Metro Conference roller hockey teams have completed two full weeks of play in the current 2024-25 season and league leaders have already started to emerge in the Metro’s three-league format.
The Eastlake Titans have rolled out to a 2-0 lead in Mesa League play with victories over rivals Bonita Vista (6-3) and Hilltop (5-0) in gritty back-to-back games on Jan. 15.
The Mar Vista Mariners are 2-0 in South Bay League play following wins over San Ysidro (12-0 on Jan. 8) and Sweetwater (4-0 on Jan. 9).
The Southwest Raiders are 2-0 in Pacific League play following victories over Chula Vista (6-0 on Jan. 6) and Castle Park (3-0 on Jan. 9).
Teams remaining one game back in the standings include Bonita Vista (1-1 in Mesa League play), Sweetwater (1-1 in South Bay League play) and Castle Park (1-1 in Pacific League play).
Eastlake remained the lone undefeated team at 7-0 through two weeks, followed by Bonita Vista at 5-1, Hilltop at 6-2, Mar Vista at 5-2, Southwest at 4-3 and Otay Ranch at 2-1.
Bonita Vista defeated Hilltop in a clash of longtime rivals, 7-0, on Jan. 8 to face off Mesa League play.
On a roll
Week 2 faced off Jan. 13 with Eastlake skating past Castle Park, 15-0, in non-league play to improve to 4-0 on the season. Chris Rollbusch led the offensive assault with 12 points on eight goals and four assists while Sidney Jonason collected five points on one goal and four assists. Desi Garcia tacked on four points (two goals, two assists) while Riley McElroy chalked up a three-goal hat trick.
Bonita Vista matched the Titans’ 4-0 start to the season with a 13-0 chopping of San Ysidro in another non-league game. Freshman Aaron Odvina turned in a breakout performance with seven points on six goals and one assist while senior scoring leader Jacob Hunter contributed six points on three goals and three assists. Jolie Liken-Lopez scored twice while adding an assist. Ethan Quillen notched one goal and two assists for three points while Stone Rubio slipped in one goal and one assist as the Barons’ younger players got a chance to develop.
The Hilltop Lancers (4-1 overall) recorded two wins on the evening — 12-1 over the Chula Vista Spartans and 3-1 over Southwest to remain undefeated in non-league games. Aariel Nichols racked up eight goals and one assist between the two non-league matchups while Will Aceves had one goal and two assists and Michael Han had two goals.
Sweetwater downed San Ysidro, 7-1, to pick up its first win of the season behind four goals and one assist from Ryan Lopez and two goals from Achilles Tan,
The Otay Ranch Mustangs made their season debut with a 6-4 win over Sweetwater to close out the Jan. 15 session of six games. Nick Bernal led all scorers with six points on five goals and one assist while Otay Ranch teammate Falomir contributed one goal and one assist. Lopez led the Red Devils with two goals and one assist.
Titans top Barons for Mesa League lead
The conference’s first really big game took place on Jan. 15 with Eastlake and Bonita Vista both sporting undefeated 4-0 records in non-league games. Both teams shared last year’s Mesa League title.
The Titans had the most depth and showed it by grabbing a 4-0 first-half lead on three goals and an assist from Jonason and one goal by Garcia. The Barons were held scoreless on two power play opportunities to start the second half while McElroy scored on a breakaway to pad the Eastlake lead to 5-0.
That’s where Hunter took over with three unanswered goals to make it a 5-3 game with 1:30 to play. However, Jonason broke up the string of BV goals with his fourth tally of the game in a monster performance on the court.
“It was the most important game for us this season,” Jonason said. “We had to step up. If we didn’t beat them, we might not be able to the rest of the season. We got more confident after last week. We were determined to stop No. 8 (Hunter). We prepared for this all last week.”
Eastlake improved to 2-0 in league play (6-0 overall) by defeating Hilltop in an ensuing back-to-back game. Rollbusch (four goals) and Jonason (one goal, two assists) supplied all the offense for the Titans while the Eastlake defense held Nichols, the top female player in the district and one of the top scorers on the court regardless of gender, scoreless.
In other games on Jan. 15, Mar Vista rolled to a pair of wins (1-0 over Southwest and 6-0 over Chula Vista) while Otay Ranch improved to 2-0 with a 7-2 victory against Chula Vista.
Riley Owen’s first-half goal stood up as the game-winner over the Raiders in the teams’ rivalry game. Fernando Corona keyed the Mariners with four points (one goal, three assists) in the win over the Spartans while Owen and Marston Malfori each chipped in with a pair fo goals.
Falomir had a hat trick and one assist to help the Mustangs roll to their 2-0 start. Santiago Pearson had two goals and one assist while Isaac Alvarez also scored for Otay Ranch. Moises Gomez and Diego Carlon each scored for Chula Vista, which improved noticeably from the first week of play.
Hilltop shaded Castle Park, 4-3, in a more defensive game. Nichols scored all four Lancer goals, including one shorthanded. Caleb Quintero recorded a hat trick for the Trojans, who made it close at the end.
Gritty games on tap
The second week ended Jan. 16 with six more games, including two by Mar Vista (a split with Castle Park and Hilltop), Eastlake’s 7-0 non-league win over Sweetwater to remain the district’s lone undefeated team and the first win by Chula Vista after six years.
Mar Vista shut out Castle Park, 3-0, behind two goals by Corona and looked to pull an upset against the Lancers as Owen staked the Mariners to an 2-0 first-half lead. But the ever-dangerous Nichols was waiting in the wings with four second-half goals to push Hilltop over the edge. Nichols had been held scoreless on her first 11 shots in the game before finally finding her range.
BV’s Hunter and Otay’s Bernal both were unavailable for their teams because of an ice hockey tournament in Utah. The Barons managed to overcome their loss to Eastlake the previous day with a 3-1 win over Sweetwater (Odvina supplying all three BV goals) while the Mustangs were unable to gallop past Southwest in a 3-1 loss (Angelica Cantu, Cassie Cervantes and Prince Corpus with one goal each for the Raiders).
Sweetwater became the first team to hold Eastlake to a single-digit victory. Scoring was spread out on the Titans with Rollbusch collecting one goal and three assists, Adam Ibarra and Nicholas Battillo each scoring twice and McElroy and Garcia each supplying one goal.
The Red Devils auditioned Ethan Salvi-Young, a non-hockey player, between the pipes in his first-ever chance at playing the goaltender position. He performed well with 17 saves on 24 shots.
Chula Vista made history with its 2-1 win over San Ysidro to wipe out a winless restart to the program. The scoring was tight with Carlon and Gomez each scoring goals for a 2-0 Spartan advantage before Luna Alvarez cut the deficit in half for the Cougars. Kobe Cruz added an assist for Chula Vista.
The Spartans last took the playing court in 2019. “For not playing in six years, the players have started to come together. They’re working hard. They starting to score goals and learning how to play defense.”
“It’s been fun,” Carlon said. “It’s been a struggle with us not playing for six years. I’m a senior and I’ve tried to get its started again since I was a freshman. Regardless of wins and losses, it’s been enjoyable. It’s been fun and that’s what counts.”
METRO CONFERENCE ROLLER HOCKEY
Games of Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025
Castle Park High School outdoor rink
Game 1: Mar Vista 3, Castle Park 0
Mar Vista scoring: Fernando Corona 2 goals; Marston Malfori 1 goal; Riley Owen 1 assist; Mya Carrazco 1 assist
Castle Park scoring: none
Note: Mar Vista improves season record to 5-1.
Game 2: Bonita Vista 3, Sweetwater 1
Bonita Vista scoring: Aaron Odvina 3 goals; Jolie Liken-Lopez 2 assists
Sweetwater scoring: Ryan Lopez 1 goal; Natsumi Cruz 1 assist
Note: Bonita Vista improves season record to 5-1.
Game 3: Hilltop 4, Mar Vista 2
Hilltop scoring: Aariel Nichols 4 goals
Mar Vista scoring: Riley Owen 2 goals; Fernando Corona 1 assist
Note: Mar Vista led 2-0 before Hilltop responded with four second-half goals, all unassisted on breakaways by Nichols, Hilltop improves record to 6-2.
Game 4: Eastlake 7, Sweetwater 0
Eastlake scoring: Chris Rollbusch 1 goal, 3 assists; Adam Ibarra 2 goals; Nicholas Battillo 2 goals; Riley McElroy 1 goal; Desi Garcia 1 goal; Jace Ahumada-Morrow 1 assist; Sid Jonason 1 assist
Sweetwater scoring: none
Note: Sweetwater becomes first team to hold Eastlake to single-digit scoring, Ethan Salvi-Young, a non-hockey player, makes 17 saves in first-ever attempt at playing goaltender for the Red Devils.
Note: Eastlake improves season record to 7-0.
Game 5: Chula Vista 2, San Ysidro 1
Chula Vista scoring: Diego Carlon 1 goal; Moises Gomez 1 goal; Kobe Cruz 1 assist
San Ysidro scoring: Luna Alvarez 1 goal
Note: Chula Vista picks up first win of season, first on-court win since 2019, improves season record to 1-6.
Game 6: Southwest 3, Otay Ranch 1
Southwest scoring: Angelica Cantu 1 goal, 1 assist; Cassie Cervantes 1 goal, 1 assist; Prince Corpus 1 goal
Otay Ranch scoring: Diego Falomir 1 goal
Note: Southwest improves season record to 4-3, Otay Ranch suffers first loss of season.
Hilltop’s Aariel Nichols on the move. Photo by Phillip Brents
METRO CONFERENCE ROLLER HOCKEY
Games of Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025
Castle Park High School outdoor rink
Game 1: Otay Ranch 7, Chula Vista 2
Note: Diego Falomir (OR) hat trick
Game 2: Mar Vista 1, Southwest 0
Note: Riley Owen (MV) game-winning goal
Game 3: Hilltop 4, Castle Park 3
Note: Aariel Nichols (H) 4 goals, including shorthanded goal
Game 4: Mar Vista 6, Chula Vista 0
Note: Fernando Corona (MV) 1 goal, 3 assists; Riley Owen (MV) 2 goals ; Marston Malfori 2 goals, 1 assist
Game 5: Eastlake 6, Bonita Vista 3
Note: Mesa League game, Sid Jonason (EL) 4 goals, 1 assist; Jacob Hunter (BV) 3 goals
Game 6: Eastlake 5, Hilltop 0
Note: Mesa League game, Chris Rollbusch (EL) 4 goals; Sid Jonason (EL) 1 goal, 2 assists
Metro Conference Records
Eastlake 6-0
Otay Ranch 2-0
Bonita Vista 4-1
Mar Vista 4-1
Hilltop 5-2
Southwest 3-3
Castle Park 2-4
Sweetwater Red Devils 1-5
San Ysidro 0-5
Chula Vista 0-6
Mesa League standings
Eastlake Titans 2-0, 6-0
Otay Ranch Mustangs 0-0, 2-0
Bonita Vista Barons 1-1, 4-1
Hilltop Lancers 0-2, 5-2
South Bay League standings
Mar Vista Mariners 2-0, 4-1
Sweetwater Red Devils 1-1, 1-5
San Ysidro Cougars 0-1, 0-5
Pacific League standing
Southwest Raiders 2-0, 3-3
Caste Park Trojans 1-1, 2-4
Chula Vista Spartans 0-2, 0-6
Aariel Nichols, Hilltop Lancers. Photos by Phillip Brents
METRO CONFERENCE SCORING LEADERS
(Through Jan. 16, 2025)
Chris Rollbusch (Eastlake) 31 goals, 20 assists – 51 points
Aariel Nichols (Hilltop) 25 goals, 2 assist – 27 points
Jacob Hunter (Bonita Vista) 18 goals, 8 assists – 26 points
Aaron Odvina (Bonita Vitsa) 15 goals, 6 assists – 21 points
Sid Jonason (Eastlake) 10 goals, 11 assists – 21 points
Fernando Corona (Mar Vista) 12 goals, 6 assists – 18 points
Riley McElroy (Eastlake) 11 goals, 4 assists – 15 points
Ryan Lopez (Sweetwater) 9 goals, 3 assists – 12 points
Desi Garcia (Eastlake) 8 goals, 3 assist- 11 points
Nicholas Battillo (Eastlake) 8 goals, 2 assists – 10 points
Riley Owen (Mar Vista) 6 goal, 4 assists – 10 points
Angelica Cantu (Southwest) 7 goals, 1 assist – 8 points
Marston Malfori (Mar Vista) 6 goals, 2 assist – 8 points
Adam Ibarra (Eastlake) 5 goals, 3 assists – 8 points
Diego Falomir (Otay Ranch) 5 goals, 2 assists – 7 points
Sam Chavez (Eastlake) 2 goals, 5 assists – 7 points
Caleb Quintero (Castle Park) 6 goals, 0 assists – 6 points
Nick Bernal (Otay Ranch) 5 goals, 1 assist – 6 points
Will Aceves (Hilltop) 3 goals, 3 assists, 6 points
Iris Miranda (Castle Park) 3 goals, 2 assist – 5 points
Prince Corpus (Southwest) 2 goals, 3 assists – 5 points
Jolie Liken-Lopez (Bonita Vista) 2 goals, 3 assists – 5 points
METRO CONFERENCE RECORDS
(Through Jan. 16)
Eastlake Titans 7-0
Bonita Vista Barons 5-1
Hilltop Lancers 6-2
Mar Vista Mariners 5-2
Otay Ranch Mustangs 2-1
Southwest Raiders 4-3
Castle Park Trojans 2-4
Sweetwater Red Devils 1-7
Chula Vista Spartans 1-7
San Ysidro Cougars 0-6
Mesa League Standings
Eastlake 2-0, 7-0
Bonita Vista 1-1, 5-1
Otay Ranch 0-0, 2-1
Hilltop 0-2, 6-2
South Bay League Standings
Mar Vista 2-0, 5-2
Sweetwater 1-1, 1-7
San Ysidro 0-1, 0-6
Pacific League Standings
Southwest 2-0, 4-3
Castle Park 1-1, 2-4
Chula Vista 0-2, 1-7
