Nado Natterings Back to Islandersports
A weekly column by David Axelson

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

20 Feb 2008 Issue No. 7

As has been the tradition in recent years at Coronado High School, all five of the Islander winter sports teams earned slots in their respective CIF post season playoffs.

Leading the way in terms of their progress through the postseason is The Girls Water Polo Team, as the No. 1 seed in CIF Division II has already played two contests in what hopefully will be a successful four-game playoff run. In water polo, only the first round playoff game is played at the home of the higher seed, thus the No. 16 seeded Mission Bay Buccaneers made their way to the Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Center on Valentine’s Day.

Head Coach Dave Throop sent an all-senior class lineup into the fray with field players Sabrina Anonas, Alana Burgess, Carly Hoshko, Aly Rodgers, Hannah Sebenaler and Lenea Smith joined by the lone starting junior in the contest, goalie Alex Adamson.  “That group of players has been together for a long time, dating back to middle school for some and even as early as elementary school for others,” said Throop. “As this game was going to be the last home game of their high school careers, it was nice to see them play together as a unit one last time. However, being up 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, their playing time, as well as the time of the core playing nucleus, was minimal. They were all dry by halftime.”

In preparation for the playoffs Throop activated four members from the JV training group to add to the depth at the varsity level. Joining in the playoff festivities were freshmen Brooke Bernardy (goalie) and Shelby Couture (center) and sophomores Natalie Stringer (defender) and driver Megan Meloche. Just a guess here, but the Bucs probably didn’t relish the sight of approximately 20 talented water polo players jumping at the chance to dominate them in the pool.

With the starters trying to keep warm during the second half, Throop’s ‘unsung heroes’ jumped into action. “Tenth grader Sidney Hoshko led the team in scoring with three goals, while fellow sophomores Hilary Hansen, Stringer, Meloche and goalie Colleen Moore contributed to our defensive efforts,” Throop said. “Couture played tremendous minutes at the center position and Hannah Green played exceptionally well in an expanded role. Bernardy heard the Hoffmanesque call of ‘Hell’s Bells’ and closed out the game for the final four minutes.”

The result of all of that was a 16-5 victory by Coronado, earning them a trip to La Jolla to face the No. 8 seed Serra in the quarter-finals. Seeding position apparently isn’t reflected in the final scores of playoff games this year as Coronado hung a 17-0 bagel (tennis term for a shutout) on the Conquistadors. The Islander goalie tandem of Adamson and Moore faced a total of three shots on goal for the entire game.

“Ashley Young led all scorers with four goals in limited playing time,” recounted Throop. “Sabrina Anonas had three goals, while Hoshko, Maddie Murphy and Hillary Estrada had two goals each. Sebenaler, (one goal, three assists), Burgess (one goal, five assists), Kelly Ronimus (one goal, one assist), Hansen (one goal and one steal) and Green (one steal) all made the official stat sheet.”

Wednesday at 5:45 pm, the Islanders return to the La Jolla Coggan Family Pool to face, La Jolla High School in the semi-finals, with one ultimate goal in mind, according to Throop. “We’ve stressed all season that our goal is to return to the championships and we feel we are right on track. The girls have been working extremely hard and have been focused all year on preparing to play at our best in our final contest. It’s bittersweet to think that the season is almost over, and that the seniors will be moving on, but our focus as a team is that we have two more opportunities to play at a high level and two more opportunities to be together.”

Boys Soccer Earns Division IV No. 1 Seed

Only in the confusing world of the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body of prep sports in California, can the defending Division III Boys Soccer champion, in this case the Coronado Islanders, be the No. 1 seed in Division IV the following year. High schools are added and subtracted on an annual basis and enrollments change, thus the movement within divisions. Instead of being the smallest school in Division III in 2007, Coronado is now the second largest school in Division IV in 2008.

Coronado, with a nifty record of 11-3-4 and the Central League title under their collective belts, earned the No. 1 seed this season. As such, they will host Imperial (3-17-2) Wednesday at 5 pm for their first round game. If form holds, the Islanders will host the winner of the Christian (3-13-1) vs. Holtville (14-8-1) on Saturday night at 6 pm. Holtville defeated Christian during the regular season and Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu expects to see Holtville emerge from their game.

Last week Coronado didn’t have any regular season games scheduled, so they ran every day and worked to get better heading into the playoff stretch drive. “We had a real hard week of practice,” said Hiatt-Aleu. “We did some fun things as well. We want to get as prepared for the next two weeks as we can. Get focused, sharp and fine tune some things.”

When asked if the Division IV seeding surprised him at all, Hiatt-Aleu replied, “There were three teams with better records than we had. The tradition of the program weighed a little bit in our favor. The strength of schedule and the reputation we have now over the last four or five years helped. It’s good to think we have home field advantage all through the playoffs.”Rounding out the Top 4 seeds are No. 2 La Jolla Country Day, No. 3 Bishop’s, and No. 4 Mater Dei.

The ironic part of the current season is that all three of Coronado’s losses have come at home. The playoff format is Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday and Saturday, with the finals slated for noon, March 1 at San Marcos High school.

Hiatt-Aleu likes his club’s chances in the playoffs this season. “With all of our seniors coming back from last year, their experience will help us this year.”

Islander Girls Soccer Hits the Road Despite No. 3 Seed

Without a doubt the worst playoff hand was dealt to the CHS Girls Soccer Team. Their participation in the brutally tough Western League earned them a well-deserved No. 3 seed, meaning they should play their first couple of games at home.

Except that the No. 14 seed and Coronado’s first round opponent Mountain Empire was the champion of their league, which by CIF rules means they host a first round home playoff game. So Tuesday the Islanders will trundle off to Mountain Empire for a 3:30 pm game.

“How bad is it that we get matched up with a league champion,” Islander Head Coach Kiko Medina asked rhetorically. “If we win, we will host the quarter-final against the winner of the Calvary Christian vs. Christian game. If Christian wins, that means we will have to play and beat Christian for the third time this year.”

Providing the Islanders with some momentum entering the post season was their well-timed 1-0 victory over Our Lady of Peace in the final regular season game for both teams. “That was a nice win and it was a game where we played well,” Medina said. “However, we are not finishing easy opportunities. Our goal was a gutsy effort from Kaitlyn Couture. She put her head down and battled the OLP girl for 10 yards, with the defender pulling her shirt and trying to take her down. I honestly don’t know how she got it in. She got a toe on it and surprised their keeper and we walked away with the win.”

Medina continued to elaborate on the victory. “Overall everyone had a good game. We learned our lesson from the last time we played them with their offside trap. We could have been a little sharper, but we definitely needed that win going into the CIFs.”

The bad news is that the team isn’t completely healthy as starting center midfielder Brianna Baszak will likely miss the balance of the playoffs, with what has been diagnosed as a torn meniscus. “That will definitely hurt us,” said Medina of Baszak’s absence. “We’re deep, but having a starter who has been that big of a factor for us this season to be out, puts pressure on some of the other girls to get it done.”

If form holds, the Islanders will play their quarter-final playoff game at Niedermeyer Field Friday at 7 pm.

Girls Basketball Gets No. 6 Seed in Division IV

Islander Head Coach Toler Goodwin had a good handle on the Division IV playoff seedings in girls’ basketball heading into the final week of play. He figured Coronado would be No. 6 and that is the slot they earned. As co-champion of the Central League, and as the higher seed, Coronado will host Palo Verde Wednesday night at 7 pm.

“Palo Verde finished second in their league,” said Goodwin. “The last couple of years they have won their league, but they graduated some of their kids. They usually have a couple of kids who can play. They do a decent job and shoot the three-pointer a little bit. We’re going to have to compete. We should be in a position where we can win the game, but it’s not going to be similar to some of our league games where we ran away and hid.”

Speaking of which, the Islanders sprinted to the regular season finish line with a 59-10 win over Madison and a 53-12 victory against Christian. “We closed out and finished in a tie with Crawford,” said Goodwin of the Central League title chase. “In both games we kept rotating people around and everybody got an opportunity to play. We’ve done everything we can to put the kids in good position to be successful. We’ll see what happens from here.”

Islander senior shooting guard Bria Phillips reached a milestone in the Christian game, as she scored the 1,000^th point of her high school career. Phillips, who will play lacrosse at the University of Maryland at Baltimore next year, scored roughly 400 of her points in her first two seasons of play at Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor, Washington. She scored right at 300 points in each of her two seasons at Coronado High School.

The Islanders will be without the services of post player Emily Bell in the playoffs, as the junior aggravated a back injury incurred during her sophomore season. “Emily was making strides and doing some good things for us,” Goodwin said. “She gave us scoring opportunities on the offensive end of the floor and she worked hard on the defensive end.”

The prognosis is better for junior guard Natalie Brooks, who missed the last week with stiffness in her ankle. “Natalie hurt her ankle in the first half of the Crawford game,” Goodwin explained. “We’re hoping to get a look at her in practice Monday and to be able to play her moving forward through the playoffs. We have seven players with varsity experience.”

If the Islanders win their first round game, they will travel to Mater Dei Saturday (formerly Marian Catholic) and play the No. 3 seed at 7 pm.

Boys Basketball to Travel to Imperial Tuesday

The final piece to the playoff puzzle for the CHS  winter sports teams is the Boys Basketball Team, which earned the No. 9 seed when the Division IV pairings were announced Saturday. A total of 12 teams made the playoffs, with the Top 4 seeds receiving first round byes. The Islanders will travel to Imperial Tuesday for a 7 pm game.

“Those guys are a short, scrappy team,” said Islander Head Coach Ken Caesar. “We’re going to extend our defense and make them drive. On offense, we’re going to run early, throw it in the post and see what happens. They have a guy who averages 15 points a game, another who averages 10 and a 6-5 guy who averages nine points a game. We’ll play loose and give them a shot.”

To conclude the regular season, Coronado split their final two games. The early game last week was a 62-52 victory over Madison, which featured a 28-point effort from Dallas Taylor and another 16 points from center Justin Parsons. “Dallas was on fire,” said Caesar of the senior shooting guard. “He hit four or five threes and was 6-6 from the free throw line. He played really well and Matt Fowler played really well.”

The game had several twists and turns before the Islanders grabbed the win, according to Caesar. “We were up by 17 points against Madison and they came back in the fourth quarter and went up by two. Instead of calling timeout, we let them play through it so they would understand the situation.”

In the final game of the regular season, Coronado traveled to Christian and ran into the hot shooting hand of Patriot point guard Dan Hazlett. “We went into a triangle and two on those guys,” Caesar said of Hazlett and Christian’s 6-8 center Vander Joaquim, a native of Angola. “We had a guy at the free throw line and two guys on the blocks. Parsons guarded the big guy straight up and Blake Malkemus was on Hazlett. He made shots you would not believe, including some NBA threes (23 feet, nine inches). It was ridiculous, he nailed everything. Blake was our leading scorer that night (12 points) and he also guarded Hazlett.”

Caesar hoped that by defeating Madison earlier in the week that the Islanders’ seed might improve, but that was not to be the case. Coronado finished the regular season with a 13-9 record.

CHS Track Info

CHS Head Track and Field Coach George Green  passes along a reminder that it’s not too late to come out for the Islander Track Team this season. Practices will be held after school at the CHS track, starting Monday, Feb. 18 at 3 pm.

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.