Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive
Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation
6 Feb 2008 Issue No. 5
‘Dominating’ would be a good word to describe the
Coronado
High School Girls Basketball
Team’s effort, as they yielded a paltry 25 points last week. And, that is a
two-game total. And, yes they were both Central League games. Yep, ‘dominating’
will definitely work.
The week started Monday as Coronado
hosted Madison and won that contest
60-14. The War Hawk’s scores by quarter were 4-4-2-4 which totals 14 for the
game. The Islanders raced to a 27-8 halftime lead and never looked back.
“We were a little lethargic early said Head Coach Toler
Goodwin. “But we played pretty well and limited what the other team was
doing. We had balanced scoring in every period and we were balanced defensively
as well. We got more efficient as the game went along and we wore them out.”
Everyone in the home white uniforms scored during the
game, including 17 points from Bria Phillips, 12 pints from Tiffany
Depfer and nine from defensive stalwart Melissa Humphrey. “She is
the key to what we can do defensively,” said Goodwin of Humphrey. “She created
some turnovers for us and it was nice to see her get some scoring opportunities
and to get rewarded.”
Friday night Coronado
hit the road, playing at Clairemont and the Islanders came away with a 57-11
victory. When a high school basketball game reaches a margin of 40 points, the
rest of the game is played with a running clock. Translated, that means the
game clock will stop only for timeouts and for no other reason. In the case of
the Chieftains vs. the Islanders, the entire second half was played with a
running clock.
“We played really well,” said Goodwin of his team. “We
came out with a fire defensively and an intensity to execute and do the things
we are capable of doing. We took them out of anything (offensive plays) and
everything they wanted to do. They scored in the first minute of the game and didn’t
score again in the first half. We did some really nice things. We had two good
practices Wednesday and Thursday and we took that into the game on Friday. We
took care of business and it was good to see.”
According to Goodwin, it was truly a team effort. “We had
great games from everybody. Emily Bell showed as much aggressiveness as
she has shown all year. Samantha Saunders played well defensively and
offensively. Angela Strohbeck had 13 rebounds, with eight of them on the
offensive end of the floor. We did a really nice job rotating defensively and
limiting their chances. We made substitutions and there was no fall off at any
time when we put new people in. We played with energy.”
This week the Islanders (13-8, 5-1 in the Central League)
have three games to play. Tuesday they host Hoover
at 5 pm and then host Crawford Friday
night as part of a Girls/Boys Varsity Doubleheader. Saturday there is a
quadruple header with four games against Preuss
Academy. The JV Girls play at 2:15 pm; the Frosh-Soph Boys play at 3:30 pm; the Varsity Girls play at 5:15 pm and the Varsity Boys complete the
four-game set with a tip-off at 7 pm.
Boys
Basketball Splits Two Central League Contests
The Boys Basketball squad was on the road twice
last week and lost their game at Madison
Monday by the score of 51-49, in what was a winnable game for Coronado.
“We were just flat and didn’t come to play at all,” said Head Coach Ken
Caesar. “We were beating that team by eight points. It was probably the
worst we have played over the last 12 games. They wanted it more than we did.
We gave them life and they won the game.”
Friday night the defensive pressure the Islander Girls
put on their Clairemont counterparts apparently carried over to the Boys Game
as Coronado won 37-26. A victory
will improve a coach’s outlook on the week’s proceedings. “We controlled the
game from the third quarter on,” Caesar said. “We gave up only 10 points in the
entire second half. Blake Malkemus guarded really well, rebounded and
kept them away from the boards. Justin Parsons had a double-double with
15 points and 10 rebounds. Matt Fowler played well and Dallas Taylor
was in double figures as well. He hit some big shots.”
This week Coronado
(10-7, 3-3 in the Central League) travels to Hoover
for their second league game against the Cardinals or as Caesar described it,
“the track meet.” Friday is Senior Night when Coronado
hosts Crawford. Saturday is the Preuss quadruple header basketball event
described above.
CHS Girls
Water Polo Has Good Week, Including Win Over Bishop’s
It was a busy week for the Islander Girls Water Polo
Team, one which started with 9-2 victory over The Bishop’s School. Alana
Burgess, who directs the Coronado
offensive attack, missed the game due to surgery for her broken nose sustained
in the Vista game last week. For their part, Bishop’s
had a flu bug sweep through the team, which affected among others Dominique
Sardo, the Knight’s leading scorer and generally considered to be one of
the San Diego Section’s better players.
The Islanders dashed off to a 5-0 lead in the first
quarter and we’ll turn the narrative over to Coronado Head Coach Dave Throop.
“The quick start allowed us to control the tempo of the game and allowed us to
substitute more liberally. We won 9-2 with Ashley Young scoring three
goals, Carly Hoshko with two, with one goal each coming from Hannah
Sebenaler, Sabrina Anonas and Maddie Murphy. In the big picture,
this puts the girls in the driver’s seat for a Western League title, as well as
the No. 1 seed in Division II come playoff time. I see this game as the second
of three potential matchups with Bishop’s, with the last meeting coming in the
CIF finals.”
Then Coronado
was off to the SoCal Championship Tournament, a 32-team affair that is the
final tournament of the regular season and hosted by Irvine
High School. “Our goal going in to
the tournament was to have an opportunity to play five great games,” said
Throop. “We played Canyon High
School in our first game Thursday, and we won the
game 10-4, but lost a valuable substitute in Kathryn Bailey to an
aggravated back. Sebenaler, Anonas and sophomore Sidney Hoshko scored
two goals each, along with single goals from Aly Rodgers, Hillary Estrada,
Carly Hoshko and Kelly Ronimus, who also had four steals to lead the
team in that department.”
The second SoCal game was a 10-7 victory over highly
ranked Laguna Beach. Sebenaler led
the Islanders with four goals and Lenea Smith joined the Islander
scoring parade with a goal. Defensively, Ashley Young grabbed four steals and
goalie Alex Adamson contributed 12 saves.
“Friday we met up with powerhouse Newport
Harbor,” Throop added. “They are
ranked No. 2 in the Division I Southern Section. Truthfully we were outmatched
as Newport was playing well and
went on to win the tournament. We were shorthanded with Burgess and Bailey
being out with injuries. In the game Sebenaler was lost to fouls and Carly
Hoshko was limited due to shoulder soreness. Down three starters and one key
substitute, against a good senior-laden team such as Newport,
the girls never gave in. We lost 7-3 and were lead by Young who had two goals
and five steals. Sebenaler had the other goal. Adamson had nine saves,
including a penalty shot. Our underclassmen did a great job with expanded roles
and playing time against a very good team.”
Then it was on to Saturday, with the first game of the
day being a 9-2 loss to Los Alamitos. Aly Rodgers and Hillary Estrada accounted
for the Coronado goals.
Saturday’s second game was against Villa Park
for seventh place in the tournament. Villa Park earlier
defeated Coronado 9-8 in the first
round of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions. In the rematch, Coronado
prevailed 6-5 on single goals from Young, Sebenaler, Smith, Murphy, Anonas and
Ronimus. Adamson was credited with nine saves and one steal. Young and
Sebenaler had three steals each. Ashley Young was named to the All-tournament
Team.
“It was a great experience for us to play the kind of
competition we did over the course of the week,” Throop said. “We got much,
much better due to the experience and we look forward to the upcoming final
week of the regular season. We have two Western League games and our season
finale against Foothill High
School on Friday night.”
Islander
Girls Soccer Draws With Cathedral
Cathedral Catholic’s Girls Soccer Team is ranked No. 2 in
San Diego County
by “The San Diego Union Tribune,” and carries an overall record of 15-3-4. None of that seemed to daunt
the Islanders in the least last Monday as they played the Dons to a 1-1 draw in
their Western League home contest.
“It was a very good game,” said Head Coach Kiko Medina.
“On our goal, we built out of the back and found center midfielder Callie
Caldwell, who found Cassie Callahan. She had tons of space and hit a
25 or 30-yard shot and tucked it under the crossbar. We had talked about
shooting from the outside and the first chance we had, we took it and made it.
We defended really well and played a different style.”
The different style involved playing two forwards instead
of the three Coronado usually employs. That change allowed the Islanders to use five
midfielders instead of four.
“That seemed to frustrate Cathedral,” Medina
said of the Islander’s game strategy. “It didn’t leave any channels for them to
expose, which worked out. They got their goal with 14 or 15 minutes to go in
the game. We had a little mental mistake and left their biggest threat on set
pieces open. Other than that, we played extremely well defensively. Andrea
Davis made a huge save late to secure the game for us. Cathedral is
undefeated in league and for us to step up and play to our potential was a good
confidence booster for us.”
Unfortunately during the height of the season there is
always another game to play and the second game of the week took place on a
bumpy grass field at University City.
“It was a Tale of Two Cities,” said Medina,
going for the rare Dickensian soccer metaphor. “We had a couple of days of
light training sessions because we were beat up from Monday night against
Cathedral. We lost the game 2-1 and again we had our chances. Their keeper came
up huge quite a bit, but we didn’t take advantage of our breakaways and shots
within the 18-foot area.”
This week the Islanders (8-5-6, and 1-3-3
in the Western League) travel to Christian Tuesday and Thursday night host La
Jolla, currently ranked No. 6 in the U-T poll, at 6 pm. “It’s Senior
Night Thursday and we’re hoping for a good performance and a good crowd,” Medina
added.
Coronado
Boys Soccer Ranked No. 8 in San Diego
Section
The CHS Boys Soccer Team, currently ranked No. 8 in
“The San Diego Union-Tribune’s” Writer’s Poll, had their unusual result in
their first game of the week against Hoover.
“Just when you thought you have seen it all in soccer,” Head Coach Brian
Hiatt-Aleu said, “you see this.”
Coronado
raced to a 3-0 lead at halftime and then the wheels fell off of the Coronado
victory wagon. “We were nice and comfortable and then everything fell apart
piece by piece,” Hiatt-Aleu added. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
We had a complete breakdown all over the field. Our own mistakes very early in
the second half cost us. They punished us and didn’t miss one shot. The
momentum swung to them real quickly. It was definitely a humbling experience
for everyone there.”
Despite goals from Charlie Wood, Austen Speer, Dan
Ross and Arturo Valle, the Islanders fell to Hoover 5-4. If both
Coronado and Hoover win their final two regular season league games, that will
set up a playoff game for the league title between the two squads.
Coronado’s
second game of the week was also strange, but in a much better way. Playing at Lincoln
High School Friday afternoon, the
Islanders and the Hornets were scoreless at halftime. Then the offensive
floodgates opened for Coronado and
the Islanders emerged with a 6-0 victory. Connor Marcone scored twice
and single tallies came from Christian Herrera, Michael Gasparro, Wood
and Valle.
All of this action from last week makes Coronado
10-3-3 overall and 8-1-1 in the Central League.
“Clairemont (at 4:30 pm Wednesday at
Coronado) will be a strong game,” Medina
said. “It’s always a one-goal game or a tie with them. We won in the last
minute at their place earlier in the year. If we perform well, we’ll come out
on top.” The Islanders conclude their week Friday at Christian, a contest that
will begin at 3 pm.
Super Bowl
Reflections
Honesty compels me to report I entered Super Bowl LXII
quietly rooting for the New England Patriots for the simple reason that
perfection is rarely attained in sports or in life. I’m not a big fan of
Patriot Head Coach Bill Belichick and if I don’t ever see New England
quarterback Tom Brady or his girl friend of the moment Giselle
Bundchen on my television again, (maybe that sweeping statement doesn’t
have to include Giselle) that’s fine also.
After watching every play of the game, less a couple of
downs missed while retrieving chips and guacamole from the kitchen, I
thoroughly enjoyed the game for the first time in several years. With no horse
in the race, (no rooting interest) other than New England’s
quest for the NFL Holy Grail, it was fun to watch the game unfold.
The question has since been asked by the sports pundits
whether the now famous 32-yard pass from Giant quarterback Eli Manning
to receiver David Tyree was a better play by Manning or Tyree. Granted
Manning magically eluded three Patriot linemen, all of whom had extreme malice
on their minds. But Tyree’s leaping catch while being assaulted by safety Rodney
Harrison, pinning the football to his helmet as he fell to the ground
and retaining possession, has to be one of the best big game, big plays in
sports ever. Quarterbacks elude linemen on a daily basis, but catches like that
happen, well never.
Aside from the Manning to Tyree connection, the next most
impressive outing in SB XLII was turned in by the Giants defensive line. New
England pursued perfection in their first 18 games by keeping
Brady well protected, which allowed him time to pick apart opposing defenses.
Brady watched most of Sunday’s game literally from ground level, as the Giants
defensive pressure was relentless.
As a writer, or blogger, or announcer, or someone said
recently, “Finally a Super Bowl where the game was better than the
commercials.” Aside from the Budweiser Clydesdale being trained for greater
glory by the Budweiser Dalmatian advertisement, I would agree.
ISF –
Coronado Middle School Spring Sports Registration Date Set
Today, 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.
