Boys Lacrosse season arrived with a bang Saturday evening, as Coronado hosted De La Salle High School of Concord. The two programs play each other annually and some memorable games have resulted. Coronado, led by their defensive unit, dominated the game and won by the score of 5-1.

Islander Head Coach Alex Cade said of his team, “I was proud of the kids. It was a really physical, gutsy type game. Despite not executing everything offensively, we fought through it. It was the type of game that is won by tough kids who can battle harder than the other team. I feel great about our toughness.”

The 2011 edition of the CHS Boys Lacrosse Team features 19 seniors, so there’s probably not much they haven’t experienced on the field by this time. After a scoreless first quarter, Kyle Runyon scored with 6:43 remaining in the half, on an underhand shot that sped by the Spartan goalie. A little less than three minutes later, Runyon scored his second goal of the evening when he fielded a ground ball not far from the De La Salle goal and converted the scoring opportunity.

Eighty-five seconds into the second half, Alex Bookout scored for Coronado to give the Islanders a 3-0 lead. Jacob Lujan helped kicked things off in the third quarter with a resounding check of the De La Salle goalie, who had strayed too far from his crease. The Spartans scored with 6:50 left in the game. A little over two minutes later, Runyon earned his hat trick with a conversion from 20 yards away. Lujan provided the final score with 1:30 remaining in the game. Runyon and the offensive unit played keep away from De La Salle for the final minute of the game to run the clock out.

Reis Stanley was credited with 12 saves in goal and earned praise from Cade. “Our defense answered a lot of questions. Reis in his first (varsity) start played great. The thing about him is that he has a long way to go and we haven’t seen his best. But where his is still very good, which is encouraging for me. When you have a goaltender playing well, the defense can focus on their job and not worry about mistakes.”

“Billy Schmitt, who is going to play Division II lacrosse next year and Curtis Nixon who has been a contributor for four years and Dane Farguson, who will also play at the DII level, were all just excellent Saturday night,” said Cade. “They played within themselves and played an excellent style of defense, which will allow us to grow at a pace offensively a little less quickly than in the past. Andrew Woolf and Tyler Smith took the faceoffs and did a great job earning possessions. Lujan, Sergio Flores and Kurt Beske were very steady performers at the midfield. They gutted it out between the lines and got ground balls. Control of the possession game is huge.”

Cade then discussed the Islander offensive attack, which scored five goals but is still a work in progress. “We have three kids on attack who are on the NCAA level. Runyon is the leader of the unit and he is a gritty and competitive athlete. Bookout had a great game and Bobby Ferrar is the third guy. Our attack takes time to get the timing and the rhythm down. Plus, we saw two great goaltenders in that game.”

The midfielders had some setbacks as Flores sustained a minor injury and George Bailey suffered a concussion in the early portion of the game.

For Cade, who was a goalie at Notre Dame during his collegiate playing days, the Islander defense was the thing Friday. “As it turned out our attack looked a little sloppy. That’s what makes sports great and keeps it exciting. I’m really excited about our defense. What a great performance.”

Coronado will again be in the City Conference, which itself has a new look. Coronado, Cathedral Catholic, La Jolla, Scripps Ranch and Patrick Henry will compete for the league title. “They are all good teams,” said Cade of the newly aligned City Conference. “Typically all of those teams beat the other five. There are no cupcakes on our schedule this year.” Coronado will host three of the better prep teams from Colorado and will take their annual East Coast trip to Maryland, where they will play three games.

Coronado will compete in Division II of the CIF San Diego Section in 2011, a new element that does not sit well with either Cade or Girls Lax Head Coach Jessica Battle. We’ll discuss that in the section following the Girls Lax report.

This week the Islanders have a Tuesday evening home game with Scripps Ranch at 7:30 pm, and a Friday evening home game with Arapahoe High School, ranked No. 7 in the state of Colorado by Laxpower.com. The faceoff is 7:30 pm.

CHS Girls Lax Dominates Rancho Bernardo

Last week the CHS Girls Lacrosse Team had an interesting week, with their first opponent being Rancho Bernardo. Coronado emerged with a 14-8 win, which was more difficult than you might think since the Broncos scored the first three goals of the game. Coronado held a narrow 6-5 lead at the half. But the Islanders got serious to begin the second half, scoring six goals in just under 13 minutes. After that run, Coronado and RB traded goals the rest of the way.

Goalie Meganne Weissenfels was credited with eight saves, while Kaitlyn Couture scored six goals. Two goals were scored each by Lauren Maack and Mollie Privett. Single goals came from Rachel Brennan, Michaela Guerrera, Anna Coumes and Martha Byrne.

The team then trundled off to Irvine Saturday for a tournament and finished in second place after playing three games there. The Islanders defeated Foothill of Tustin, then broke a 42-game winning streak that had been put together by Los Alamitos, before losing to tournament host Beckman in the final game.

Coronado was down six players for a variety of reasons. “Everything that could go wrong, did,” said Head Coach Jessica Battle of the final tourney contest. “The officiating was horrific and we had 25 missed shots on goal. There was a four-hour break between the last two games. I only had one sub.”

On the plus side, two Islanders earned tournament recognition. “Weissenfels got the MVP award for goalies and she had the most saves in the tournament,” said Battle. “Maack won the Most Valuable Offensive Player and she had the most goals scored in the tournament. That was great. Nikki Kruger played really, really well. She received my coach’s award. She persevered for the whole tournament. She stuck it out and had a great attitude the whole time. It was nice that we got to play teams that we haven’t played. The teams in Orange County have gotten better. We are a really strong team this year. If we play to our full potential we can beat every team we play. The young players are doing well and stepping up.”

This week the Girls host Poway Friday night at 6 pm, as the first part of a Girls/Boys doubleheader.

CIF Pulls Lacrosse Legislative Maneuver – Coronado to Compete in Division II

The CIF is the institution that keeps on giving. Their latest targets, intended or not, are the Coronado lacrosse programs. Until the 2011 season, lacrosse was played in only one division in the San Diego Section. Currently there are 44 schools that sponsor boys lacrosse and 39 schools have girls lacrosse. After the start of the 2011 season, the CIF decided to expand to two divisions. Due to the student enrollment numbers at CHS, the Islanders have been assigned to compete in Division II this year. 

Coronado consistently has been among the best programs in the county for both boys and girls lacrosse. As an example the Islanders won the boys sectional title in 2009 and were widely acclaimed as the best team in the state, were in the finals in 2008 and reached the semi-finals in 2010. The girls have been similarly consistent and last season lost in the section finals 9-8 to Torrey Pines. They also reached the finals in 2005 and 2008.

CHS Boys Lacrosse Head Coach Alex Cade provides his thoughts on the legislative move, which occurred after the game schedules had been set for 2011 and play had started. “The Coastal League schools, started barking behind closed doors and in a meeting that Robin (Nixon, CHS athletic director) and I weren’t privy to, decided to go to two divisions. They had voted twice before and voted it down. The fact that we are in a lower division now is pretty ridiculous. The CIF Final in the second division, with us in it, will be a bad, bad game.”

The additional problem is that Coronado can’t petition to play up a division. That concept in the CIF San Diego Section is reserved only for football. “The fact that we are in the second division doesn’t do anybody any good,” Cade continued. “The CIF won’t bend for whatever reason.”

Girls Lacrosse Head Coach Jessica Battle, who has fought the CIF on championship game scheduling issues in the past, is equally displeased. “It’s just frustrating for us, because we are an exception for small schools. I get the premise and it makes sense for most programs. We’re very unique in that we can compete at the higher level. We can get a CIF slam dunk championship in the bag every year in Division II. We would like to get the CIF championship in Division I. What we are working toward is frustrating for the girls and the coaches. I told them to play hard and treat every single game like this is our CIF championship. We can prove we are better than any Division I team. They (the CIF) arbitrarily out of thin air, with the season under way, put us in Division II with no explanation.”

Cade added, “I’m trying to be as positive as possible. We have 19 seniors who won’t get their shot at the CIF championship. I feel bad for those kids. There is a lack of vision and foresight from the CIF. This doesn’t sit well with anyone. I’m trying to spin it for the kids. These kids have been looking forward to this since sixth grade.

Boys and Girls Swimming Report

CHS Head Swimming Coach Dave Throop checks in with a preview of the coming season. “The coaching staff breaks down the season into two parts, the dual-meet season and championship season.  Our goal is to always perform and compete as well as we can during the dual-meet season, but with the idea of training through that phase of competition.  We focus on trying to qualify as many athletes into the championships, for the City Conference, as well as time qualifications for the CIF meet. Dual-meets are our chance to move swimmers around to find opportunities for the athlete, as well as find some flexibility for the team entries.  

The boys swimming group is young, with Patrick Geer, Garrett Sabesky and Braydon Hummeldorf representing the senior class.  So far, the training has been going well, attendance is good and attitudes have been great.

We are looking for a lot of contributions from the under classmen, including juniors Van Burgess, Joe Kusters, Christian Dudley, Tommy Grall, Josh Williams, Eitan Peled, Michael Bigham, Patrick Mayles, Patrick Erskine, Garrett Eyer and Joe Rodgers, while looking for some contribution from sophomores Christian Hoppe, Aaron Polk, Joe Pack, Andrew Morris, Putnam Browne, Drew Findley, Nick Wiley and John Hill.  In addition there will be some freshmen the team is counting on, led by Alex Rose, Israel Dedina, Doron Peled and David Carroll.  

If their efforts stay as they are now, the group should surprise some conference opponents, and more importantly, themselves with their end of season swims.   Hummeldorf and Burgess were named captains and will be leaned upon to lead the group. They do a great job of leading by example.

Like the boys, the girls team will be paced by a nucleus of seniors and rely heavily on underclassmen.  Led by Shelby Couture, Kendall Martin, Heidi Jonson, and Morgan Karney, the team has been training hard and their attitudes are spectacular.  The training has been progressively getting tougher and the group is learning what they need for success.  

Cathy White and Couture are captains for the team and will be asked to set the tone in their training.  White, along with juniors Kendall Hoshko, Kyana Van Houten and Cassie Scott will pair with sophomores Madison Willett, Chantilly Otto-Smith, Sarah Alfano, Noni Jones, and Gabie Darlak to provide depth to the team.  Freshmen Madeline Hohsko, Katy Gauvin, Kaitlin Seay, Rebecca Bayer, and Jaicey Tyler will challenge their teammates for spots in individual as well as relay races come championship season.

Just as with the Boy's squad, the girls will surprise themselves with their performances at the conclusion of the season, as the willingness to prepare is good and that is typically a precursor toward success at the end of a season.”

Islander Track and Field Report

Head Coach George Green checks in with the happenings from last week in track and field. “The dual track meet season got underway last Thursday against Hoover with the boys team succumbing to the Cardinals by the score of 79-38 and the girls winning "comfortably" by the score of 99-5.

The lopsided girls' score came as no surprise because Hoover has less than 10 girls on its team while our girls' roster is around 55 and spiked with some pretty good returning athletes such as Meg Sweeney, Maddy Danielson, Sadie Gimber, Cassie Callahan, Stephanie Hamilton, Lauren Bower, Elise Umansky, Brittany Hallawell, Ashley Engelman, Nicole Davies, Samantha Kirk, Olivia Lillegraven, Christina DeScisciolo, and Yvonne Wood.

What was a surprise was the potential shown by many of the underclassmen on the team. We knew that freshmen Sierra Smith and Abigail Callahan would be two of the top high jumpers in the county of any grade level, and that Lauren Bartsch would top the frosh pole vault list. The Hoover meet, however, identified several others as standouts. Freshmen Kendall Cromartie, Maddy Hopson, Katie Brooks and sophomores Megan Galloway and Jenny Anderson looked very fast in the 100 and 200 meter sprints and will give us much-needed depth in those events, not to mention the 4x100 meter relay. The best performance out of that group was Hopson's 15 foot, 9.5 inch long jump mark which put her at the top of the San Diego Section Frosh list and in the mix with athletes from many of the top schools in the county.

Another very fast freshman who missed the Hoover meet is Ale Bruyere. Although we have a full complement of returning hurdlers we didn't run them against Hoover to give the new kids a chance. This tactic resulted in all the points in both the 100 and 300 meter hurdles from freshmen Danielle Simmons and Adrienne Reyes and sophomore Emma Renly. Freshmen Taylor Ramos and Vanessa Tortolero were two of our better cross country runners last season, but they both ran the 400 meter run instead of the longer events. Had we put them in the 800 and 1600 meter runs we would have had five more points and Hoover five less, but why run up the score?

With only 25 members, the CHS boys' team isn't nearly as deep as the girls' which makes it difficult to find three athletes per event to be competitive with other schools in dual meets. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it changes the focus from winning the league championship to individual performance and qualifying for the post season league and CIF events.

For the boys, this year's top sprinters appear to be Jeff Bona, Bobby Mansueto, and Shawn Gingery. Cross Country runners Aryan Shay, Ryan Keeney, and Will Funk are the top distance guys with Shay already posting sub two-minute, 800-meter runs. Will Bartsch is one of the top pole vaulters in the county, but he's out of commission for the next few weeks with a hamstring pull. Freshman Logan Lister's shot put mark of 37-11 in the Hoover meet catapulted him into the “Top 5” among San Diego Section freshman shot putters, so he's one to watch.”

Baseball Posts 2-1 Mark on the Week

The Islander Baseball Team’s successful run through the Aztec-Foothiller Tournament came to an end last week with a 7-1 loss to Santana. “We played a reasonably good game,” said Head Coach Sam Ceci. “We did some relays well, our bunt defense was good, and we executed a rundown well. Those were some things that made me happy, but we never mustered any kind of offensive threat. They were bigger and stronger than we were.”

Saturday the Islanders had a more positive experience as they hosted South Bay neighbor Mar Vista for a doubleheader. The subtext is that Coronado lost twice to Mar Vista in their doubleheader a year ago. The tables were turned this past weekend however, as the Islanders dominated the Mariners 16-4 and 12-0.

“Mar Vista is way down this year and they actually expected to have a very good team,” said Ceci. “They were in the playoffs last year and have been pretty strong for the past two or three years. They have some young talent. In the next couple of years, they are going to be fine. They have a very good JV team playing on the varsity.”

Ceci was able to play the entire 15-man roster in both games. Hank Taylor was 2-3 at the plate in the two games combined, scored a run and had three RBIs. Robby De La Montaigne scored three times and drove in two, while Parker Elkins was 1-3 in the first game with a double and two RBIs. Marcos Cepin coaxed a walk in the second game and scored. Devin Vaage was 1-1 in Game 2 with a run scored and two RBIs.

The defensive play of Game 2 was turned in by leftfielder Luke Gillingham. In the fourth inning, a Mariner batter hit a ball that appeared would fly over Gillingham’s head. But the junior turned and ran it down, diving to catch the ball and making a great play on a dead sprint with his back to the infield. Dylan Campbell was the winning pitcher in Game 1, while Kyle Teachout earned the victory in Game 2.

“It was good for us,” Ceci said of the Saturday twinbill. “We got a lot of guys in and they delivered. We tuned up our left-handed starters for an inning or two each, which is better than a side bullpen session.”

The Islanders now proceed directly into the City Conference Tournament. Tuesday Coronado plays at St. Augustine. Monday’s home game against Mira Mesa was postponed to Wednesday.  and Thursday Coronado hosts Serra. All games this week begin at 3 pm.

Islander Boys Tennis Starts Season 4-0

Despite having five members of the CHS Boys Tennis Team starting the season late due to their participation on the CIF-winning CIF Boys Soccer Team, the tennis types raced off to a 4-0 start this season. Included in the perfect results so far were a 14-4 win over High Tech Hi, a 16-2 victory over Hilltop, a 12-6 win over Mira Mesa and a 10-8 win over Point Loma.

According to Head Coach Leslie Koshland, the No. 1 and 2 singles spots will be occupied by Greg Lyon and Sean Lee, in some order. “Last year they rotated who played No. 1,” said Koshland of the talented players. The No. 3 singles slot will be filled by some combination of Ricardo Gonzalez-Diaz, Weston Breay and Sean Koshland.

The doubles teams will include pairings of Brad Matthews/Cort Dalton, Kyle Koshalnd/Luke Hoffman and Grey Halpin/Sean Koshland. Since it’s still early in the season, the exact order hasn’t been designated for the doubles rotation. Four players who competed in the first four matches and will bring depth to the team include Michael Whalen, Drew Maracle, Luke McCue and Jake Finley.

“Here’s the neat thing,” said Coach Koshland. “Most of these kids have been playing year around. Lee and Lyon are playing in tournaments and are ranked. Last year a lot of the team members didn’t pick up a racket until just before the tryouts. We’re more ready for the season this year. It’s great that the kids were out trying to improve their games during the off season.”

CHS Boys Volleyball Goes the Distance Every Time

Members of the Islander Boys Volleyball Team must enjoy their time on the court, as they have now played four matches and all four have gone to the maximum five games. In their first week of play the Islanders lost two five-setters. Last week the Islanders defeated Crawford in five sets, taking the final set 16-14.

“We came out flat in the first,” said Head Coach Shawn Patchell. “And we didn’t play real well. We played well in the next two and won in the fifth. Jake Nicholson played well and it was Andrew Orozco’s first match. That was the first time for everything for him in that match and he played pretty well. Tyler Webb played well and wanted the ball. He was getting in the groove of understanding his role a little bit better.”

Thursday Coronado hosted Hoover in a Central League match and predictably it was another five set affair. Coronado dropped the first set 25-18, dominated the second to win 25-8, played convincingly well to win the third 25-16 and then dropped the fourth 25-15.

In the fifth set, the Islanders fell behind 8-4, but rallied to take the lead 12-11 on a nice run by Nicholson, who had a block to earn a sideout and then served for three points. However Hoover rallied to win 15-13.

“I thought that was the best volleyball we played so far,” said Patchell of the Hoover game. “It was too bad we didn’t get out with a win. Jake and Andrew started to develop some good chemistry in the game, which was nice to see. I thought Nate Hoffman played quite well in his first match. And he played quite well for never having played the libero position before. Among the younger guys, Josh Abrantes is steadily improving. More experience is what we need and we’ll be getting a lot of games.”

This week Coronado hosts The Bishop’s School Tuesday and Thursday they host Lincoln, with both games starting at 3 pm. Friday and Saturday Coronado will host a site for the Beach City Tournament. The Islanders will play throughout Friday afternoon and evening and Saturday, with the times still to be determined.

Islander Boys Golf Fares Well in St. Augustine Tourney

Last week the Islanders competed in the two-day, 10-team St. Augustine Tournament and according to Head Coach Randy Coutts, they finished in fourth place. The event was unusual in that the team improved by 22 strokes from Day 1 to Day 2. The event which was played at Cottonwood, challenged the players with difficult pin placements, according to Coutts.

Coutts was impressed by the play of his self-glossing Fabulous Five Freshmen, who include Cole Summers, Jordan Summers, Sven Karlsson, Ryan Dowling and Andrew Cuban. “They are a tight-knit little group,” Coutts said of the five. “They practice together and plan to win the state title their senior year. They are intense, listen well and want to become good golfers.”

In other action, the Islanders defeated Clairemont in a league match 227-262 with Jordan Oval earing medalist honors. This week the Islanders play Madison Monday, split squads play Lincoln at Balboa and La Jolla at La Jolla Country Club on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon Lincoln comes to Coronado.