Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

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

28 Jan 2009 Issue #4

Last week during our time together, it was noted that the Coronado High School Girls Water Polo Team had experienced a rare losing week. This momentary setback was due in part to the tough competition they faced at the Santa Barbara Invitational Tournament.

One week later, the Islanders turned things around quite nicely, thank you, by winning their own America’s Finest City Tournament. This was a five-game, two-day effort that included defeating the reigning No. 1 Division I team in the CIF San Diego Section, Vista, by the convincing score of 10-4.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s return to the beginning of the tournament, which was a 14-2 victory over Valhalla. Shelby Couture and Kathryn Bailey led the scoring for Coronado with three goals each, followed by two tallies each from Ashley Young, Kelly Ronimus and Hillary Estrada. Sidney Hoshko and Natalie Stringer rounded out the scoring with one goal each. Colleen Moore was credited with the complete game victory in goal and stopped nine shots from Valhalla.

The second of the two round robin bracket games was against Malibu and they didn’t fare much better than the folks from Valhalla, falling 16-6 to Coronado. Young proved to be the person to have on your prep water polo fantasy league team last Friday as she scored six goals, dished out four assists and committed three steals. Bailey was Scottie Pippen to Young’s Michael Jordan in this contest, adding four goals to Coronado’s scoring ledger. Maddie Murphy and Ronimus added two goals apiece, with Estrada and Michelle Carroll adding a goal each.

With the round robin pool play behind them, it was time for Coronado to enter quarter-final play, where they found Ventura, ranked No. 10 in Division I of the CIF Southern Section. Young, who went on to earn MVP honors in the tourney, was again Jordanesque, this time with four goals, three assists and two steals. Estrada proved the game wasn’t new to her either with three goals and three steals. Murphy supplied two goals and two assists and Ronimus added a sextuplet of steals (Clearly Coronado Head Coach Dave Throop, who we will hear from shortly, has discovered the thesaurus button in his Windows software) to lead the defense. Goalie Alex Adamson earned six saves and contributed three assists and Coronado won 11-7.

Adamson, who recently agreed to matriculate to Michigan, showed why she earned Tourney Top Goalie honors in the semi-final game against Tesoro High School, also ranked in Division I of the Southern Section. She stopped 15 shots, made two steals and provided an assist. Bailey scored four goals, Estrada added three, while Ronimus added two goals, four steals and an assist. Young added a goal and four assists and single goals were also turned in by Murphy, Hoshko and Couture. Coronado won 13-7, advancing to the tournament final.

Determining the best water polo team in the San Diego Section has always been easy for me. It was simply the question of who has the best team between Coronado and The Bishop’s School in any given year. Although both schools have long toiled in Division II, which is for schools for smaller enrollments, they continue to dominate the sport of water polo, both boys and girls, year after year. Apparently others disagree, because Vista entered the tournament with the No. 1 overall ranking in the section.

Well, that concept didn’t last long as Coronado, behind nine more saves from Adamson and three goals each from Young and Estrada, dominated Vista 10-4. Rounding out the scoring for Coronado was Bailey with two goals, and Ronimus and Murphy with one goal each.

Coach Throop was pleased with the turnaround from last week to this. “The tournament came at just the right time and allowed us to gain a little confidence and show some improvement in different aspects of our game. We had three players recognized for All-Tournament honors in Hillary Estrada, Top Goalie Alex Adamson and MVP Ashley Young. However, I saw some outstanding play from Kathy Bailey, Kelly Ronimus and Maddie Murphy and they could just as easily been recognized.

Goalie Colleen Moore has continued to show incredible improvement. Michelle Carroll and Sidney Hoshko are proving their value, both as defenders and while contributing on the offensive end. The growth of some of our role players in Shelby Couture, Kaylee Ginnane, Hannah Green and Natalie Stringer has really been impressive.”

Throop discussed the reality of CIF Division I vs. Division II, at least in San Diego. “We’re excited to play a team such as Vista in the finals, though in the end, it was a game more for bragging rights between the two divisions in San Diego, than anything substantive. We’re happy to have won the tournament, but more importantly we’re happy that we’re playing much looser and playing better. We have a long way to go in our improvement as a team and this was a nice step in that direction.”

Tuesday of this week it’s Round II of Coronado vs. Bishop’s, this time at Bishop’s. Wednesday Coronado hosts Cathedral Catholic. The Bishop’s game is at 3:15 pm, while the home game against Cathedral is at 3 pm.

CHS Girls Soccer Notches Two Strong Western League Victories

In Girls Soccer in San Diego, the Western League is about as good as it gets. In past years Coronado has found itself in the middle of the pack in league and then gone on to win or at least compete strongly for the Division IV title.

Sports are cyclical and CIF division assignments are seemingly ethereal (yup, my thesaurus link works too) with the Islanders being bumped up into Division III this year. And while we’re at it, Coronado is in the running for a Western League title as well.

Last week was a good one for the Islanders as they defeated La Jolla 3-0 at home, a victory which Islander Head Kiko Medina called “Probably the best game I’ve seen this team play since I’ve been with the program. We knew we had to be a little more physical. Technically we play well, but sometimes we have trouble matching the technical game with the physical game. La Jolla is extremely explosive, so for us to stop them was really amazing.

Against La Jolla, goals were scored by Lauren Tobin, Alana Pokorny and Mallory Mitchell. Coach Medina was effusive in his praise of Mitchell, his sophomore right outside midfielder. “She has been playing unbelievably well for us. She probably has 12 assists this season. She attacks and we are able to get behind defenders because of her. She’s doing exactly what we need and more.”

But as good as the offense has been, the play or series of plays of the game against La Jolla was turned in by goalie Andrea Davis. “She saved the initial penalty kick,” said Medina recalling the action. “And then she saved the rebound shot. She made three saves in a row on the ground. It was unbelievable. She played the whole and got the shutout.”

Another important win came against the Academy of Our Lady of Peace Wednesday, this time by a 4-1 score. In this game, Mitchell and Tobin were joined by Allie Culora and Cassie Callahan in the scoring column. Davis and freshman Cory De Marco each played a half in goal.

Tobin, who Medina hoped a couple of weeks ago would use her two-goal game against San Dieguito as a break-out game, has done exactly that. “Tobin has been playing really well. She’s scoring goals. Everything we are putting together offensively, she is finishing for us, which makes a big difference.”

According to Medina, the Islanders are currently in second place in the Western League with six points, a scant point behind league leader University City. La Jolla also has six points, but Coronado holds the early season tie-breaker. Following La Jolla are Cathedral Catholic, Christian and OLP.

This week Coronado hosts Cathedral Monday at 7 pm and travels to University City Friday for a 3 pm contest.

CHS Girls Soccer Fundraiser Slated for Feb. 6

A reminder that the Second Annual CHS Girls Soccer Golf Tournament fundraiser is scheduled for Friday, February 6^th, and will have a 12 noon shotgun start. The tournament will be played at the Sea N Air Golf Course at NAS North Island.

Fees are $100 per player or $400 per team. The tournament fee includes greens fees, golf cart, box lunch and a drink ticket. For more information please go to islandergirlssoccer.com.

Boys Soccer Posts Win and a Tie Last Week

A fortnight ago while reading the “San Diego Union-Tribune” sports section, a piece about the high school soccer referees strike leapt out at Your Natterer. The crux of the article was that since the county soccer referees were on strike, representatives of the Hoover athletic department, which are Boys soccer Central League rivals with Coronado, were assigning referees for games in which Hoover was playing.

Thinking to myself that nothing good will come of that concept, unfortunately two weeks later my fears came true in a Coronado game played at Hoover. Or to quote English Lord Acton from 1887, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (Google button works too.)

For those of you who know CHS Boys Soccer Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu, and I have known and covered Hiatt-Aleu’s teams for several years, he is uncommonly frank about his team’s perceived shortcomings, and willing to acknowledge if his team gets outplayed and the causes for same. To be honest, those are admirable traits in my book.

“We got hosed,” said Hiatt-Aleu of the referees in last Friday’s 1-1 draw at Hoover. “It was a nightmare. I knew this was going to happen. We’ve had our run-ins with Hoover before.”

Coronado held a 1-0 lead in the late stages of the game, which was inexplicably expanded by six minutes for extra or injury time. “There were no injuries or subs,” said Hiatt-Aleu of the second half of play. “Then the referees called a phantom foul and moved the ball 12 yards up the field (from the point of the foul). They scored on a free kick and then the game was over. The referees decided the game. They should let the kids decide the game. Our kids played well and deserved to win the game.”

In addition to the above, Coronado was on the receiving end of five yellow cards, while home field Hoover was not carded. “We have to win out and beat Hoover at our place,” said Hiatt-Aleu. “I hope they send us some neutral refs for that game. Connor Marcone played well and Patrick Toomey was our goalie for the whole game. Christian Herrera played well. We tied and it felt like a loss. Everybody wants to beat us. We’ve won our league three out of the last four years.”

On a more positive note, the Islanders, now 9-2-4, defeated Madison 1-0 earlier in the week a result that Hiatt-Aleu said was “Probably the game we played with the most intensity since the championship final game in our tournament against Carlsbad. We came out really, really strong and smothered the opposing team, which we needed to do. It was a pity we didn’t get more goals. We scored with 15 minutes to go on a goal by Eddie Ruiz. Sergio Duck got the shutout.”

When asked who stood out for his team against Madison, Hiatt-Aleu was quick to respond. “It was the whole team and they played a really, really strong game. It was an outstanding team effort. We had intensity from Peter Kittiaysawadi, Tommy Hart and Seth Willey and they pressured up and down the field. Madison couldn’t get out of their half. I was very happy with the performance.”

Monday night in a very physical contest, Coronado defeated Lincoln 2-1 at home to run their overall record to 9-2-4. Thursday Clairemont comes to Coronado for a Central League contest at 4:30 pm.

Girls Basketball Sandwiches Two Wins Around Disappointing Loss

First the bad news. Last Friday night at Clairemont, Coronado lost to the Chieftains 27-24. The Islanders scored their first point of the game with 2.4 seconds remaining in the first quarter, rallied in the second quarter to win that frame 12-4. Then they essentially reverted to their first quarter form. A relevant statistic is that Coronado had 10 more turnovers (36) than shot attempts (26).

So, we’ll go back farther in time and discuss last Tuesday’s home victory over Point Loma by the score of 34-29. Keep in mind that all three of these games are Central League contests and all have weighted value for post-season seeding purposes.

Maggie Harris led the Islanders with 12 points against Point Loma, followed by Cory De Marco and Angela Strohbeck with six points each, Coco Abrantes with five points, Peri Curtis with three and Delaney Luna with two.

Through literary license we can now skip ahead to Monday night’s home game against Central League leading Kearney, which until that point was unbeaten in league. So of course Coronado played hard and pulled out the victory to run their overall record to 8-6.The Islanders, employing an aggressive, switching 3-2 zone defense in the second quarter, held the Komets to just two points, winning the eight-minute stretch 8-2. Coronado lengthened their lead by a point in the third and won the fourth quarter 15-9 on their way to a decisive 39-24 victory.

If you had to pick one star of the game, it would likely be senior center Strohbeck who supplied 12 points and 13 rebounds in the middle. Another key role was played by freshman guard Curtis, who scored five points, snared 11 rebounds, committed two steals and blocked five shots. For good measure, Curtis helped fellow freshman and point guard De Marco with the backcourt ball handling duties, especially against Kearney’s late game press.

Freshman forward Abrantes tied Strohbeck with game-high scoring honors with 12 points and chipped in with five rebounds, including four on the offensive end of the floor. Harris added eight points, five defensive rebounds and two blocked shots. De Marco, who played a strong floor game against nearly constant defensive pressure, had two points, four rebounds, three steals, three assists and one blocked shot.

“Our next two games are huge,” said Head Coach Toler Goodwin. “We have a very physical team in Crawford at home Friday night (6 pm tip-off) and then we play Madison next week. We have been without Natalie Brooks for the last two weeks due to a concussion. We miss her ability to handle the ball, her scoring and additional size on the defensive end. She is another player that adds depth to our team in all areas of the game.”

Coaches Versus Cancer Girls Basketball Event in Coronado Saturday, Feb. 7

A reminder that the Coaches Versus Cancer girls basketball day-long event will be played at the Coronado High School Gymnasium Saturday, Feb. 7. The proceeds from the event will go to the V Foundation for cancer research, features seven games, all of which can be seen for a single $5 admission fee for adults and $3 for students.

Starting at 11 am, La Jolla plays Morse; at 12:30 pm Scripps Ranch plays Serra; at 2 pm Mission Bay plays Mira Mesa; at 3:30 pm Coronado plays Hoover; at 5 pm Santana plays San Marcos; at 6:30 pm San Diego takes on El Capitan and the finale is scheduled for 8 pm when The Bishop’s School plays Mt. Carmel.

That’s seven games for a total of $5, which benefits a great charity and a worthy cause.

Boys Basketball Goes 1-2 in Central League Play

If defensive hand-checking were an art form, then collectively the Kearney Boys Basketball team would be Rembrandt. The Komets rode an aggressive defense to a 56-50 victory over Coronado Monday night at the Blumenthal Sports Complex.

Seemingly the Islanders played from behind the entire game, but a 90-second stretch at the end of the third quarter, where Kearney expanded their lead from a mere two points to nine was critical. Coronado also had a scoreless stretch of four and one-half minutes in the middle of the fourth quarter that also proved to be pivotal to the result.

None of the above can diminish the stellar game turned in by senior center Krishna Samperio, who had 16 points and 15 rebounds, including nine offensive boards. Samperio was active in the lane the whole night for Coronado.

Other Islander contributors included Justin Hebner with 10 points, five rebounds and five assists; Danny Hebert with 11 points; and Brian Beverly with eight points and three steals.  Josh McNeal hit a long three-point shot for the Islanders at a critical juncture of the game, while Hunter Ralph added an acrobatic tip-in to round out the scoring.

The Islanders played the game without the services of either forward Brian Allen, who was out with the flu or starting center Justin Parsons, who has had recurring foot problems throughout the season.

In other Central League games since out last visit, Coronado lost on the road to Point Loma 64-52, despite 12 points each from Hebert and Blake Malkemus, while Allen and Chris Maskevich added six each.

The Islanders, now 12-10, earned their lone victory on the road Friday night in a 36-24 win over Clairemont. Allen led Coronado with eight points, while the Islanders dominated the second quarter 13-3 and the fourth frame 8-3 to grind out the victory.

Look for Islander Head Coach Ken Caesar to have his club more than ready for Friday night’s home game against Crawford. The Colts beat Coronado in the first Central League meeting between the two schools via the long distance three-pointers. Estimates of the number of jumpers that banked in from behind the three-point line vary depending on who is recounting the story, but suffice to say the Islanders are looking forward to the rematch. Tip-off, which will follow the Girls game against Crawford, will be at approximately 7:30 pm.

Save This Date for College Recruiting Presentation

By popular demand, the Islander Sports Foundation is bringing Jack Renkens and his ‘Recruiting Realities’ presentation back to Coronado Monday, March 23^rd at 7:30 pm. There will be no admission fee for the presentation, which will be paid for by the ISF and will be held at the Coronado High School Theater. Parents of Coronado Middle School and Coronado High School athletes and all student-athletes themselves are invited to attend.

Renkens appeared last year and was a resounding success. Unfortunately his presentation was the same evening as a couple of late-season playoff events, but the crowd of 250 that attended came away with a broader understanding of the college and university athletic recruiting process. Immediate reaction from the presentation was that Renkens should return again this year.

For now, circle the date on your calendar. The presentation, which lasts about 90 minutes, is a no-nonsense, realistic recruiting seminar from a former coach and parent, who knows the topic and presents it in an entertaining fashion.