South Bay High School Surfing League Championships

Well, it’s still not happening. No SBSL High School Surfers. My wife, Shelley, went with me to photograph some great surfers in some great rides — but we quickly left the Hermosa Beach Pier for El Porto (North Manhattan Beach) as there was “no contest” at the first site. There was a super age group contest going on at the second site (with great waves) — sponsored by Body Glove, then Spyder, then Dive ‘n’ Surf, but no one knows when the HS Finals will be held… (I hope you’re not as disappointed as I was…)

CIF-San Diego Section (SDS) Division II Semi-Finals

CIF-SDS Division II, La Jolla

Clearly the most intertaining day of the three-day six-game SDS Semis, #1 Valhalla took on #5 Rancho Bernardo and #2 Ramona took on #3 Steele Canyon.  The higher seeds won out, but it wasn’t until the very end of each contest that the final result was known. Neither game featured many counterattacks, as three of the four teams seemed to be sparing with their opponents.

The exception was Rancho Bernardo, who jumped to a 3-1 lead at half and 5-2 at the end of three periods based on great scoring efforts from Taylor Brown and Kiley Gansert, who had three goals each, and quick reacting saves in goal from senior Karen Chou, who had 14 blocks for the game. The only first half goal for Valhalla was a penalty score by sophomore Jasmine Miller, who also had a great defensive effort.

Early in the fourth quarter, Valhalla pressed the goalie; according to Coach Page Small, “We had to do something to keep the ball in our front court. Drawing the ejections for 6v5 was just what it took.” In that frame, Valhalla scored four of five with the extra player, primarily Colleen Ratliff shots off of assists from Roxy Herron. (Both ladies are juniors.)

Bernardo got back in the game with a senior sister pass from Anne-Marie Parkinson to her sophomore sister Hayley Parkinson, and then got a clean backhand goal from soph Zoe Brown.

What was cool was that Valhalla’s Herron scored an extra with :02 on the clock to salvage the tie in regulation and send the game to overtime. In OT, it was Valhalla senior Cortney Bayuk who scored the final two goals in the 9-8 (2OT) win, one with basically no time on the clock at the end of 1OT. Valhalla escaped and is back in the Final with a chance to exceed last year’s D-II Runner-up status. “Our top goalie, junior Lauren Adams, is out with pneumonia,” Coach Small said. “It was great that our backup, senior Christina Salazar, rose to the occasion to stop them in the end.”

Ramona Team Captains lead the pre-game cheer, CIF Semi-Finals!

The second game of the night was as classy as the first for intense competition. Ramona, the higher seed, entered its third CIF-SDS Semi-Final in a row. Coach Donnie Williams: “We were disappointed last year. Many of the girls have had a fever this week. I told them, ‘We’re going to face adversity all week.’ It was true. (Three girls had temps over 103 degrees.) Then, down 2-3 going into the second half, I told them, ‘keep up the pressure! Hold on!’ Then we made history — we’re the first Ramona team ever to make the CIF Finals!”

By the end, Ramona had erased the deficit and three goals each by Steele Canyon’s Hannah Neville and Autumn Schramm to win the game in regulation. Cassie Bernas scored three, two on counters, one assist from goalie Tiffany Larson, the other from Holly Smith. Smith tallied three for the game, the last two coming in the last two minutes from the left wing. At each of the last two time outs, one could hear the coughing, as the Ramona hardwork was taking its toll. According to defensive standout Jocelyn Schwegler, “Our Coach encouraged us, ‘Just make it!’ My thoughts, breathe…we can do this!” And they did — and their fans can breathe easier too that they’re in ‘THE FINAL’ for the first time ever!

CIF-SDS Division I Semi-Finals

A beautiful eventing at the Coggin Family Aquatic Center, La Jolla

Top-seeded Carlsbad anhilated Patrick Henry, 14-2, and second-seeded Torrey Pines did the same to sixth-seeded Westview, 15-6, in the nightcap. Both teams were counterattacking throughout the game, and that’s what I like to see!

Although the Carlsbad game started slow, the more solid team still had a 4-0 lead at halftime. “We were nervous at first, I don’t know why…” commented Coach Greg Horman shortly after the game. I think perhaps it was just defensive cautiousness. Lexi Domingo did have two great steals, one which led to a counterattack goal by senior Makena Magro.

Jaycee McNally, senior superlative for C-bad had five goals in the Semi (two in the tight first half). “She played super strong,” according to Horman.

Even Makena’s younger sister, sophomore Malia Magro, got into the act with steals, field blocks and assists to her sister, who scored a game-high six goals. Per the girls, post-game, “we’re proud of the team. We took over in the second half and ‘put them away’.” Good stage to set for the Final.

In the second game, senior goalkeeper Julia Hermann set the pace with 12 saves for Torrey Pines Falcons and a dominating 9-2 halftime lead, even though the Westview Wolverines gave it their all behind Alba Little-Sana.

A proud Westview squad after their D-I Semi-Final.

According to Coach Amy Jennings of Westview, “We had a bad exit last year in the Quarters. Although we were disappointed, we said, ‘not this time.’ So we’re pleased to make it this far.”

Quotes from Head Coach Heather Langridge of Torrey Pines, “Julia comes from a great athletic family. And she’s trained well. Much of that credit goes to our goalie Coach, Mike Rall.”

Highlights of the game included multiple scores byMichelle Martinelli (5), Crystal Lore (3), Haley King (2) and Kara Kezik (2). Kezik also had two beautiful assists. Even though being up at half, Coach Langridge said, “Don’t lay down. Stay focused.”

“We only lost 4-1 to Carlsbad early in the season. Although we were disappointed in the final last year (in fact have lost the last two to Vista HS and Carlsbad more recently), we said, ‘not this time.’ Now we’re in the CIF Final again and have a great opportunity.”

CIF-SDS Division III Semi-Finals

On a rainy, blustery day, The Bishop’s School of La Jolla, the number-one seed, handled Cathedral Catholic 15-5 to advance to the D3 Final for the sixteenth time against number-two seed La Jolla High, a 12-7 victor over Coronado. La Jolla fell behind 2-4 before scoring 3 to take a 5-4 lead just :04 before halftime, and overall the 5 unanwered goals put away the number-three seed.

Southern Section (CIF-SS) completes Quarterfinals

Over two dozen great games this weekend as 7 Divisions completed their Quarterfinal competion. I was fortunate to be able to attend two in Division III.

Arroyo Grande at Mira Costa

Mira Costa, the Bay League Co-champions with Palos Verdes, drew the #1 league seed via coin flip. It was clearly not the better route for the Bay, since Arroyo Grande was entering the game with 24 wins and only 7 losses for the season and over 100 consecutive League wins.

Seizing every early opportunity they had, AG mounted a four goal lead and held on the entire game, winning 9-4. According to head coach Steven Allen, “Best game of the Season for us! We did great in League, but just couldn’t put everything together until today.”

Team star Alexis Elias (4 goals), summarized her team’s play as “very motivated. We may have started a bit nervous, being away, but we played hard throughout and kept the momentum going.” When asked regarding ‘when she felt her team had enough cushion to coast to the win,’ she replied, “at the final buzzer!”

On the losing side, KAI~Polo made contact with scoring sensation Kaylee Brownsberger of Mira Costa. In true freshman exhuberation, she commented “Three more years!” as this Costa team is really young and has a lot to prove in the future.

Upland at Palos Verdes

Palos Verdes, the Bay League Co-Champions with Mira Costa, drew what appeared to be a worse seed against League Champion Upland. It was a very entertaining game. In true Southern California fashion, the game started ~35 minutes late as the Upland Team Bus was caught in traffic due to multiple events on the peninsula. After an even-paced warm up, the teams lined up for introductions, a nice touch since Mira Costa skipped those formalities.

Both teams had ample opportunities in the first half which ended in a 4-4 tie. Upland had the early edge as their #10, Junior Britt Harris, was all over the pool, stealing, assisting and scoring a couple  of goals for  an early 4-2 lead. But PV crawled back in to the game with a #4 Ellie D’Ambra pass to #7 Junior Kendyl Johnson for a quick shot. Following that goal, a beautiful Senior Goalkeeper Carly Radov outlet pass to Sophomore Kate Roan evened the scoreline right before halftime.

Then came the PV fireworks, led by Senior Co-Captains D’Ambra and Radov. D’Ambra (5 goals) was formidable in the field, scoring an 8-meter lob, drawing and taking a penalty shot for a goal, assisting on a counter attack, drawing another ejection and scoring on a skipshot, and then taking a final PV opportunity for a sweep shot as she posted up, 10-6 lead. It really didn’t matter to PV fans that Upland closed the gap to 10-8 at the end.

Post-game: Coach Pat O’Brien, “We’re ready for Semis!”

His star Goalie: Carly Radov, when questioned about the fantastic long bomb before halftime, “Coach usually tells me which side, but if he’s shouting other instructions to others (such as which way to cut), then I can make my own decisions (on the outlet pass). I just have to make sure it doesn’t sail too far.” And it didn’t…

On the losing side, all-around threat Britt Harris was also approached after the game. Her comments, “We came out strong, we sent them a message, next year we’ll be back and get to Semis.” Congratulations, Upland (and Mira Costa) on a great year, bowing out at this juncture.

[ed. note: Alexis Elias, see above, as a potential superlative Division I Utility pick — driver and set — was slated on scholarship to Colorado State University (CSU)…unfortunatelly, a day or two before signing, they dropped their Women’s Varsity Polo program… My opinion: She is the real thing — colleges/universities needing a quality player should contact her ASAP, as she’s most interested in playing Varsity.]

South Bay High School Surfing League Championships

Very interesting. I showed up for the SBSL Championships yesterday morning at the Hermosa Pier — and it was not happening. A beautiful day, but flat surf. We’ll need to find out when it’s rescheduled for…

Girls HS Polo Central Section (CIF-CS) Finals — this year underway and flourishing!

The 2012-2013 year is well underway with the Fall 2012 in Central and Northern California concluded successfully! This past week was a great experience for me, observing many competitions and feeling that girl’s water polo continues to advance at both a State and Regional level…

Call this a Travelog — or call this a Travelblog — or how about a Travel-log-blog? — after about 1600 miles of driving, from LA to San Jose, to as far north as Marin County, then south and back to the center of the great state of California, I was able to witness first hand six games spanning four divisions in CIF-CS and CIF-CCS. Here’s the synopsis:

Main thrust — for 2012, CIF-CS D-I rocks, and they’re on par with CIF-CCS D-I and II.

CIF-CS Division I Championship Introductions
Clovis Cougars vs. Clovis West Eagles

FRESNO: Clovis HS, back-to-back 2010 and 2011 Champions, hosted Clovis West, 10-time past Champions, in a thriller worthy of a Championship-rivalry-clash! It was my extreme pleasure (finally) watching the  phenomenal junior Mary Brooks score six, grab three steals, and make three field blocks in her teams’ 9-7 win after jumping to a 3-1 first quarter lead. West scored on several counterattacks and maintained a 2-goal cushion throughout, 5-3 at half and 8-6 at third, with three additional goals by freshman sensation Sarah Snyder, who added an insurance goal with less than a minute to go. The story of the match was the well-balanced West defense that forced their opponent to waste lots of possession time on the perimeter…

Cougar Cheerleaders and crowd root for the home team!

I should mention the past Champions — what a great team they are! Let by last year’s Valley MVP, Hannah Harvey, who had 2 assists and 2 steals, but was keyed on throughout the game,  the Clovis Varsity worked hard to get back into the match with goals by seniors Maecie Collard and Kylie Wheelock and sophomores McKenna Hauss and Miranda Coleman, but were unable to equalize when it was needed. Interesting to note, five senior starters, of the eight seniors overall, are destined to play Intercollegiate Varsity as offers are in the making! [I hope to follow up on this note, as the lucky schools look to include UC Davis (Harvey), UOP (Catie Mahnke), CSU Monterrey Bay (Wheelock), CSU Long Beach (Ashlee Coleman) and potentially San Jose State (Collard) — I’m rooting for Maecie to get picked up by SJS as she had a great HS career and would be a fit for coaches Lou Tully and Johnny Bega, in my estimation.] 

VISALIA, Golden West HS: Good news, it was a good game for the Division II Championship between Hanford West and San Joaquin Memorial (SJM), 10-5 in favor of the top seed Hanford West, who had already beaten SJM earlier in the year. Questionable news, I need to mention, is that the venues for the three Divisions NEED TO BE CONSOLIDATED — as both CIF-CCS and CIF-SJS does —

which would promote a better understanding of what the different play is like in the different Divisions. [Note: instead the Division Sectionals are hours and miles apart, which clearly keeps knowledge separate, unfortunately.]

Back to the game itself… Although led by spirited SJM play by Brie Fleming and Katelyn Cordoza, Hanford West had Co-Captains Dagmar Gudmundsson and Katelyn Hatfield, as well as 2m Set Kaelyn Caretto control the ball and the scoreboard throughout the contest. Caretto assisted to Gudmundsson for the first goal, then scored a backhand and a sweep from set to take a 3-0 lead after one period. In the second, Cordoza and Fleming each scored to draw within one, but then Caretto and Gudmundsson stretched the lead to 5-2 and half and 7-4 by the third, all from set plays in front court offense. Surprisingly  (for me) there were no counterattacks during the contest.

[Final anecdote: it was kinda cool that, on the way to the Golden West HS pool, one had to drive up “Lover’s Lane” to get from the freeway to the campus… makes you glad to be home!]

CIF-Central Coast Section (CIF-CCS) Semi’s

What a great experience! CIF-CCS Division I and II Semi-Finals! Great plays by great players…again, it was my pleasure observing and enjoying super playmakers in four super contests, highlights follow:

CIF-CCS Division II Semi-Final Introductions
Saint Ignacious Wildcats vs. Presentation Panthers

Semi-Day 1, Game 1, Division II, St. Ignatius 9-4 over Presentation:  in a game where Presentation had difficulty scoring, Saint Ignatius scored enough early, then put the game away with four unanswered goals at the end, primarily relying on the strength of their senior Goalkeeper, Francesca Puccinelli, and her eleven saves, three steals and one assist. The winning Wildcats were led by Carla Tocchini with four goals, two assists and two field blocks, and her senior teammates Susan Providenza (2 goals, 1 assist) and Caoimhe Slevin (1 goal, 1 steal, 1 field block) also contributed.

Words of Wisdom…

Shown at left are Referees Rachel McCracken and Jorge Aguilera giving instructions to the Saint Ignatius Co-Captains Francesca Puccinelli, #1, Carla Tocchini, #11, and the Presentation Co-Captains Lesley Kerley, #11, and Josephine Andrews, #5, prior to the start of their match.

Semi-Day 1, Game 2, Division II, Sacred Heart Prep (SHP) 11-5 over Castilleja:  my Coastal Cal friend Brenda Villa (3-time Olympian and recent Gold Medal winner for TEAM USA) is the head coach of Castilleja, and she and her assistant, Kim Krueger, had their work cut out for them as their #4 seed was facing D2 #1 SHP. It was not to be for her “Gators,” as the (also) “Gators” of SHP jumped out to a 6-0 lead at halftime, then cruised to 9-3 after three. Senior driver Grace Arnold of Castilleja led all scorers with 3 goals, but SHP had several girls with goals — starters P.J. Bigley, Bridgette Harper, Malaika Koshy, Morgan McCracken and Caitlin Stuewe all scored — as well as Camille Zelinger as the reserve set. Head Coach of SHP, Jon Burke, was quite pleased with his club’s control of the game on both offense and defense, which should lead the way to a sixth consecutive D-II Championship.

Semi-Day 2, Game 1, Division I, St. Francis 11-7 over Archbishop Mitty:  Saint Francis was the most well-balanced team of the west bay area, turning a 6-4 halftime lead into a 9-5 third quarter domination of Mitty. Katherine Moore, Francis’ junior goalkeeper, had 9 saves, one on a 1-on-GK, 2 assists and 1 steal to lead her ballclub of almost all juniors to the victory. Although Mitty had a strong performance by junior Center Forward Sabrina Sherrin, Francis’ starters Courtney Batcheller, Brittany Kirwan, Eela Ngaraj, Tegan Stanbach and Sami Strutner all scored. Going in to the D1 Final, confirmed by Saint Francis Head Coach Brendon Ruetebuch, his team only had losses to CIF-NCS foes Campolindo and San Ramon, NCS D2 and D1 Champions respectively, and CIF-CS foe Clovis West, eventual D1 Champion in that section… Nice work, ladies!~

Semi-Day 2, Game 2, Division I, Leland 8-7 over Menlo-Atherton:  clearly the most competitive/closely contested game of the four. Leland, with its 22 win record, was clearly the stonger, quicker, better skilled ball club, but could not manage a score in the first half when needed and fell behind 0-1 in the second period, barely to score a lob goal before halftime to draw even. In the third quarter, speedy seniors Alison Griffeth, Jamie Nolan and Katie Peck, connected on five counterattacks to jump ahead, only to let Menlo close the gap with extra player opportunities cashed-in. Griffeth had 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 goal to go along with Peck’s assist, steal and field block, but it was Nolan’s 5 goals that led the game. Jessica Heilman of Menlo had 4 goals, many of the “5+ direct-free throw type” following a misplaced ordinary foul by Leland players. None-the-less, the last opportunity was bar-down no-goal, and Leland advanced as predicted.

Distance Swimming All-America — now posted!

The KAI~Cal-HI List for 2-3 mile Ocean Swim Racing (Rough Water) is available for your review. Please click back to the KAI~Sports website or click http://kaisports.org/swimFiles/Swimming2-3miles2012.htm
to go straight to the list.

“the Pack” in recent Pier-to-Pier

Girls High School Water Polo 2011-2012: A blockbuster year for Goalkeepers!

KAI Sports just published our annual All-America Teams for Girls Water Polo — and the list of Goalies grew again.  [It had to grow due to great play observed by this sportswriter!  During the season, I was personnally able to visit 8 different divisions in 5 different sections of high school water polo throughout California and Hawai’i, and I can attest to the fact that Girl Goaltenders guarded their cages better than ever before!]

As coordinator, I added a third Goalkeeper per Team on the Top Six Teams, increasing the total from 20 (2009-2010 and 2010-2011) to a new high of 26, with a new high of 26 also spotted as Honorable Mention GKs. The divisions’ coaches within each section obviously had a field day voting and selecting such a cream of the crop — and made my ranking much more interesting as well.

Congratulations to all these wonderful ladies for theirs and their teams super success stories this past season!

It was indeed a pleasure providing the service in selecting this year’s 

KAI~CAL-HI All-America™ girls polo players

 

As a reminder, patches and certificates are available on the kaisports.org website — just follow the link to the Kai~Polo Tab to find your athletes and the Kai~Awards Tab to order.  I’ll see many of you next year, but I sincerely hope you’re having a great summer!