Lacrosse Preview: Rivals Glendale, Crescenta Valley looking to contend for league title
In the brief history of area lacrosse, last season turned out to be the most successful.
It culminated in the Glendale High and Crescenta Valley girls’ and St. Francis boys’ teams qualifying for the postseason.
Crescenta Valley and St. Francis made Division I playoff appearances, while Glendale had the deepest playoff run among the group. Under coach Joe Campbell, fourth-seeded Glendale advanced to the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section L.A. Division II championship match before falling, 8-5, to third-seeded Westlake. It marked the first time the Nitros reached the championship contest in their six-year existence.
“We had a very young team last year and we had a fantastic season,” said Campbell, who is a member of the Lacrosse Hall of Fame’s Greater Los Angeles chapter. “We have since lost some key players from that team to graduation, but we have returners who gained a lot of valuable experience from last year’s run and well look to use that to our advantage this year.
“It would be nice to challenge for the league championship and make another deep playoff run.”
Join the conversation on Facebook >>
Glendale, which finished third in the Pacific League behind Chaminade and rival Crescenta Valley, saw goalkeeper Jenina Villabroza and midfielder Tess Walker graduate. Villabroza was the league’s defender of the year last season after making 203 saves.
Still, there’s plenty of talent around the field for the Nitros to achieve more success.
Among the returners are senior defender Ashley Iglesias, senior goalkeeper Ketzia Umana, junior defender Erika Lopez, sophomore midfielder Xcaret Salvador and sophomore defender Rachel Fong. Lopez and Fong received all-league first-team nods after registering 18 and 15 goals, respectively.
“We’re going to play yet another tough schedule to help get us ready for league and the playoffs,” Campbell said. “We believe we have a dynamic team.”
Crescenta Valley made it to the first round of the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section Los Angeles Division I playoffs. Crescenta Valley fell, 15-6, to third-seeded Redondo Union in its first postseason appearance in the team’s two-year history.
“In our first year, we wanted to build up the program and we wanted to make the playoffs in the second year, so we’ve been able to do that,” Falcons Coach Boz Crowther said. “Now it’s our third year and we want to win league.
“It’s just about being dedicated and we’ll do our best to win league. We’ve improved a lot, but I’m sure everybody else in our league has, as well. We haven’t graduated a starter in our first two years.”
Crescenta Valley’s core will feature senior attackers Leah Crowther (24 goals last season) and Abby Sheklow (47 goals), senior goalkeeper Sabrina White (182 saves), junior center Madeline Heeg, junior defender Kimmie Foster and sophomore attacker Lexi Ballard (nine goals). Crowther, Sheklow, Foster, White and Ballard were bestowed with all-league accolades last season.
St. Monica Academy will begin its first season. The Crusaders will be a freelance team and will hand the coaching responsibilities to Jim Hagan.
“We only have three or four people who have ever played the game before,” Hagan said. “The wins and losses aren’t the top priority. It’s just about teaching them how to play the game properly.
“We have a lot of good athletes, but are raw on talent because many of them are new to the game. We’ll access things and see where we stand.”
St. Monica’s top players are expected to be senior midfielder Molly Hagan and senior attacker Hannah Acosta.
On the boys’ side, St. Francis will look to improve on last season, which saw it qualify for the first time in the program’s four-year history.
The Golden Knights, who took third in the Mission League, lost to league foe Loyola in the first round of the playoffs. Loyola went on to win the championship.
St. Francis will be coached by Jared Little, who takes over for Geoff Watson. Little, who won NCAA Division I championships at the University of Virginia in 2003 and 2006, previously coached at Chaminade from 2010-12.
St. Francis’ key players are senior defender Jim Murphy, senior midfielder/attacker Spencer Shackel and sophomore attacker Spencer Boyle.
“We haven’t set our team goals yet,” Little said. “We’ll just allow the season to unfold and look for improvement in different areas.
“I think our defense will be strong.”
Glendale will begin its fourth season. The Nitros are an independent team and coached by Campbell.
“We’ve improved and gained some more experience,” Campbell said. “We’ll have a lot of experience on offense, but we’ll be pretty young on defense.
“It’s just about being able to piece things together, but I think they can win some more games.”
Glendale will have a fair amount of leadership with senior attacker Kevin Perez, senior midfielder Albert Ruballos, senior defender Max Gonzalez and senior goalkeeper Servio Escobedo paving the way.
--
Charles Rich, charles.rich@latimes.com
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
