'We want what they had last year': Rancho Mirage soccer tops Palm Desert 3-2 in overtime

The boys’ soccer team at Rancho Mirage High School watched from afar last season as Palm Desert High made a run to a CIF Southern Section championship. They saw what the Aztecs did and, knowing that they had a host of starters returning this season, wanted that for themselves.

On Tuesday, the Rattlers took the field against the Aztecs in a game that meant a lot to both, and it was Rancho Mirage that came away with a 3-2 overtime victory.

Players said afterward that it was a significant win for two reasons. For one, it snapped a five-game losing streak in the head-to-head series and, secondly, it kept Rancho Mirage unbeaten in the Desert Empire League and solidified a belief within the team that this could be the year of the Rattlers.

“We want what they had last year,” said senior Bryan Hernandez, who plays forward, midfielder and defender for the Rattlers. “We’ve been thinking about it all preseason and talking about that as a team. We’re going to go for it this year.”

Rancho Mirage (6-1-4, 3-0 DEL) looked very much like a team on a mission Tuesday. They struck first, with a goal by star freshman forward Jose Antonio Guerrero before Palm Desert evened the score when forward Rylan Risk scored on a cross. The team teams entered the intermission tied.

Sophomore Emilio Romo scored midway through the second half in what appeared at the time to be a likely game-winner. But senior striker Bryan Osorio kept Palm Desert (4-5-4, 1-0) in the game with a goal off a corner kick.

In overtime, freshman goalie Derek Calixto made four saves — each one igniting a roar from the visiting crowd — and Guerrero found the back of the net again to push the Rattlers to victory.

“We had a few players under the weather,” head coach Carlos Calixto said, “but they wanted to play in this game. It meant a lot.”

To be fair, Palm Desert is navigating this season with a new coach and the majority of the starters from last year’s CIF title team gone. But the Aztecs are still a talented, gritty bunch, and they’ve been competitive throughout the season.

Still, if Tuesday was any indication, Rancho Mirage, not Palm Desert, should be a favorite to win the DEL.

Calixto said that what he believes makes his team special this year is that aside from being very skilled, his players have formed a tight knit group and that as a result they trust and share the ball with one another.

“We’d rather play the team play versus the personal play,” Calixto said.

Guerrero said that when talented, athletic players decide to play together as a team, great things can happen. He added that he thinks it’s the reason the Rattlers are so dangerous this season.

It showed against the Aztecs, and it helped that the Rattlers had plenty of motivation to win the game.

“It was definitely a game that we wanted to win,” all-league forward Emiliano Dominguez said. “It had been a while since we beat them, so we wanted to win this one.”

The win, Dominguez said, gives the team momentum heading into Thursday’s game against La Quinta, last year’s DEL champions.

He said that the goal is to go unbeaten in the league, but he added that to do that Rancho Mirage will need to take it one opponent at a time and not get distracted by what could lay ahead for the Rattlers.

“Hopefully, this win gives us some momentum to do that,” Dominguez said.

Andrew John covers sports in the Coachella Valley for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him andrew.john@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Rancho Mirage soccer secures significant 3-2 win over Palm Desert