Nado Natterings Back to Islandersports
A weekly column by David Axelson

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

27 Feb 2008 Issue No. 8

Coronado High School’s Girls Water Polo Team accomplished one of the toughest feats in sports Saturday night in the CIF Division II championship game, defeating their arch rivals The Bishop’s School for the third time in the same season. The Islanders superior depth of talent was the deciding factor in the 8-6 victory, which allowed Coronado to claim both the Boys and Girls CIF Water Polo titles simultaneously for the first time since the 1998-99 school year.

After losing the first two games by a combined score of 18-6, Bishop’s needed to take another tactical approach to the title game, an approach which unfortunately included overly aggressive and physical play. CHS Head Coach Dave Throop elaborated on the Knight’s game plan. “Going into the game, we anticipated that our opponent would try to physically intimidate our team, as well as to deny Hannah Sebenaler any chance of scoring, and that we couldn’t count on the referees to assist us. It took a while, until the second half actually, to settle down and adjust, but I thought we did a nice job making those adjustments.”

The ‘depth of talent’ concept manifested itself in the early going in the game which were played at the Coggan Family Pool in La Jolla, as sophomore driver Kelly Ronimus scored the contest’s first two goals, both on assists from Alana Burgess. For most of the season, Ronimus has been assigned to defend the opposing team’s best perimeter shooter, and she found herself the beneficiary of the defensive double team placed on Sebenaler. To her credit, Ronimus rose to the occasion and gave Coronado a 2-0 lead with 5:14 left in the second quarter.

The Knights scored 23 seconds later to make the score 2-1. Coronado’s Lenea Smith found the back of the net at the 3:37 mark, which proved to be important because Bishop’s scored twice to conclude the half and even the score at 3-3. At that point the momentum had changed and it was anybody’s game.

Two minutes into the second half, Islander sophomore Ashley Young scored on a great individual effort. Seemingly in one split second and in one motion, Young stole a pass from the Bishop’s goalie, shot the ball and scored.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen that happen in a game,” said Throop of Young’s standout’s play. “She’s the kind of player that makes things happen. She’s a ‘100 percent, motor-running all the time,’ type of player. Every game she scores a goal in some random manner like that. She does that kind of stuff in practice all the time.”

The Knights answered three minutes later to tie the score, but the Islanders went on a three-goal scoring binge  that clinched the game. With 2:03 remaining in the third quarter, Sabrina Anonas scored on an assist from Sebenaler, which gave the Islanders a lead they would never relinquish.

A sequence of plays at the end of the third quarter proved pivotal in the contest. With 37 seconds remaining, Islander goalie Alex Adamson made a save on a point blank Bishop’s shot attempt, followed immediately by another shot which hit the junior net minder directly and squarely in the face. Credited with nine saves in the game, none were more important or likely as painful.

Coronado earned an ejection at the other end of the pool and Hillary Estrada converted a scoring attempt from a Smith assist to give the Islanders a 6-4 lead at the conclusion of the third frame. The teams traded goals the rest of the way, with Burgess scoring with 5:00 left in the game and Young converting on an attempt from Burgess’ third assist of the game with 3:14 remaining in the championship game.

Two relatively rare double ejections occurred in the game’s final minutes as the game officials attempted too late to restore order to the contest.

Fittingly, Ronimus made a steal in the final seconds to conclude the game. By this time, the Islander players were spaced throughout the pool to maintain possession and wind the clock down to a successful conclusion for Coronado.

“Just prior to the game I told the girls that what it takes to be a championship team is that everyone plays to their strengths and their roles,” Throop said. “Individually, I thought Sebenaler handled the adversity like a pro and it was a compliment to her that she did what we asked, understanding that for her to be targeted only opened up her teammates that much more. Carly Hoshko on defense, Sabrina Anonas positionally and Alana Burgess played extremely well. Our sophomores (Ronimus, Young and Estrada) were tremendous in stepping up when needed. Alex Adamson was exceptional in goal, as she needed to be.”

When you add in the fact the Coronado defeated the CIF Division I champion Vista High School team 11-3 in the finals of the America’s Finest City Tournament, the Islanders can rightfully lay claim to being San Diego County’s No. 1 team, regardless of division.

Boys Soccer Team Heads to CIF Semi-Finals

Sports can be both strange and funny. Last week the Islander Boys Soccer Team began their defense of their CIF title, sort of. In 2007 Coronado won the CIF Division III title and for 2008 they have taken residence in Division IV. As the No. 1 seed, they have home field advantage until the finals are played at San Marcos High School this coming Saturday.

For the first half of their cross-division title defense against No. 16 seed Imperial (3-17-2), the Islanders were having trouble with virtually every aspect of their game. Clearly this squad didn’t resemble the team that won the Central League title and compiled a fine record of 11-3-4 in the process.

Islander Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu provided a theory on his team’s first half woes. “It was the fear of being the No. 1 seed and being the defending CIF champion. It was the fear of losing, instead of knowing our strengths and having a winning mentality.”

Despite not performing well and playing to their opponent’s level in the first 40 minutes of play, Coronado took a 2-1 lead into halftime. In the second half the Islanders regained their confidence and rolled to a 6-1 victory. Two goals were scored by both Kramer De Laurentis and Peter Kittiyasawadi, with single goals from Charlie Wood and Alex (Big Boy) Schudel. Normally nicknames aren’t employed in this column, but most of the boys soccer community knows the muscular Schudel only as ‘Big Boy,’ so they need to know who factored in the scoring column.

Saturday night the ‘strange’ element entered into the equation as Holtville arrived for their quarter-final tilt nattily attired in all-white uniforms. The only problem with that concept is that as the higher seed and as the home team, Coronado was entitled to wear their all-white ensembles.

Having been around athletics and athletes for much of my life, mystical powers are sometimes accorded to uniforms in sports. Baseball gods, soccer gods, and basketball gods to name a few, can all be offended by changing, washing or altering game uniforms.

Holtville should have taken another approach if they wanted to mess with the Coronado Boys Soccer Team, who used the fact that they had to change into their green tops as an affront to their collective dignity. And the attempted mind games by Holtville didn’t do much for Coronado’s  head coach either.

“It’s common courtesy to let us know if you’re going to wear white,” said a still miffed Hiatt-Aleu, 24 hours after the fact. “I took the boys inside (to the locker room) and they were fuming. They gave use a huge wake up call. We came out fast and had one of the best halves we have had all year. We did all the right things. We defended well, we were assertive in our attack, we were first to every ball and we beat them in every aspect of the game. I was very happy with them after the game. The biggest difference between the games was our mentality and our approach.”

And let’s add, don’t mess with our couture.

The final score was 4-0 Coronado, with Alex Valle providing a hat trick (three goals), and one score coming from Dan Ross. Goalie Jeff Bucklew was credited with the shutout.

The twin victories set up a semi-final game Wednesday night as the Islanders host Mater Dei at 7 pm. “They have always been a very strong Division IV team,” said Hiatt-Aleu of the No. 4 seed. “They seem to be among the Top 4 seeded teams every year. If we play to our potential, we should be ok. Saturday could be anybody’s game if we make it through.”

Should the Islanders advance, they will play the winner of the La Jolla Country Day vs. Bishop’s semi-final. The finals will be held Saturday at noon at San Marcos High School.

Girls Soccer Team Reaches Semi-Finals in Division IV

With considerably less drama than their male counterparts, the No. 3 seeded CHS Girls Soccer Team reached the CIF Division IV semi-finals with two victories and didn’t yield a goal in the process.

The week started with an improbable trip to No. 14 seed Mountain Empire, a trip made necessary due to the fact that the Redhawks were the champions of their league and had the right to host a home game. The Islanders got over that real or imagined slight pretty quickly as they dominated their hosts 7-0.

The contest also yielded one of the more interesting box score references of the winter sports season as junior Andrea Davis was credited with two goals scored and half of a shutout along with fellow goalie Kaitlyn Mehrwerth. In other words, if your starting goalie is tickling the twine twice as a field player, the rout is on. Other Coronado goal scoring efforts included two tallies from Mallory Mitchell, two from Kaitlyn Couture, and one from Colleen Burns.

“We were lucky enough to get Andrea on the field in the second half,” said Head Coach Kiko Medina. “It was exciting for her. I gave some of my forwards some grief that she was on the field for 40 minutes and scored twice. And it’s nice in a CIF game, no matter who the opponent is, to have two freshmen (Mitchell and Couture) step up and put goals in.”

Friday night’s quarter-final was settled in a little more routine fashion as the Islanders defeated Christian 2-0. Mackenzie Coutts scored in the opening minutes of play on a direct kick from 25 yards out. “That goal was as big and huge as you can get,” said Medina of the Coutts score. “That was the first time we scored off of a set piece all year and to have it happen early in the game, I couldn’t be any happier.”The second Islander goal came 11 minutes into the second half on a header by Burns from an assist by Leah Hatheway.

The prettiest goal of the night was one that was negated by a phantom offside call by the game referee. Couture scored on a cross from Coutts that was artfully done. “That is something we worked on all season and we executed very well,” Medina said. “I honestly don’t know how they could call offsides.”

With their two victories, the Islanders advance to the semi-finals Tuesday night at No. 2 seeded Francis Parker, with the game to be played at 6 pm. Should Coronado advance, they will play the winner of the Bishop’s vs. Santa Fe Christian semi-final. The Division IV finals are to be played at 2 pm Saturday, immediately after the Division IV boys final, at San Marcos High School. “Hopefully things will go well,” said Medina. “That would make for an exciting day for Coronado.”

Islander Girls Basketball Beats Palo Verde, Then Loses in Quarter-Finals

It was a week of peaks and valleys for the CHS Girls Basketball Team. The peak would have been the Islanders 47-41 victory over a determined squad from Palo Verde High School, in a game that saw five ties and 14 lead changes.

Palo Verde, which is located in Blythe and is 220 miles door-to-door from Coronado, drove for four hours to get to the game. The game was perhaps made more competitive by the fact that senior Islander shooting guard Bria Phillips rolled her right ankle in practice the day prior to the game. “She made a great effort on one leg,” said Head Coach Toler Goodwin.

Phillips in fact scored 10 points, dished out four assists and committed seven steals to help the Islanders earn the hard-fought victory. Three of her steals came in the final 5 minutes of play and a Phillips jumper with 5:14 to play gave Coronado a lead they would not relinquish.

Senior post player Arrielle Luna turned in a monster game with 10 points and 17 rebounds. She added two assists, two steals and a blocked shot to complete a fine statistical line for the game.

Senior point guard Tiffany Depfer also played well with 13 points, five assists, four steals and a blocked shot.

The Islanders leading scorer was junior post Angela Strohbeck, who scored 14 points, showcasing a fine mid-range jump shot several times in the game. Strohbeck added four rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocked shots. Only four Coronado players scored in the game and all were in double figures.

The valley came Saturday night at Mater Dei High School (21-5) as the Islanders fell to the No. 3 seed by the score of 57-28. Coincidentally the same four players scored for Coronado (19-10), with Phillips leading the way with 10 and Depfer adding nine points.

According to Goodwin, the game turned was decided in the third quarter, which found the Islanders outscored 20-1. “It was awful. We didn’t take care of the basketball. We came out in the third quarter and turned it over the first four times we had the ball. Defensively we played really well. They have some good athletes. We gave up close to 30 points in transition from turnovers. We didn’t play that badly. We just had a horrific quarter.”

The loss was the final high school game for the firm of Phillips, Depfer and Luna, who collectively represented Coronado well during their careers.

Boys Basketball Loses First Round Game

The Islanders Boys Basketball Team (13-10) drew the No. 9 seed in Division IV, which allowed them to head off on a 120-mile jaunt of their own Tuesday night to play Imperial (19-7), the No. 3 seed. The result was a 64-50 loss, which eliminated the Islanders from the playoffs.

Junior center Justin Parsons led the way for the Islanders against the Tigers with 17 points, followed by Krishna Samperio with 12. Point guard Matt Fowler scored eight points, with Cole McLean adding six more.

The Islanders made great strides as a team from the beginning of the season to the end, under the direction of first year head coach Ken Caesar.

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.