From humble beginnings at Rosemont Middle School to their new home at Osborne Field, Abby Sheklow and Leah Crowther are proud to lead the Falcon girls’ lacrosse program.
By Brandon HENSLEY

The similarities are obvious between the two athletes: LeBron James, one of the best basketball players ever to live, and Abby Sheklow, Crescenta Valley High senior girls’ lacrosse player.

Wait, what?

Don’t stop reading yet. Both wear number 23, both play their sport in a somewhat brutal fashion, high octane and high scoring. Another feature both have in common – or used to have in common – flopping.

Any casual NBA fan knows James’ history of histrionics to get the calls, but Sheklow admitted last week she used to do the same on the field.

“That made me seem like a weak player,” she said. “I would beg for calls because I didn’t have a lot of confidence and that was the only way I could get the ball. I feel like my confidence has grown a lot.”

Talk about understatements. Sheklow led her Falcons past West Ranch last week 11-7, scoring three goals and dishing out an assist. Heading into Wednesday’s game at Westridge, her Falcons were 12-4 overall and 3-0 in the Pacific League, and Sheklow had racked up 49 goals and 16 assists. Teams can get as physical as they want with Sheklow (West Ranch knocked her down several times), but there’s no more acting, no more begging for calls. Sheklow is now as authentic as she is ruthless.

And to think, six years ago, she began playing the sport almost against her will.

She was practically forced in seventh grade by her father Eitye, who is now the CVHS assistant coach, to go to the first tryout at Rosemont Middle School. It was there she met classmate Leah Crowther, who befriended her and asked if she wanted to practice passing. What has blossomed since is, if not a best friendship (they don’t run in the same circles outside of the team), at least one of the most dominant and successful relationships in the league.

“Without Leah, I wouldn’t be playing lacrosse,” Sheklow said. “I’m going to be thankful for that the rest of my life, because lacrosse is my life.”

Crowther, the daughter of Boz, the CV head coach, provides a contrast to Sheklow in appearance – shorter, blonde, evasive – and her playing style is the perfect complement, making the Falcons a team to be reckoned with.

“We all have different styles. Hers is attack and shoot and mine is get the ball and pass as many times as I can,” Crowther said.

Though, if need be, Crowther can score with the best of them. She’s second on the team in points with 26 goals and 13 assists.

“Oh yeah, I score plenty,” she said.

CV has a deep team that goes beyond its two senior stars. Five other Falcons have scored 10 or more goals this year: Madeline Heeg, Alexis Ballard, Peyton Marshall, Lizzie Hales and Samara Yarnes.

Both Crowther and Sheklow are headed to the Midwest this fall for college, Sheklow to Albion (Michigan) and Crowther to Oberlin (Ohio). They’ll be three hours apart, playing on different lacrosse teams for the first time in years, which is why they’re trying to soak up their senior season as much as possible.

It’s thanks to several parties that Sheklow and Crowther even have a senior season to participate in. It took years of planning and nudging from Boz and Eitye, and the help of athletic director Peter Kim to form a lacrosse team at the school.

Boz, who grew up on the east coast, pushed for the community to be more lacrosse-minded when Crowther was in elementary school.

“In sixth grade P.E., he made the teachers do a lesson on lacrosse,” Crowther said of her dad. “It makes me proud of him because he has been one of the pillars of getting it started.”

During her freshman year, Sheklow would needle Kim in his health class.

“Hey Coach Kim, there’s still no lacrosse. What’s up with that?” she joked regularly.

The next year, 2015, the inaugural season of CV lacrosse launched, though it was literally rough going, thanks to the playing surface. The girls played at Rosemont’s upper field, a patchy, bumpy sprawl of green and brown. Sheklow was not a fan.

“No offense to Rosemont, but that is not the place to play lacrosse,” she said. “I think I sprained my ankle three times on that field.”

With the support of the CV coaches whose teams use the track and field, lacrosse received permission to play at Osborne Field in 2016. It is a source of pride for the team, which is undefeated at home this season.

“I think that’s one of the biggest things that drives us,” Sheklow said. “This is our home field. It’s not going to be tainted.”

“We couldn’t have been here without [the CV coaches] because they were so supportive of helping us find a way to get here,” Crowther said.

The girls wrap up the regular season on Friday when they host Valencia at 4 p.m. After that, the playoffs begin. It is another signal the end is near, that life past Crescenta Valley is looming. No time like the present, right?

“We want to go out with a bang, and I think that’s what we’re doing,” Sheklow said.

  Brandon Hensley