El Camino Real Escapes Mire, 7-0

After high winds and driving rain, it took a rainbow to lift the El Camino Real boys’ soccer team out of its three-game losing streak.

The Conquistadores, ranked No. 1 in the region by The Times, made a good Cleveland squad look bad, 7-0, Thursday in a West Valley League game in West Hills.

“That was our inspiration,” said Coach David Hussey, who spent his lunch break getting the soggy El Camino Real field into playing condition. “We haven’t seen a rainbow like that since Hawaii.”

The Conquistadores (14-3, 1-1 in league play) were flawless from the start, winning all loose balls and making crisp passes, while their aggressive defense kept Cleveland (7-4-1, 0-1) from generating any offense.

The Conquistadores dictated play and would have won by more if not for 10 saves by Cleveland’s Nick Arroyo.

Ede Ibekwe, Jason Lara and Tony Sangari scored first-half goals for the Conquistadores, who put 17 of their 21 shots on goal.

“People have been talking a lot about how we shouldn’t be the No. 1 team any more and we had to come out and prove ourselves,” defender Zach Feldman said. “We proved them wrong.”

Jeremy Huang scored two goals and Yan Falkinstein and Matthew Emanuel each had one for El Camino Real.