Islander Girls Soccer Head Coach Kiko Medina assembled this year’s schedule with the knowledge that he had most of last year’s squad returning from the CIF San Diego Section Division III title team that was nationally-ranked and advanced to the CIF SoCal Regional Soccer Championships. What Medina couldn’t account for was a string of injuries, a couple of which were season-ending, to several front-line players.

The result was some early-season setbacks, but the Islanders have recovered nicely thank you, and now own a winning record for the first time this year at 6-5-3. They are also 3-1 in the Western League, but more on that a little later.

Last week Coronado began their week with a 3-0 home victory over the Academy of Our Lady of Peace. Medina picks up the game narrative. “It easily should have been a 7-0 or 8-0 game, but we struggled to finish. Our first goal was by Mallory Mitchell. She had a good finish from just inside the 18 (yard box). It was a tough angle, but she struck it really hard. It was a really good finish.”

Medina continued his game re-cap. “The next goal was by Kaitlyn Couture on a corner kick served in by Mitchell. Kaitlyn made a great run to the front post, got her head on it and finished. We have been working on corner kicks and to finally finish one off was good. In the second half, Abigail Callahan went in and performed well. Our third goal came on a cross from Abigail to Sydney Bennett, who made a great one-touch finish and beat the keeper. It was great to see our rookies combine and finish for us.” Medina’s ‘rookie’ reference is to the fact that Callahan is a freshman and Bennett is a sophomore.

Backup goalie Olivia Nebo, more famous for her role as one of the stars of the CHS Softball Team, played the last 10 minutes of the game, a reward from Medina for Nebo’s hard work. “She was really nervous,” said Medina of his senior keeper. “All of the girls were cheering. It was good to give her some time and see her excited to go in the game.” Thus Nebo officially shared credit for the shutout with starter Cory De Marco.

Friday the Islanders hit the road and took their talents to La Jolla, where they downed the Vikings 2-0. Medina describes the contest against one of Coronado’s historic rivals. “It was a really physical game and they were really aggressive. The game could have gone either way. There were some tackles that would make you cringe. During one of them, a La Jolla girl was going 100 miles an hour and went up with Cassie Callahan (Abigail’s older sister and defending CIF San Diego Section Player of the Year) for a header. It was like the girl ran into a brick wall. The La Jolla player got absolutely flattened, but she got up. La Jolla had quite a few breakaways, but we finished the chances we had and that made a difference. It was a testament to our girls that they kept working hard.”

The Islanders first goal came from Olivia Lillegraven, who caromed a shot off of a La Jolla defender that found the back of the net. “That opened up the game for us,” Medina said. “We really stepped up our game after the first goal. On our second goal, Couture did a good job building out of the back, laid it across to Callahan (The Elder) and she had a great hit from 25 yards out over the keeper’s hand. In the last 10-15 minutes, the girls played really well. Stephanie Hamilton was phenomenal. You could see her confidence. She did whatever it took to control the ball. Ali Culora had a great game at outside mid. Couture has been doing the dirty work for us all year long. With the La Jolla game, she is starting to understand the possession part. She wins the ball and then creates with the ball.”

Wednesday Coronado hosts Christian at 6 pm, which begins the official buildup for Friday evening’s 6 pm game with Cathedral Catholic. The Islanders lost Round I with the Lady Dons by the score of 1-0 and Coronado can earn a tie atop the Western League standings with a win Friday night. Medina said simply, “It’s going to be a good one.”

Islander Boys Soccer Trucking Along at 15-1

One of the enduring catch phrases from the 1960’s is ‘Keep on Truckin’ a permutation of which was employed by CHS Head Boys Soccer Coach Brian Hiatt-Aleu recently to describe his team, which now has a record of 15-1. “We’re trucking along,” said the coach who is of Chilean descent, in a cross-generational, international linguistic leap. “I can’t complain.” Most coaches probably wouldn’t pay any attention to his complaints with that record, if he did.

The first game of the week was a 4-0 pasting of Clairemont on the road, which was immensely satisfying to Hiatt-Aleu, who has a rivalry of sorts with a member of the Chieftain’s coaching staff. Ricardo Gonzalez-Diaz earned the shutout in goal, but the real star of the game was forward Kyle Runyon who laid a hat trick on Clairemont. Nate Hoffman scored the other Islander goal. Hiatt-Aleu commended defenders Sergio Flores and Tommy Hart for their fine play.

“The first goal was on a free kick by Hoffman,” Hiatt-Aleu said. “The other three were off of free play by Runyon. We had four other goals called back on an offsides ruling, only one of which really was offsides.”

The big surprise this season is when Coronado gives up a goal and Thursday at Christian, the Islanders did that in what turned out to be a surprisingly tough game, according to Hiatt-Aleu. “We were up 1-0 at the half and we couldn’t put the game away. That is the best Christian team I have seen since I have been coaching in Coronado. We had the first two or three chances in the second half, but they tied it 1-1 with 20 minutes left. I could feel a sense of urgency in the boys. They came back and pressed really, really hard. They got mad internally and you could see it in their facial expressions. Now the score is 1-1, so let’s go and finish this thing off. It was really good to see.”

And they did finish it off. After the initial goal from Ryan Keeney in the first half, Andrew Orozco accounted for the second tally, which turned out to be the game winner. Andrew Toomey scored the third insurance goal. After the game, Hiatt-Aleu ‘hijacked’ the team bus and the group ate at Los Panchos in El Cajon, an eatery which according to the veteran coach “Has the best carne asada burritos in town. They’re the best ever.”

With the regular season winding down, the Division IV playoffs loom large on the horizon. Hiatt-Aleu has his eye on Bishop’s which is undefeated, but plays a schedule not as rigorous as Coronado’s. The Knights are also the defending Division IV champions. “I’m more worried about Mater Dei, which is getting good results against South Bay teams like Castle Park, Bonita and Chula Vista,” Hiatt-Aleu said. “If we keep winning and win league, we should get the No. 1 seed. With either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed, we’ll have home field throughout the playoffs (until the finals, which are at a neutral site). We really like playing at home under the lights. Our kids get into it that way.”

This week the Islanders have a bye in the first portion of their Central League schedule and will play Monte Vista Monday evening at 6:15 pm. Thursday Coronado hosts Crawford at 6 pm.

Islander Girls Water Polo Loses Pair Last Week

No one is playing a tougher schedule than the Girls Water Polo Team this winter and last week was no exception. The Western League contains only four teams, Coronado, La Jolla, Cathedral Catholic and The Bishop’s School, but they are among the four best in San Diego County. In addition, the Islanders are playing some of the tougher teams from the Los Angeles area to prepare for a playoff run.

In short, Coronado is probably better than their 7-13 record would indicate. Last week’s two games included an 8-7 home loss to Cathedral Catholic and a 13-7 loss at the hands of San Clemente.

Islander Head Coach Dave Throop provides the details of the loss to Cathedral. “Shelby Couture led all scorers with three goals, while Lauren Carroll had two goals, and Hannah Green and Kendall Martin had a goal each.  Jaicey Tyler led all players with three assists, while Green and Kendall Hoshko each added two steals. Goalie Brooke Bernardy had five saves.  We were 3-6 on our power play, while Cathedral was 3-7.  For the day, we went 2-2 on penalty shots, which as mentioned below, is hard to determine what constitutes what in this game as officiated in San Diego.”

Saturday afternoon the Islanders hosted San Clemente and the game was competitive with Coronado hanging tough, trailing 4-3 at the end of the first quarter and 7-5 at the half. You got the sense that with a break here or there that Coronado might carry the day.

However, during one of several five-meter penalty shots awarded to San Clemente, with 2:16 remaining in the first half, Coronado’s Couture was excluded for the remainder of the game for interference on a penalty shot. Couture appeared to be re-tying her water polo cap which had come off, was called for interfering with the penalty shot.

It would be fair to say that Throop was less than enthralled with the call. “In discussion with the referee during the game, the official who made the call claimed that it has been a ruling for three years.  During that time, I have never seen that particular situation called and enforced that way.  And, the reality is that with the inconsistency of our officials, it's becoming harder and harder to continue to host out of area teams, and this situation is just but one example.  But live and learn I guess. I've never seen it written or interpreted as it was, but the call has since been confirmed.”

After Couture’s game exclusion, San Clemente outscored Coronado 6-2 in the second half. For the game, Couture and Green scored twice, with single goals coming from Martin, Candyce Day and Tyler. Throop added, “Kaitlin Seay drew an exclusion to contribute on the offensive end.  Martin led all players with three assists, while Hoshko had three steals. Bernardy had three steals to go along with seven saves.  For the game, we went 3-8 in our power play, while San Clemente went 2-3 and converted three of their four penalty shots.”

This week the Islanders travel to Cathedral Catholic Tuesday for a 3 pm game, then Coronado hosts Bishop’s Wednesday at 5 pm. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Islanders will compete in Irvine at the SoCal Invitational.

CHS Girls Basketball Ups Record to 14-7

While reviewing the statistics from Coronado’s Friday evening win over Madison by the score of 48-13, an unusual number popped up. The Islanders had 40 rebounds in the game, with 35 of the caroms coming on the offensive end of the floor. “A great anomaly isn’t it?” said Coronado Head Coach Toler Goodwin. “I’m not sure how you describe a team that lets you have that. We struggled early, but as we missed some shots, we kept getting the rebounds. We had 18 shot attempts to their two in the first quarter, but their two went in.”

For the record, Coronado held a scant 6-4 advantage at the end of the first frame, but laid a 16-2 score on the Warhawks in the second quarter on their way to the relatively easy victory. Alex Evans helped lead Coronado to the win with 12 points, 16 rebounds and nine steals. Peri Curtis chipped in nine points, 12 rebounds and five steals. Camille Wilson, who is rounding into form after missing several weeks with a badly sprained ankle, added seven points and three steals.

Forward Samantha Kirk continued her skein of scoring exactly nine points in games and added five rebounds two assists and two steals. Meganne Weissenfels nailed a long three-pointer, but her contributions were primarily focused on defense with four rebounds and six steals. Cory De Marco played a nice floor game, with six points, two assists and four steals. More importantly, she supplied the majority of the ball handling for Coronado.

Another nice oddity in the game was that the Islanders scored at or near the end of each quarter of the game. “Camille scored with two seconds left in the first quarter,” Goodwin noted. “Peri scored at the end of the first half, and Cory scored at the buzzer to end the third. Then Alex scored at the end of the game. We worked the clock and made the shots.”

Goodwin also noted the contributions of sophomore forward Samantha Kirk. “Samantha is beginning to emerge for us, and is shooting the ball with confidence. That can only help us, to have another scorer. That will be an important piece for us in the playoffs.”

The first game of the week was a road win at Christian by the score of 49-34. Curtis scored 16 points and had 14 rebounds, while Evans added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Kirk scored nine points, Weissenfels and De Marco added six each and Wilson had two.

“Tuesday’s game was the best we have played mentally all year long,” Goodwin said. “We were in it from start to finish. They stayed within themselves, took the shots the other team was giving us and made them. We didn’t force the action and we only turned the ball over 12 times against a team that’s not bad. They put a box-and-one on Peri and when they made mistakes, she stepped out behind the three-point line and was 3-3. Everybody played well.”

Coronado is now 14-7 overall and 6-1 in the Central League, with their lone loss coming to Kearny, who sits undefeated atop the league standings. Goodwin explained the path ahead of the Islanders. “We’re one game behind Kearny. Point Loma has lost only to us and Kearny, so they are the only other team that is conceivably in the race. Christian is competitive and they have young talent that will make a difference in the years going forward. But the race is between us and Kearny. Having Evans return (after an illness) and Wilson back (aforementioned ankle sprain) makes a difference.”

This week Coronado hosts Crawford Tuesday at 5 pm and then travels to Point Loma Friday night for a Girls/Boys doubleheader. The girls’ game tips off at 6 pm.

Two Close Victories for CHS Boys Basketball Squad

The victories kept on coming for the CHS Boys Basketball Team (19-4, 7-0) last week, but the margins were perilously slim. The first game was a 52-48 win at Christian, which featured a nice team defensive effort on the Patriot’s leading scorer Shane Dillon, holding him to 14 points. Islander Head Coach J.D. Laaperi credited Justin Hebner, Brian Turley, Luke Gillingham and Dylan Gouthro for their efforts. “They all had their chance with him. That is the only time this season he has been held under 20 points in league play.”

Laaperi provided details of the contest. “Tuesday’s game had a lot of runs. We had a 15-2 start and then they outscored us 16-6. We finished with a 7-0 run to take the lead at the half. If you break down our games, Harley Ralph is our opening act. Against Christian he scored seven points in the first quarter. He also played really well in the front of our press. Danny Hebert scores a lot and he and Justin are our closers. Justin scored 12 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. They couldn’t stop him and Justin closed out the Christian game for us.”

Hebert had 17 points, five assists and four steals, while Gillingham was Coronado’s leading rebounder with six. Chris Banks had four points and five rebounds. Billy Schmitt added six points.

A similar format held in Friday night’s home game with Madison. Ralph scored Coronado’s first 13 points and wound up with a total of 14 in the contest to go with seven rebounds. Hebert was again the Islander leading scorer with 22, to go with five steals. Hebner contributed 12 points, six rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Schmitt was a force when it counted, with five points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

The difference in this game was that Coronado held a 14-point lead with 7:33 remaining in the game. That was before the lead dwindled to a mere 55-54 with 31 seconds remaining to be played. The Islanders went into a semi-stall, lost their momentum and only scored nine points in the final six minutes. But the important fact remained that they held on to win.

With 10 seconds remaining, Schmitt grabbed a crucial defensive rebound and then knocked down two free throws to give Coronado a 58-54 lead. “That was a huge rebound,” said Laaperi. “He stepped to the line and knocked down both free throws.”

Another critical element in the victory were a layup, a steal, two defensive rebounds, an offensive rebound and a free throw with 50 seconds remaining supplied by Gillingham, all in the final quarter . “Madison was making a run with their work on the offensive boards,” said Laaperi. “Luke’s rebounding in the fourth quarter was one of the differences in the game.”

Coronado has a two-game lead in the Central League standings with the just vanquished Madison team in second place. “It was nice to beat them and now we have the tiebreakers,” Laaperi said of the league race. “Christian is in third right now. We keep winning close games. When you are on top of the league, everyone is going to give you their best shot. We’re getting the formula down that we keep it close and Justin and Danny bring us home.”

This week Coronado travels to Crawford Tuesday for a 4:30 pm game. Friday night they are on the road again for a Girls/Boys doubleheader at Point Loma. Game time is 20 minutes after the conclusion of the girls game, or approximately 7:45 pm.

Track and Field ‘Throws’ Clinic at CHS Feb. 2 and 4

Islander Head Track and Field Coach George Green sent over a note to say that one of the U.S. Olympic throws (discus, shot and javelin) coaches Bart Templeman will be giving a clinic at Coronado High School Wed. Feb. 2 and Friday Feb. 4. The clinics will start at 3 pm. Templeman is working at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista  and is a friend of CHS throws coach Bo Resch. Hence the Coronado connection.

Templeman owns and operates the prestigious Iron Wood Thrower Development Camp in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. The clinics this week are free and there is no obligation afterwards if you choose to attend. For more information, please contact Coach Green at ggreen2@san.rr.com. By the way, javelin instruction probably won’t be part of the program.