El Camino Real Charter fall sports preview

The new school year has begun and with that comes a new season for every sports team. Fall and winter sports will include boys’ and girls’ soccer, boys’ and girls’ basketball, football, cross country, girls’ tennis and girls’ volleyball.

Starting off with soccer, the girls’ were defeated last year in the Division I City Section playoffs  by the Granada Hills Highlanders.

“Our goal always is to be city champs,” head coach Eric Choi said, “the last two years we failed.”

After the past two years of missed opportunities, El Camino’s ultimate goal of winning a championship is even more sought after than before. Girls’ soccer has also added some players from tryouts to help them do that. The team has a history of freshman on varsity making an impact.

Cross country is about to start as well, with both boys’ and girls’ ranked very high in the preseason rankings. The boys’ are No. 1 in the city and girls’ are top five.

“Right now we have a really hungry group of guys,” says Coach Jun Reichl, “I am both really excited for the boys’ and girls’ group this year.” The boys’ team won city last year and this group is ready for another run at that championship.

“I am really glad I had a makeup tryout because the same number of kids showed up,” said Reichl. He also said that the tryouts this year had the biggest turnout that he has had since taking over as head coach.

Girls’ volleyball looks to add a City Section championship after losing to Granada Hills in the semifinals last year. Going into the city playoffs, the girls were ranked No. 5, but ultimately lost to the top-seeded Highlanders. Elco was ranked No. 15 going into the state playoffs last year but ended up losing to Serra in the first round, so Elco looks to aim for a higher seed and to make a longer run for a state championship.

Basketball is about to tip-off soon with both the boys’ and girls’ teams seasons around the corner. The girls’ came up short last year in the playoffs, losing to Serra in early March. Girls’ basketball has recently been a contender for the city championship in the past few years, but has come up short, losing deep in the playoffs. The boys’ look to have a deeper run in the playoffs unlike last year when they lost to Fairfax in the first round of the City Section playoffs.

Boys’ soccer season ended abruptly after surprisingly losing to a lower ranked Sylmar at home last year in late February. El Camino was ranked No. 3 going into the playoffs only behind Granada Hills and Palisades. Granada Hills ended up winning the Los Angeles City Section playoffs last year.

Boys’ water polo is another sport starting up  this fall. They were defeated last year in the second round of the playoffs to their West Valley League opponent, the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Conquistadors finished last season with an 11-7 record. Boys’ water polo has already begun their 2017 campaign and won their first two games against Eagle Rock on Aug. 24, winning 9-8, and also against Calabasas, whom they defeated in a 11-7 match on Aug 31.

The Conquistadors will face off against San Pedro on Sep. 6 for their third game of the season.