Fall Check-In: Moorpark

We’re staying out West with our next Fall Check-in as we visit with Moorpark College Head Coaches Larry Turkheimer and Antonio Cucciuffo.

To read the prior installments of our Fall Check-in Series click here: Virginia Tech (DI), Florida Atlantic, Chapman, Montana, Washington,  Long Beach

The Raiders are coming off of a SLC DIII championship and looking to continue that momentum.

You guys were competitive with or beat several DII teams last year.  Have you all considered moving to DII?

Turkheimer/Cucciuffo: Yes, we definitely feel like we can compete with and beat many DII and even compete with some DI teams, as we have had some solid fall scrimmage results last year against DI programs in the area. That said, we still think that DIII provides the best opportunity for our student athletes right now. Being a junior college, our roster is constantly turning over and every year we have a very new set of faces from the last. I think we really want to win some championships at the DIII level and really build up a more solid talent pipeline before making the step to DII.

You all are one of the few community colleges in the MCLA, what are some challenges and advantages of building a program at a two-year school vs a four-year school?

T/C: Being a junior college comes with a lot of unique challenges that many four year schools don't face. Namely, we don't have any on-campus housing facilities, which can make it more difficult to build team camaraderie when our students are sometimes living hours away from each other. Additionally, being a smaller two-year college brings on some additional administrative challenges as there's no Club Sports department on campus and we're the only competitive club sport operating at Moorpark. 

That said, we do have some advantages as well - the biggest being cost. We have players come here for free or at a very low cost for two years and then go on to continue their lacrosse and academic career at some great institutions - just in the three years we've had a program thus far we've sent kids to go on to play at UCLA, UCSB, Chapman, GCU, and others. Especially as college costs are rising across the country, I think the community college model will only become a better value proposition for recruits coming out of high school.

You guys averaged over 18 goals per game last year, do you expect to have a similar high scoring identity this year?

T/C: We hope to as our offense is built around constant movement . Last year we had a great offensive group that really started to gel more and more as the season went on. We graduated a few really great players who we'll miss, but I think we are reloading with several strong attack and midfielders that are picking up the offense very quickly. We also are returning our first team All-Conference faceoff specialist Aiden Caouette, who was a big reason why we were able to possess the ball a lot and put it into the back of the cage . We just need to put in the work during this fall and the spring to get us to, or exceed, the standard that we set last year.

How is Fall Ball going for you all?  Any standout newcomers?

T/C: We've been back at fall ball for a few weeks now and it is going well thus far. Our D has really stood out with our championship game goalie Noah Bobadilla and first team D pole Ryan Rosales leading the way. We still have a few tournaments and scrimmages planned to get our guys out and compete against new faces, but we've liked what we've seen thus far and just need to put our heads down and work to defend our SLC DIII championship, as our divisional opponents are only getting better and better. A few new players who have been impressive thus far in practice are transfers Mason Gavia, from NCAA DII Drew University, and Cade Tomei, from fellow SLC member Cal State San Marcos. Having that prior college experience helps them hit the ground running in the fall, but we also are impressed with our incoming freshmen as well.

What are the schedule highlights?

T/C: The biggest games on our schedule are our divisional matchups. We are expecting a lot of the teams in our division to be even better this year, and we have a big target on our backs as the reigning champs. Outside of that, we are looking forward to a few games against DII opponents, such as Loyola Marymount and our program's first ever match-up against Northern Arizona University. We also still do have some scheduling availability so if any coaches reading this are planning a trip to Southern California, we'd love to host you here or meet you somewhere else in LA County.

Thank you to Coaches Turkheimer and Cucciuffo for taking the time to share some details on their program.  Coaches, if you’re interested in participating in our Fall Check-In series, please email info@mcla.us.