Nado Natterings Back to Islandersports
A weekly column by David Axelson

Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation

16 Jan 2008 Issue No. 2

Last week was on the sluggish side for sports action at Coronado High School as the teams were emerging from the long holiday break. As an example, the Girls Soccer and Girls Basketball teams played once each and the Boys Basketball team was idle. Thankfully the Boys Soccer and Girls Water Polo Teams played something close to a normal schedule.

CHS Boys Soccer Wins Twice in Central League Play

(We don’t normally get into the bold sub-headlines this early in the column, but as the legendary John ‘Bluto’ Blutarsky said in the movie ‘Animal House’, “Don’t cost nothin.”)

Last week the Boys Soccer Team defeated Lincoln High School, which has now returned to the Central League in soccer, by the score of 3-1. Kramer De Laurentis scored twice and Evan Binning found the back of the net once.

Any victory is good, but the 2-1 win two days later at Clairemont was especially satisfying, according to Islander Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu. “We haven’t won there since the boys’ freshman year. We were losing 1-0 at halftime and came out and scored with 90 seconds left to win the game. After the Christmas break, we always pick up our play. Charlie Wood and Arturo Valle scored the goals at Clairemont.”

To briefly re-cap, two games and five goals scored by four different Islander players. The two victories pushed Coronado’s overall record to 6-2-3, but more importantly they are now 4-0-1 in the Central League, where the Islanders reside atop the table (Euro soccer term).

“Clay Butner, Peter Kittiyasawadi and Austen Speer were solid in the three games we have played since the break, in addition to the guys that scored,” said Hiatt-Aleu. “We’re realizing that when we have opportunities to score, that we can finish. We’re starting to mature as a team and to rely on each other. It has been good to see our progression throughout the season as a team. Our goal is to play March 1 (in the CIF Division IV finals), which we think is a reasonable goal. It’s a good group of boys.”

This week the team plays once and hosts Christian Wednesday at 6 pm.

Girls Soccer Draws With University City

As opposed to their male counterparts, the CHS Girls Soccer Team has played only one league match this season, which was last week’s 1-1 tie with University City. Colleen Burns collected the Coronado goal on an assist from Mallory Mitchell.

As the Western League has only six remaining teams after Scripps Ranch transferred to the Eastern League, the Islanders are in the exact middle of the standings. La Jolla and Cathedral Catholic both were victorious last week.“Scripps Ranch was the only Division II team in the league,” said Medina. “It makes sense for them to move into that league.”

Head Coach Kiko Medina elaborated on his team and their 7-2-4 record. “Courtney Ryan had another great game for us at left defender. She and (right defender) Sandy Shepherd both had excellent games. Between those two and Rosie Harris in the backfield, I have a lot of confidence in all of them. That allows us to push another player forward (into the attack) in our 3-4-3 formation.”

This week the Islanders travel to Cathedral Catholic Tuesday and are home to Christian Thursday evening at 6 pm.

“It’s definitely a tough week,” Medina added. “I talked with the girls and told them that once we started Western League play last week, there are no breaks. Every team in our league is able to compete with anybody in San Diego.”

Girls Basketball Defeats Julian in Last Week’s Lone Game

Back in The Day, and ‘The Day’ in this case was roughly a decade ago, the Julian Girls Basketball program under the direction of Head Coach Karl Pocorelli was a force to be reckoned with. The Islander Girls team, which was strong then as it is now, had several memorable games with the Eagles. Alas those days are gone, with the prime example being Coronado’s 62-7 dismantling of Julian last week.

“Julian has given us some competitive games over the past five or six years,” said Islander Head Coach Toler Goodwin. “We played them both in our tournament and in non-league games. We’ve probably played them four or five times in the last several years and this was the first game that wasn’t competitive.”

Despite the lopsided score, Goodwin had hoped for more from his club. “I didn’t think we played well. We played moderately well in the third quarter. In the first half we weren’t very aggressive. Part of that was that we didn’t have to be. You don’t always compete against the other team, but against the team you want to be.”

Tiffany Depfer led the Coronado scoring parade with 20 points, followed by Bria Phillips with 12 and Angela Strohbeck with 10 points. The entire nine player roster scored at least a basket in the game for the 8-7 Islanders.

This week Coronado launches into Central League play, when they host Clairemont Tuesday at 3:30 pm. Friday evening they travel to co-league favorite Crawford for a 6 pm game. “We have to step up and play two good games, to give ourselves an early lead in league,” Goodwin said. “I think it will come down to us and Crawford to determine the league title.”

Girls Water Polo Goes 2-2 in Tournament of Champions

At the outset of the column, it was noted that the Girls Water Polo Team played something close to a normal schedule last week. That is correct, if competing in a tournament with the best prep water polo teams in the state constitutes a ‘normal’ schedule.

The Islanders traveled to the 16-team Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions last week and split their four games. Unfortunately, one of the losses was in their first game to Villa Park, which immediately relegated Coronado to the consolation bracket of the event.

“We lost 9-8 after leading 5-1 at half time,” said Head Coach Dave Throop. “Villa Park is ranked No. 2 in the Orange County Division II poll. Hannah Sebenaler scored three goals, with Ashley Young and Sabrina Anonas scoring two goals each. Carly Hoshko added one goal and goalie Alex Adamson had 12 saves.”

It was then a case of going from the frying pan into the fire, as the next game was against El Toro, which is ranked No. 9 in Division I in Orange County. Coronado emerged with a 6-4 victory with Anonas scoring twice and single goals were provided by Young, Sebenaler, Alana Burgess and Kelly Ronimus.

Then it was on to face Ayala High School and Coronado prevailed 5-3. Aly Rodgers scored for Coronado to combine with two goals each from Sebenaler and Young. “Michelle Carroll, Rodgers, Kathryn Bailey and back-up goalie Colleen Moore contributed considerably to the win,” Throop said.

In their final game of the tournament played against the event host Santa Barbara High School, Coronado couldn’t get their power play going, finishing 0-4 in their man-up situations. Conversely Santa Barbara was 6-8 in their man-up opportunities. Young, and Hillary Estrada both scored twice and Sebenaler added one goal.

The down side to the event was that due to illness and injury, Coronado was forced to field four different starting lineups in as many games. “We played at a disadvantage based on the total number of games which we have played,” Throop said. “Our opponents have all competed in at least one tournament prior to the Tournament of Champions. Right now our power play and short-handed situations (6 on 5 and 5 on 6) have to be a bigger point of emphasis for us to be successful. We’ve had some moments of outstanding individual play and now it’s just a matter of us needing to continue to do what we’ve been doing and emphasize the specifics.”
This week Coronado travels to Bishop’s for a 5:30 pm showdown, a game that features the Top 2 teams in the current “San Diego Union-Tribune” Girls Water Polo poll.

Boys Basketball Launches into Central League Play

In an unusual Central League scheduling quirk, the Girls and Boys Basketball teams have two back-to-back varsity doubleheaders to tip off their conference schedules. Tuesday the Boys host Clairemont at 5 pm and then travel with the Girls to Crawford for a game Friday night at 7:30 pm.

Coronado Boys Lacrosse Clinic Date Reminder

The Coronado Boys Lacrosse Clinics, which have been held for the past several years and collectively serve as a fundraiser for the Coronado Middle School Lacrosse program, are returning again this year. The clinics, which are designed for boys in third through eighth grades, will be held each Saturday from Jan. 26 through Feb. 23. Clinic times are 9 to 11 am. Both Niedermeyer and Cutler Fields will be used.

The fee is $100 per player and checks should be made payable to Coronado Schools Lacrosse. Included in the fee is a U.S. Lacrosse Association membership, a Coronado lacrosse sticker, a reversible jersey and a player mouth guard. Players are required to provide a lacrosse stick, cleats and shoulder pads. Helmets, gloves and arm pads are available to be borrowed on a first-come, first-served basis and a deposit is required for their use.

Clinic registration dates are Jan. 19 from 9-11 am and Jan. 26 from 8-9 am. Registration will be held at the Sixth Street entrance to the Blumenthal Sports Complex, located between Niedermeyer Field and the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center. Clinic questions may be directed to Megan Stanley at megandyno@sbcglobal.net. Coronado lacrosse apparel will also be available for purchase at the clinic registration dates.

Circle the Date for Recruiting Realities Program

Thursday, March 6 the Islander Spots Foundation will present a program by Jack Renkens on the myths and realities of college athletic recruiting. The event will be held at the Coronado High School Auditorium at 7 pm and admission is complimentary for all student-athletes and their families at the high school and especially at the middle school level.

Renkens is a former college coach with first-hand knowledge of the subject. His presentation is billed as ‘an entertaining, humorous and informative program,’ and it’s an important evening for parents and kids alike.

Chargers Hold Off Colts to Reach AFC Finals

Your Natterer watched every snap of the Chargers victory over the Indianapolis Colts and in fact was joined by the Natter Wife for the second half of action. The latter member of the Axelson household usually makes better use of her time, but helped root the Bolts to victory.

Defeating the Colts in the noisy RCA Dome with second and third string players effectively filling many of the skill positions coming down the stretch, was exciting to watch. I still don’t see how San Diego kept the Colts and Peyton Manning out of the end zone late in the game.

Conventional wisdom would dictate that the Chargers have to play a nearly perfect contest on the road in Foxboro, Mass. to defeat the New England Patriots. The smart money would ride on the undefeated Patriots, but the Chargers have now won two more playoff games this season than it looked like they were capable of winning, even midway through the season.

As the saying goes, ‘they’re playing with house money,’ but the first string better be healthy Sunday for San Diego to have a chance to reach the Super Bowl.