Coronado High School’s Girls Lacrosse Team marched through the Third Annual Surf, Sun and Stix Invitational Tournament over the weekend, defeating teams from all over the state of California along the way.

"We were in the bracket that included Foothill, Grossmont and Mt. Carmel," said Head Coach Jessica Battle. "And we beat all of them. We played Marin Catholic from San Francisco in the quarter-finals and then in the semi-finals we had our first difficult game (of the tournament) with St. Ignatius (College Prep of San Francisco). We went back and forth with them and we tied the game with a minute left. We played two three-minute overtimes and scored twice to win it."

Senior attack Marissa Nagler accounted for the two overtime goals to earn the victory. That placed the Islanders in the championship final against Miramonte High School, whom Coronado easily bested Miramonte 8-3. Combined with regular season victories over three opponents including Cathedral Catholic and Serra, the Islanders now sport a nifty 9-0 record in 2006. "All of my girls got to play, which was nice," Battle said. "Tournaments like that help you during the regular season. We played very well."

Battle went on to provide an overview of her current team, many of whom played on the squad which finished 2005 as the runner-up to CIF Champion La Costa Canyon. "Marissa Nagler, Hannah Sebenaler and Greer Goebels have been pretty much running the attack. Greer plays midfield and has been a great transition player. Hannah and Marissa play home and work well together, alternating between assists and scoring. Hannah had 26 or 27 goals in the tournament and Marissa had 16 goals and 16 assists, which in my opinion is just as good."

Alyssa Littin is the team’s goalie and Battle complimented the sophomore on her effort. "Alyssa did very well. She definitely came up with some key saves. Our defense is led by (twins) Angela Naple and Lindsay Naple. They play line ‘D’ and are the last leg of defense before the goal. They are so invaluable to us and they played great. Sasha Vido plays ‘D’ wing and freshman Melissa Humphrey did very well at attack wing.

Unlike most local prep sports, lacrosse is played in one all-encompassing division for the CIF title. Battle handicaps the Islanders’ worthy opposition. "La Costa Canyon is undoubtedly the strongest team in the county right now. Are they unbeatable? No, but we have our work cut out for us. We’re capable of beating them. We have a much heavier schedule this year, facing Torrey Pines, Rancho Bernardo, Poway, and La Jolla twice. We play everyone. On any given day, anything can happen in lacrosse. We’re focusing on one game at a time and seeing where it takes us."

This week the Islanders play at San Dieguito Monday and at Scripps Ranch Tuesday. The team’s next big challenge will be March 29 at 6 pm when they play at league rival La Jolla. Saturday, April 1 Coronado will host Torrey Pines, with the varsity game slated for 1:30 pm and the JV contest at 3 pm. April 5, the Islanders will host Wycombie from England in a Varsity, JV doubleheader.

Islander Head Baseball Coach Sam Ceci led his charges down the Strand Saturday for a twin bill at Mar Vista High School. The Mariners took the opener 3-1, while the Islanders took the nightcap 3-0.

According to Ceci, the bats are coming alive, but a little luck might help. "In the first game we hit into three double plays, including two started by line drives. We had six or seven scoring opportunities and didn’t capitalize. We hit the ball sharply including line drives and grounders at people. We have to get through this, because the competition gets better quickly."

Ryland Gill started the first game and pitched into the fourth inning. He was relieved by Josh Fink and later Michael Baker-Denson. "Our pitching has been outstanding and we have played really solid defense. I thought we would score more than three runs." The second game found staff ace Kevin Couture achieving a statistical oddity, winning and saving the same game. In high school baseball, the rules allow a pitcher to pitch, play another position and then return to the mound. Couture pitched four innings, then Chas Marks pitched two complete shutout innings in relief, before giving up a lead-off double in the seventh. Couture returned to the mound, picked the runner off second and got two more outs to complete the game.

Ceci commented about Couture’s pitching outing. "Kevin was Kevin. He wasn’t as dominant as he can be, but he certainly was in control of the other batters. We heard a groan from the other side when we put him back in. His three pitches make him very difficult and he is throwing all of them for strikes. Had we won the first game, I don’t think I would have gone back to him."

Team statistics supplied by Islander official scorer Bill Seager reflect Couture’s mound dominance in 2006. In 20 innings, Couture has yet to yield a run, has given up only seven hits, and he has struck out 32 hitters while walking one. In addition, Coronado has only three errors in 205 defensive chances so far this season for a fine fielding percentage of .985. The Islanders now have an overall record of 5-2.

From the home office of "Chicks Dig the Longball," Jake McMahon clubbed the Islanders first triple of the year and scored one of Coronado’s three runs in the second game. "Jake gave us a spark in his first at bat," said Ceci of the sophomore. "He’s a scrappy little guy, who works harder at the game than most." Ceci also noted the contribution of Paolo Piscatelli, who like McMahon played in a JV game in the morning and gave the varsity a spark in the afternoon. The team’s other two runs were scored by Blake Spitzer and lead-off hitter Danny Cepin.

This week the Islanders host Division IV rival Francis Parker Wednesday at 3 pm, and then travel to Crawford Friday at 3 pm for the start of the City Conference Tournament. The following week tournament play continues with Coronado playing University City Monday and St. Augustine Wednesday.

Although the dual meet season doesn’t start until March 30 for the CHS Track and Field Team, a couple of athletes have started their competition season, according to Head Coach George Green. "Sarah Player placed fourth in the seeded heat of the 300-meter hurdles of the Bronco Invitational, held Saturday at Rancho Bernardo High School. She had a time of 48.36. Although that was about 2.5 seconds off her best time from last year, it’s a good early-season time that places her fifth in the county. Ben Enowitz ran in the seeded 3,200-meter run, finishing in 10:30.5."

The CHS Girls Basketball Program held their post-season banquet last week. Varsity Head Coach Toler Goodwin, in his seventh season at the helm of the varsity squad, guided his team to an 18-10 record, 8-2 in the Central League. He presented the following awards: MVP – Brooke Becky; Most Valuable Defensive Player – Jessica Davis-Ricci; Most Inspirational – Lisa Bernardy; Most Improved – Angela Strohbeck; Rookie of the Year – Kelsey Branch. The Islander Sports Foundation Award for Integrity, Sportsmanship and Friendship was awarded to Davis-Ricci. First Team All-Central League honors went to Becky and Davis-Ricci. Farrell Pompa and Tiffany Depfer earned Honorable Mention status.

JV Head Coach David Willey, celebrating his fourth year with the program, gave awards to: Team Co-MVPs – Emily Bell and Melissa Humphrey; Most Valuable Defensive Player – Angela Strohbeck; Most Improved Player and Team Captain – Leslie Orell. The JV Team was 13-8 overall and 7-2 in Central League play.

Boys Tennis Head Coach Robbin Adair checks in with the good news from the Boys Tennis Team. "We had a good week last week. We opened with Brawley Monday, defeating them 13-5. Leading the way was our freshman No. 1 singles player Krishna Samperio, who swept all three sets, as did our second doubles team of freshman Daniel Grazian and sophomore Frankie Harrison, who also swept all three.

Others scoring in the match included No. 2 singles player Patrick Holman and No. 3 singles player Evan Wheeler. Rounding out the scoring was the No. 1 doubles team of Chris Mitchell/Matt Oakley, who took two sets and the third team of Adrian de Aribe/Mitch Moran who earned one.

Tuesday we played San Dieguito Academy and won 11-7. This is the first time in 5 years that we have been able to defeat them. They were the No. 3 team in Division III last year. In this match, Samperio again swept all three sets, while Holman and Wheeler won one each. In doubles, the teams of Mitchell/Oakley and Grazian/Harrison swept all three, while the No. 3 team of de Aribe/Moran dropped three tough sets.

Thursday we were supposed to play long-time Strand rival Mar Vista, but they called and defaulted the match to us. Next week we play twice. Wednesday we travel to El Capitan and on Thursday we open Western League play with Cathedral Catholic."

"The Wall Street Journal" isn’t known as a bastion of sports commentary, but an article in the March 18, 2006 edition by Stefan Fatsis about the pending use of instant replay in tennis caught our attention. The piece quoted Paul Campos, a law professor at the University of Colorado on the subject. "In the United States, it seems like a violation of your constitutional right that somebody got the call (in any sport) wrong. In other cultures, one of the symbolic functions of sports is to present the unfairness of authority."

Perhaps that would help explain the poor officiating in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament last week.

Coronado added to their victory total last week, with an 11-5 triumph over Montgomery and a 3-1win against Escondido Charter. The Islanders are now 3-1 on the season as they start play in the very tough Western League later this week.

"We had a great character win against Montgomery," said Head Coach Ed Shanholtz. "We were trailing 5-2 after three innings. Then we had some great pitching and solid defense and we were a lot more disciplined at the plate this week. We had some good, timely hitting."

In the Montgomery game, pitcher Alexis Wright was credited with the victory. Sara Noceto contributed a two-run double, Farrell Pompa was 2-4 with a stolen base and two runs scored; Christy Mebust was 3-4 with a stolen base and a run scored; while Lisa Bernardy was 3-5 with a triple and two runs scored. Defensively, Karli Massie threw out a runner at home in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Noceto took to the mound against Escondido Charter, and hurled a complete game three-hitter. Jessica Davis-Ricci was 2-3 with a homer; Alexis Wright was 3-4 with two stolen bases; and Noceto helped her own cause with a clutch 2-run double, which drove in two important insurance runs.

In addition to starting league play this week in a pair of 3 pm starts, Wednesday vs. Clairemont at Green Field and Friday at Cathedral Catholic, play begins Saturday at Montgomery High School in the Aztec Tournament. Coronado will play OLP at 9:30 am and Crawford at 11:10 am.

For first year Head Coach Dean Cummings, this Boys Golf coaching gig is turning out to be pretty easy. Last week the Coronado linksters defeated Clairemont 215-235 at Torrey Pines in their first Central League match of the season.

The following day the Islanders returned to their home course at Coronado Municipal and conquered Otay Ranch 201-261. Thursday Coronado defeated their closest Central League rival Christian 191-214.

"Stewart Harris is our No. 1 player, averaging 38.2 strokes per round," said Cummings, also a resident golf pro at Coronado Muni and a CHS (’96) alumnus. "The team is starting to play the way I thought they would. Our scores are pretty sporadic and Stewart is the only one playing really steady. James Carney has moved into the second position on the varsity. The kids are happy, which is important."

Also scoring well last week was Bobby Center, who was the medalist in the Otay Ranch match with a 37. Bryan Reed shot an even-par 36 Thursday against Christian. Harris shot a one under par with a 35 against Christian.

Leading the ‘B’ Team, now 1-1, are Michael Emerson and Matt Buss. The ‘A’ squad is now 4-1 and 2-0 in the Central League. This week the Islanders play La Jolla for the second time this season. Their first match resulted in a 207-209 Coronado victory.

Paced by strong group of aquatics athletes, in addition to a couple of out-of-state transfers, the CHS Boys and Girls Swim Teams figure to be competitive in CIF Division II this year. This season, the Boys are 3-0 in dual meets and the Girls are 1-2.

Leading the Boys Team according to Head Coach Dave Throop are returning lettermen Sean Castillo in the 200 individual medley and Preston Lujan in the sprint freestyles and the 100 butterfly. "We have a new addition to the team who moved from Tennessee in junior Lee Sebring. The 200 free and the 100 back seem to be his stronger events right now. Following family tradition, we now have Adam Ratcliffe, a freshman who will provide some points. One of our strengths is that we have 12 senior water polo guys for depth. All of the seniors are swimming, which provides a nice finish to their high school aquatics careers."

For the boys, who finished in second place behind Valhalla last year in Division II, their competition will again come from the Norsemen, La Jolla and Valley Center.

On the girls’ side, there is a lot of individual talent, according to Throop. "Junior Molly Patrick is a premier sprint freestyler and sophomore Carly Hoshko can compete in all freestyle events. Heather Ireland is a new addition to the high school from Texas and she will compete in the 200 free and the 100 back. We have a couple of notable seniors in Catherine Maguire and Taylor Clarkson. Lenea Smith will swim the 100 and 200 free. Freshman Kathryn Bailey probably has the most extensive swimming background of all of the girls. She’ll probably swim two of these three events, the 200 and 500 free and the 200 IM."

Throop says that the girls medley relay is one of the strongest he has coached at CHS. He added that Cathedral Catholic, Mt. Carmel and La Jolla are the three toughest competitors for Coronado in Division II. "I would anticipate the girls side will have a tougher road than the boys, based on what we have seen so far this year. We will have to work hard and give it our best shot. This is a uniquely pleasurable group of kids to be around. No team is perfect, but they work hard and get along better than any group I have been around. It makes it fun to be out there."

CHS Boys Volleyball Head Coach Jaime Lopez is a busy man. In addition to being married with a young child, he plays competitive volleyball in Baja, Mexico, is the setter for the Grossmont College Volleyball Team and is taking a full course load at the school.

From a scheduling perspective, it may help some that his wife Stacie McKissick is the CHS Boys JV head coach, but regardless, this is one busy guy.

"We’re improving very fast," said Lopez of his 12-man team. "For only two weeks of practice, they are doing very well. Only two or three of them played last year and the rest didn’t know how to play volleyball. They are easy to coach, willing to learn and trying hard."

Lopez noted junior setter Nolan Woodhouse, junior outside hitter Oscar Herrera, senior middle blocker Anthony Ott and sophomore middle blocker Sam Working as being among his more valuable players.

Opponents this season include home-and-home series with Clairemont and Madison, and single games with Montgomery, St. Augustine, Bishop’s and El Capitan. The Islanders will compete in CIF Division IV.