Nado Natterings Back to Islandersports
A weekly column by David Axelson

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

30 Jan 2008 Issue No. 4

Competing in the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Complex, which has been their home for a scant three weeks, the CHS Girls Water Polo Team won their own America’s Finest City Tournament over the weekend in impressive fashion.

Coronado’s first round opponent was El Segundo High School and the Islander starting six field players of Kelly Ronimus, Carly Hoshko, Alana Burgess, Sabrina Anonas, Hannah Sebenaler and Ashley Young, plus goalie Alex Adamson had the Eagles down 6-0 a mere five minutes into the contest. Later in the second half however, Coronado took their foot off of the gas pedal so to speak, and allowed El Segundo back into the game with the score reaching 9-6, with the Islanders still in the lead.

“It politely could be labeled a lackluster effort,” said Head Coach Dave Throop of the eventual 16-8 victory over the El Segundo. “Afterwards the coaches and I expressed our displeasure at how we went about preparing for the game and then playing the game. We challenged them to understand that each and every opportunity to play was invaluable for us to improve and we had wasted that chance.”

Sebenaler and Anonas scored three goals each, followed by Young, Hillary Estrada, Burgess and Hilary Hansen with two goals apiece. Single tallies were turned in by the sister tandem of Sidney Hoshko and Carly Hoshko.

On to Friday’s second game, which found the Islanders hosting Mt. Carmel High School, currently ranked No. 5 in Division I of the CIF San Diego Section. “We warned the girls that their previous effort would get them beat and whether they got tired of hearing that from the coaches or they simply had an epiphany, they moved into a higher gear beating a good Mt. Carmel team 13-4,” Throop said. “The latter portion of the game was played exclusively by our underclassmen. We told the team in the post-game meeting that they had played the best first half I have seen them play thus far.”

The Islanders Saturday semi-final game featured the Diocesan School for Girls from Auckland, New Zealand. Thursday the Islanders and ‘Dio’ as they are called, played each other with Coronado prevailing 12-5. This being the second meeting between the teams in three days, the Islanders had the Kiwi’s physical style of play figured out and Coronado led 9-0 after three quarters on their way to a 10-1 victory.

The tournament championship game found Coronado facing the CIF SDS Division I, No. 1 ranked Panthers from Vista High School. We’ll let Throop provide the narrative. “Knowing that it would be a physical match, we reminded the girls to play with composure. It has been a while since a team tried to match pressure with us, and we relished the opportunity. We went up 4-0 in the first quarter, but lost Alana Burgess to a broken nose, due to the nature of the play and nothing extra-curricular.”

Throop continued to discuss the championship finale against Vista. “After Alana’s injury, our team played full throttle and beat Vista 11-3. Against a tough, tough team in Vista, we played at the highest level I’ve seen us play thus far. Ashley Young scored five goals in the game and was named to the All-Tournament First Team, while Alex Adamson was named the Most Valuable Goal Keeper and Hannah Sebenaler earned the Tournament MVP award. Hannah is playing consistently the best I have ever seen her play.”

This week the Islanders host The Bishop’s School Wednesday at 3 pm at the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Complex. Coronado heads to Irvine Thursday through Saturday to compete in the prestigious 32-team SoCal Championship Tournament. Coronado is currently ranked No. 1 in the CIF San Diego Section, regardless of division.

CHS Boys Soccer Resides Atop the Central League Standings

Four games remain in the Central League Boys Soccer season, and currently the CHS Boys Soccer Team holds a 7-0-1 record in the conference standings. Their only ‘blemish’ to date is a first round tie with Hoover, the very same team they host Monday evening at 5 pm.

Last week the Islanders’ first game was played in a heavy rain Wednesday night against Crawford. “It poured the entire game,” said Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu. “We got up 2-0 in the first 10 minutes, but we never finished the game off. They (Crawford) have a couple of really good players and it was 2-1 at halftime.”

The first two Coronado goals were scored by Arturo Valle and Kramer De Laurentis.

Hiatt-Aleu continued to describe the game action. “They got a free kick when the score was 2-2 in the downpour and that is a real tester right there. Arturo scored his second goal, the game winner, with three or four minutes remaining in the game. We kept our composure and maturity and found a way to win the game at the end. The experience from last year’s team (CIF Division III champs) is really starting to show now.”

The week’s second game was played at Madison Friday, with the field conditions being somewhat short of desirable. After a 0-0 halftime tie, Hiatt-Aleu decided upon a new offensive strategy. “We went with three forwards in the second half and scored early after the start of the second half. It wasn’t the prettiest of games. We went with three (forwards) up top and it really paid off. Everybody got to play in the last 15 minutes of the game, which was nice.”

The Coronado goals were scored by Charlie Wood, Clay Butner and Arturo Valle, while Jeffery Bucklew earned the shutout in goal on their way to the 3-0 victory over Madison.

“Christian Herrera is starting to really play well and play to his potential,” said Hiatt-Aleu of the junior outside left midfielder. “He’s really starting to turn it on. He didn’t score but he had a number of good crosses and assists. Christian really stepped up this week. Peter Kittiyasawadi and Christian were really consistent last week.”

After Monday’s Hoover game, Coronado plays at Lincoln Friday evening. Coronado has an overall record of 9-2-3.

Girls Basketball Squad Dominates Hoover and Christian

Over the past several years, both Hoover and Christian have been teams to reckon with in the Central League, but both teams are really struggling this season.

Conversely, the Coronado Girls Basketball Team had a good week, winning at Hoover 50-24 last Tuesday night and then defeating Christian at home Friday evening 60-11.

Head Coach Toler Goodwin, while looking at the Central League race with one eye, has the other eye focused on the Division IV CIF Playoffs. He knows that even weaker opponents allow the Islanders a chance to improve.

“Our first quarter against Hoover was 9-8 in our favor, but we played two really good defensive quarters in a row after that. We shut Hoover out in the second quarter and gave up a lone three-point basket in the third quarter. That helped separate us from Hoover on the way to the victory.”

Friday night against Christian all of the elements on the Islander side of the floor were in synch, including a zone trap press that caught the Patriots off guard. Coronado scored the first 11 points of the game on their way to a 19-4 first quarter lead.

“Friday we played hard the entire night,” Goodwin said. “Offensively and defensively we played hard. I enjoy watching them when we work that hard. It wasn’t just the first (starting) five who played hard, but the entire team. We made some significant progress this week and we didn’t have the falloffs that we have had previously.”

Arrielle Luna and Tiffany Depfer led the way for Coronado with 14 points each, followed closely by Emily Bell and Bria Phillips with 12 points each. Although she didn’t score, Melissa Humphrey had an outstanding game with seven assists, four steals and three rebounds. Phillips also contributed five assists and six steals. Bell was Coronado’s leading rebounder with seven caroms.

“Melissa plays such great defense for us,” Good win noted.  “She has a great concept of athletics (Humphrey also plays varsity volleyball and lacrosse) and movement. She just makes us better with heady plays and doing the little things. That’s what she does. She makes a lot of the little plays that don’t make the box score.”

This week the Islanders play at home against Madison on Monday at 3:30 pm and Friday night they travel to Clairemont for a 6 pm contest.

A Tie and a Loss for Girls Soccer in Western League Play

One of the common themes of the winter sports versions of “Nado Natterings” is how tough the Western League is in soccer; ditto baseball in the spring. Well, this year is no exception.

Last week the Islanders played La Jolla, who entered the contest undefeated and Coronado emerged with a 1-1 tie. “We played well defensively,” said Head Coach Kiko Medina. “We didn’t give up many shots. We got a little unlucky with a referee’s interpretation of high school rules. They got a free kick at the top of the 18-yard box and scored. It was tough to take, but we can’t do anything about it.”

The Coronado goal was scored by Colleen Burns. “She has been doing well,” said Medina of Burns. “We have Leah Hatheway back now and hopefully she will get in game fit (soccer term for being in good shape) and score some goals for us. She had an injured right knee. Briana Baszak played well in midfield against La Jolla and goalie Andrea Davis kept us in the game. La Jolla had a breakaway in the last minute of the game and Andrea came out one-on-one to make the save. The referee blew the whistle five seconds later. That made my stomach jump quite a bit there.”

The second game last week was a 3-0 home loss to Our Lady of Peace, a club that employed the offside trap to stymie Coronado’s for the first half. “They played it pretty well,” explained Medina of OLP’s high-risk, potentially high-reward defense. “It took us the whole first half to adjust to it. In the second half, we did a lot better. We created a lot of chances, but it just wasn’t our night. We couldn’t catch a break at all. We missed a penalty kick and couldn’t convert on three breakaways. Anything that could have gone wrong for us did. Hopefully we’ve got that out of our system and we won’t have that anymore.”

Overall Coronado’s record is a strong 8-4-5, which includes a record of 1-2-2 in the Western League. However the name of the game is to get prepared for the CIF Division IV Playoffs, a fact not lost on Medina. “A total of 16 of the 24 Division IV teams make the playoffs and we’ll definitely get some home games. I think the three strongest teams are Coronado, Francis Parker and Bishop’s. I think one of the three of us will win it all. Parker and Bishop’s are both in the Coastal League and they tied the first time they played each other.”

Some additional victories in the Western League would help with Coronado’s playoff seeding position. “We need to pick things up in the Western League and get some good results,” Medina added. “We want to get at least the second seed so that we have home field advantage all the way through the finals.”

This week Coronado hosts Cathedral Catholic at 7 pm and Thursday the team travels to University City for a 3 pm game.

CHS Boys Basketball Loses Twice, But Shows Improvement

It was a case of jumping from the frying pan into, well the frying pan last week for the CHS Boys Basketball Team. Tuesday they hosted the Hoover Cardinals, ranked No. 4 in “The San Diego Union-Tribune’s” Prep Poll and fell 82-58. It was all pressure, all the time supplied courtesy of the Hoover squad.

Islander Head Basketball Coach Ken Caesar felt his club learned from the contest. “I thought that for the most part the team took some steps forward, as far as going after them. We were just outgunned in too many areas. They were too athletic, but we did a good job of fighting them. They score points in bunches. We went back the next day and watched the game tape. We handled their pressure, but some of the mistakes we made were silly on our part.”

Leading the way for Coronado was Justin Parsons who battled the Hoover big men in the lane and scored 21 points and snared 15 rebounds. Dallas Taylor added 12 points and eight rebounds. Point guard Matt Fowler scored eight points and did a good job of handling the Hoover pressure defense. “Hoover ran a lot of bodies at Matt,” Caesar said. “And they wore him down. I thought we fought and battled.”

Friday night’s home game against Christian brought 6-foot, 8-inch junior center Vander Joaquim to Coronado. Joaquim is a native of Angola and at the ripe old age of 17, is a veteran of the Angolan National Basketball Team.

With Joaquim dominating the middle and Patriot point guard Daniel Hazlett scoring 29 points, including six lengthy three-point shots, Christian got the better of Coronado 60-42.

Caesar knew in advance that it was going to be a long night for his team. “I told (Asst. Coach) J.D. Laaperi before the game, ‘we don’t look right.’ We don’t understand that we have to play every game. We got up for Hoover, but we have to get up for the Christian game and the Madison game. They’re athletic too.”

Despite the final score, Coronado made a great second half run at Christian, narrowing a 16-point halftime deficit to just six points with 1:37 remaining in the third quarter. Christian finished the quarter with a 7-2 run of their own to make the score 47-35.

Helping key the comeback was junior Blake Malkemus, who seemed to be everywhere on the court at once. In one two minute span the junior three-sport star (football, basketball, baseball) scored off of an offensive rebound, made a steal, grabbed another offensive rebound and played well on the defensive end of the floor.

“He’s definitely going to be on Hazlett next time,” said Caesar of Malkemus. “Blake is a tough guy. He’s good enough to dribble to the paint, pull up, get a shot and he can hit that shot. He’ll attack the basket.”

Other Islanders who performed well included center Krishna Samperio, who had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Dallas Taylor added eight points and four rebounds, while Fowler and Cole McLean added six points each.

This week the Islanders host Madison Monday and travel to Clairemont Friday for a 7:30 pm game against the Chieftains.

Coronado High Sailing Team Competes in Rose Bowl Regatta

The Coronado High School Sailing Team competed in the Rose Bowl Regatta earlier this month and Head Coach Jon Rogers checks in with a report.

“The Rose Bowl Regatta is interesting because college teams sail on the same course as the high school teams. The CHS Varsity of Ryan Sullivan, Cragan Smith, Nick Gomez-Hall, Philip Lozier and Karisa Chapa took 16^th place out of the 32-team field.

The Junior Varsity squad consisting of Tom Ben Kiki, Kaitlin Dunphey, Alex Wood, and Chloe Lozier finished in seventh place in the 22-team field.

With their performance, the team guaranteed themselves a spot in the Pacific Coast Championships in April. Hans Henken and Pike Harris missed the Rose Bowl event as they were competing in the 29er World Championships in Melbourne.

The team is training bi-weekly under the leadership which includes me and Katie Eckert, as well as world class coaches Willem Van Waay and Rob Hallawell. An unexpected visit over the Christmas break by Coronado sailors and College All-Americans Blaire Herron (Georgetown ’08) and Tinja Anderson-Mitterling (College of Charleston ’08) was a highlight of the first semester.

A few potential CHS sailors took part in the San Diego Yacht Club Sabot Junior Invitational January 12-13. That group included Sven Karlsson, PJ Eaton, Chuckie Eaton, Noelle Herring and Esteban Forrer, who represented the Coronado Yacht Club very well.”

CHS Boys Tennis Tryouts Set for Feb. 16^th

CHS Boys Tennis Head Coach Jim Mashburn will be conducting tryouts for the team Saturday, February 16^th at the CHS Courts starting at 9 am. There will be both a Varsity and a Junior Varsity program again this year. Leslie Koshland will coach the JV squad.

For more information regarding the CHS Boys Tennis Team, please contact Coach Mashburn at 619-931-4075 or via E-mail at james.mashburn@navy.mil.

ISF – Coronado Middle School Spring Sports Registration Date Set

Wednesday, Feb. 6, will be the registration date for the Coronado Middle School spring sports season. The meeting will be held at CMS Granzier Hall from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Attendance by interested parents and student-athletes is strongly encouraged. Information regarding teams, schedules and coaches will be disseminated at the meeting.

The spring sports offered include Boys Lacrosse, Co-ed Track and Field, Co-ed Tennis, Girls Basketball and Co-ed Water Polo. The fee is $110 per sport, per child.

If you are new to the ISF-CMS Sports program, you may download all of the applicable forms at www.IslanderSportsFoundation.com. Your child must have a current athletic physical and have all of the forms completed and filed before they can practice or participate in an ISF-CMS sponsored sport. Under no circumstances will any applications or payments be accepted after the close of business Wednesday, Feb. 20. Student-athletes may only register for one sport per season.

For questions, please contact either Suzette Valle at avalle@san.rr.com or Cassandra Stroud at cmstroud@pacbell.net.

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.

Navy Takes Third Place in NCAA Finals

Dec. 1-2, 2007, the NCAA Water Polo Tournament took place at Stanford University. The Final Four teams competing in the tournament were USC, Cal Berkeley, the U.S. Naval Academy and Loyola Marymount.

The Naval Academy entered the tournament as the Eastern Division champions. They placed third in the tournament, defeating Loyola Marymount 7-6. Navy had not defeated a California team in the NCAA tournament since winning the seventh place match against LIC San Diego in 1993. It was also Navy¹s first win in the NCAA tournament since the tournament field was reduced to four teams in 1995. No. 2 seed Cal defeated top-seeded USC 8-6 to win its second straight NCAA title and for the second straight year the Bears topped the Trojans for the title.

This year¹s squad became the first Navy team in the school history to record 30 wins in a season. The eight seniors on the team ended their careers with a career record of 95-32.

Navy water polo teammates and CHS graduates, Joe Moffit, Daniel Pedrotty and Scott Simeral are in their second year at the Naval Academy.