus and JJ Pontes.
“We got a great game out of Matt Fowler,” said Dillon of the junior point guard. “He was just great. He had eight points, five assists and two steals. I was really happy for him.” The Islanders completed the season with an overall record of 13-12.