Ironically, the only Coronado High School sporting event lost to last week’s torrential rains was Tuesday afternoon’s girls’ basketball game. The Islanders were unable to compete at Kearny High School, due to a leak in the gym’s roof. Technically, the Bishop’s at Coronado girls’ water polo game was cancelled due to high winds. Presumably when you compete in water anyway, rain presents a lesser challenge. Both contests are scheduled to be made up this week.

Islander Girls Water Polo Wins AFC Tournament

Even though their midweek game against Bishop’s wasn’t played, the weather had cleared sufficiently by Friday so that the CHS Girls Water Polo program could host the 32-team America’s Finest City Tournament. The event was competed at four facilities in the San Diego area and as the host institution, the Islanders played all of their games at home.

 Coronado opened defense of their 2009 title in the same event, with a game against La Costa Canyon. According to Islander Head Coach Dave Throop, his team’s goal was to press on defense and then counter attack on offense. Whatever the philosophy was, it worked as Coronado was up 6-0 at the end of the first quarter, 9-1 at halftime, on their way to a 12-2 final.

Kelly Ronimus led the Coronado attack with five goals. Among the other Islanders who scored were Kendall Martin and Hannah Green with a goal each and Kaylee Ginnane with two tallies. Other contributors were Hillary Estrada with five steals, and goalie Colleen Moore who had five saves and a steal.

Game No. 2 found Coronado facing a re-building program from Poway High School and the Islanders emerged with a 13-3 victory. “They are a program on the rise,” said Throop of the Titans. “The score was 2-2 at the end of the first quarter.”

Ronimus was again a major force, scoring four goals, committing four steals, dishing out two assists and making a field block. Shelby Couture had three goals; Maddie Murphy had two goals, four assists; three steals and drew two exclusions; Hillary Estrada had a goal and two assists; sisters Sidney Hoshko and Kendall Hoshko had a goal each; and Kendall Martin had a goal and two assists. Moore played for three quarters and was credited with eight saves and Brooke Bernardy played the final frame and had two saves.

The Islanders cruised through their quarter-finals opponent, Arlington of Riverside County, this time by a final score of 12-3. Murphy had a fine game, scoring four goals, while also being credited with four assists and three steals. Ronimus had two goals, three assists, three steals and two field blocks. Hillary Estrada chipped in two goals and two assists, with single goals coming from Megan Meloche, Green, Ginnane, and Sidney Hoshko. Lauren Carroll played well defensively and was credited with a steal. Moore and Bernardy split time in the cage and both had six saves.

Things became a little more serious in the semi-finals when defending CIF Division I champion Vista entered the pool to face defending Division II champ Coronado. The Islanders came away with a 10-6 victory, but the game was more one-sided than the score would indicate. Coronado led the game 9-3 at the end of the third quarter.

Ashley Young, who had largely gone missing from the festivities thus far due to mid-week dental surgery, emerged with three goals and an assist in the semi-finals. Murphy continued her fine play with three goals, three assists and three steals. Ronimus also continued to play well in the tourney with three goals, three assists and two steals. Green added a single goal. Moore played three quarters in goal and had nine saves, while Bernardy had two saves in her seven minutes of play.

Throop complimented Estrada, Sidney Hoshko and Couture for their fine defensive play against the Vista center forward. “Those three neutralized their best player. We were dictating the positioning on defense and recovering well when we got beat. We’re moving in the right direction.”

Coronado found El Toro in the opposite end of the pool for the America’s Finest City championship game and the Islanders won 10-4, with defense leading the way, according to Throop. “We took them out of their flow in the game and we had a good overall team effort defensively. We dictated the terms of the game. We doubled down and then closed out quickly on their shooters to stop them from shooting. The number of field blocks and steals we had are indicative of us knocking down shots and jumping into passing lanes on defense. Defensively we were really active.”

Another key element is that the Islanders were 2-4 in their man-up situations, while holding El Toro to 0-4 when they had a man advantage.

Couture contributed four goals and two assists, with Young staying on a roll with three goals and two field blocks. Murphy established her tournament MVP credentials while turning in another fine effort, with two goals, four assists and a field block. Ronimus contributed a goal, two assists and four steals. Moore had nine saves and an assist on her way to being named Most Valuable Goalie in the tourney. Ronimus and Estrada were both named to the All-Tournament First Team.

“I was really happy for the team,” said Throop of the Islanders’ tournament victory. “We are gaining confidence and in the tournament we gained invaluable playing time for both our starters and our subs. We can’t help but be a better team because of it.”

This week Coronado hits the pool three times. Monday at 3 pm they travel to Cathedral Catholic; Wednesday at 5 pm they have their make-up game with Bishop’s at the BBMAC facility; and Saturday they host J. Serra from Orange County at 4 pm.

Islander Girls Basketball Bests Christian

Despite postponing their Tuesday game against Kearny due to the aforementioned leaky roof, the Islanders were still sharp enough to go on the road and dominate Christian 38-14.  Coronado won all four quarters, which is a reflection of their domination.

“There are days when we play well and then there are days when we have results that are good,” said Head Coach Toler Goodwin. Apparently this one went into the latter column.

“We weren’t as efficient as we needed to be and we let a lot of opportunities to score get away.”

Alex Evans has evolved into a rebounding machine, emerging from the game with 14 rebounds, to go with four steals and six points. Cory De Marco had five points, four rebounds, five assists and 10 steals. Peri Curtis had 10 points, to lead all scorers in the game. She also had eight rebounds and five steals. The excitement factor in this paragraph is that all three players mentioned are sophomores.

Senior Maggie Harris scored nine points and helped push the Islanders’ record to 9-8, the first time they have been over the .500 mark all year. Coronado is also 4-1 in league play.

“We have two important games this week,” said Goodwin. “We’re doing good things. We just need to be more efficient.”

Tuesday the Islanders have their scheduled league bye date, which created a good time for Wednesday’s make-up date at Kearney. That is unless it rains again Wednesday. Friday night the Islanders travel to Point Loma for a Girls/Boys Central League doubleheader, with the Girls game tipping off at 6 pm.

CHS Boys Basketball Splits Their Two Game Set

The Islander Boys Basketball Team had a more conventional week from a scheduling perspective. They had a home overtime squeaker victory against Kearny before experiencing their first league loss of the season at Christian Friday night.

The victory over Kearny wasn’t an artistic success, as neither team approached their top form. “I thought part of our problem was that we were gearing up for Christian,” said Islander Head Coach J.D. Laaperi of the game to be played three days later. “We came into the Kearny game thinking it was going to be similar to our other league games. We weren’t dribbling, rebounding, catching or shooting the ball well. But what was important was that we won.”

The Komets and the Islanders combined for three ties and five lead changes. Pacing the Islanders was Justin Hebner with 20 points, seven steals and three assists. Danny Hebert added 16 points and seven rebounds. Chris Maskevich had four points, but more importantly gathered 10 rebounds. Billy Schmitt added seven points.

Maskevich and Schmitt are the Islanders resident big men and Laaperi noted their importance in the victory. “We decided to go with two bigs (basketball term) late in the fourth quarter and in overtime and they saved us. Chris made a nice pass to Billy on a high-low play. They ran the play well and Billy scored. Chris scored first in overtime for us. Another important factor was Justin’s free throw shooting, which we have been working on before and after practice. He was 9-10 and he knows that if he is going to have the ball, get fouled and go to the line that he needs to make his free throws.”

Friday evening the Islanders jumped out to a 23-17 lead before falling to Central League-leading Christian 74-58. “That was maybe the best quarter we have played this year offensively,” Laaperi noted. “To give up 17 points wasn’t our best defensive effort. We only missed one or two shots the whole quarter.”

Christian upped the ante pretty considerably by shooting 61 per cent from the floor for the game. Or, as Laaperi put it, “It’s tough to beat any team when they shoot 61 per cent. Christian is a good team and they have five good players. During the first half we took away their three-point shooting and they hurt us inside. In the second half we put some help on their big man and that opened up their three-point shooting. It was a Catch 22 situation (literary reference).”

Islander Peter Zeller was in foul trouble for much of the evening, which opened up an opportunity for more floor time for Josh McNeal, according to Laaperi. “Josh had seven rebounds, four points and played well. He did all of the things we talked about during the week. Schmitt played well. He had nine points and was 4-6 from the field in the third quarter. He had most of his five rebounds in the second half as well.”

Hebner led the way with 22 points and Zeller despite his foul trouble, tied Schmitt for second scoring leader honors with nine points.

“Our bye Tuesday is coming at a good time,” Laaperi continued. “Justin sustained a mild concussion at the end of the Christian game and this will give us a good chance to rest him up. The kids were a little disappointed after the Christian game, but I explained to them that the league race is still in our hands. All is not lost in the league race with one loss.”Coronado’s lone game this week is at Point Loma Friday night, with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 pm.

CHS Boys Soccer Defeats Christian

During my weekly update phone call with CHS Boys Soccer Head Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu, a new (to me) soccer rule was introduced. If the second half of a soccer game is started, then it is considered to be an official game.

This dictum came into play last week when the Islanders played Christian and defeated the Patriots 2-0. The last 20 minutes of the game were cancelled due to the weather conditions.

The winning goals for Coronado came from Jake Schwartz and Connor Marcone and the Islanders emerged with an important Central League victory.

Coronado was fortunate that their only game last week was against Christian, as they had a bye in their other conference game slot. So, their schedule remained intact despite the inclement weather. This week Coronado hosts Canyon Crest Monday night at 6 pm, they travel to Crawford Wednesday for a 3 pm game and Friday they are on the road at Madison at 3 pm.

CHS Girls Soccer Defeats La Jolla

The last time Coronado and La Jolla met on the pitch (soccer term) was in the CIF Division III championship game 11 months ago. Let’s move along by saying that venture wasn’t a positive experience for the Islanders.

However, last week’s outing resulted in a 3-1 victory for the Islanders in their only scheduled game of the week. Like the CHS Boys Soccer Team, the Islander Girls Soccer Team had a well-placed bye week when the weather turned ugly.

The first Islander goal came on a crossing pass from Mallory Mitchell to Stephanie Pietkiewicz. The second goal was scored by Mitchell from a Stephanie Hamilton pass and the third was an unassisted goal by Hamilton. Goalie Cory De Marco was credited with five saves and as CHS Head Coach Kiko Medina said, “She definitely had some great saves to keep us going. This wasn’t a great game for us because La Jolla tired to be physical. In the first half we did a great job of taking players on.”

The victory came at a price as defensive midfielder Danielle Gillberg was injured in the first half. She sustained stretched tendons in her foot, with the severity of the injury not fully assessed as our deadline approached. Medina shuffled forward Kaitlyn Couture into Gillberg’s defensive mid slot, a position that Couture often plays in club soccer. “Danielle has been playing really well lately,” said Medina of his senior Co-Captain. “Couture did a nice job of being physical and controlling the middle for us. She has played midfield for us before. Sometimes if we are struggling in the middle, we slide her back to get us going again.”

The victory over La Jolla improved Coronado’s record to 11-1-2 and they maintained their No. 2 slot in San Diego County in the xksandiego.com Top 10 Poll. The current Top 5 in order is Bishop’s, Coronado, Torrey Pines, La Costa Canyon and Westview.

But the big news is that the Islanders schedule for this week has been shuffled in anticipation of weather and playing field problems. Taking advantage of Coronado’s first rate artificial turf, Tuesday both girls’ soccer games against University City will be played at Coronado. The JV game will be played at 5 pm, with the Varsity playing at 6:30 pm. Both of Thursday’s games with Christian will also be played at Coronado, with the JV game slated for 4:30 pm and the varsity at 6:30 pm. Previously both varsity games had been scheduled as ‘away’ contests.

Islander Girls Soccer Golf Tournament Announced

The Third Annual CHS Girls Soccer Golf Tournament is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 12 at Sean N Air Golf Course at NAS North Island. The event will have a 12 noon shot gun start, with the tournament fee of $100 per golfer. The fee includes greens fees, a golf cart, a box lunch and a dinner ticket.

The registration deadline is January 29th. Sponsorship opportunities are available. This is the major annual fundraiser for the CHS girls soccer program.

For additional information, please go to www.islandersgirlssoccer.com. Click on the link on the home page which says ‘Golf Tournament.’