CIF Opener Interview with Mark Todd

by Cooper Walrod

First of all, congratulations on your win today. It will set a positive tone for the rest of the season. I am writing a lacrosse update for the new online version of trident, and I would like to ask you a few questions, if you please.

Were there any players that really stood out in either game?
In the Varsity game the 3 starting defensemen stood out the most two of which Nick Taylor and Kevin Kottke contributed to the offenses scoring, followed by the freshmen players Kyle Canale, who scored the very first goal in CDM's CIF history, and then it Ryan Mix and JD Abbott. Our other starting attackmen Mike Kidushim, David Kidushim, along with Otis Mitchell and Chris Horton rotating through also put points on the board for us. Connor Pinkston and Jake Schwartz both faced off well. While Andrew Noto, who started his freshman on our attack is now a sophomore and our starting goalie. We are hoping that he will go onto have a great career the next 3 seasons for us.

On the JV team Jordan Crone scored the first goal in CDM's JV CIF innaugural season, while sophomore goalie Connor Benvenutti and freshman Hugh Russel who came in to defend the goal in the fourth quarter both shut out the the visiting Servite HS JV. Alex Manthow had a hat trick and two assists and also led the team in ground balls. Nick Reese, Jeff Livingston, Gavin Ball, John Galosmo along with Kevin Corrigan, Chandler Mitchell also played very well.

Who are the captains?
Mike Kudishim, Austin Ray, and Connor Pinkston.

What would you say is your teams strongest asset(ie offense, defense goaltending, physicality)?
Defense was the strongest in today's game because of thier superior stickwork and speed folowed by our Attackman.

What do you think the team needs to work on?
Ball movement and applying what they've learned and rehearsed in practice to our game situations. Today we were just a little jittery and didn't have the stick work that we usually possess. It looked as the game went on that they were finally becoming comfortable with thier sticks and settled down a bit.

How are the players working together?
So far so good, but we are going to have much more difficult challeneges for us coming up in the season, so we'll try to become more cohesive both offensively and defensively as we go onward. They are a great group of guys that communicate very well with each other so I think that they will continue to grow as a team.

Just a semantical question-is the ice hockey term hat-trick used in lacrosse?
Yes

BTW...Your little brother Pete also played well in his first game as an attackman. He defended a Servite player so intensely that he ran out of both of his cleats simultaneously just prior to dislodging the ball from his stick.