Friends remember promising soccer star killed in weekend crash

Palm Desert resident Daniel Rivera-Acosta, 21, and Coachella resident Yesenia Hurtado-Gutierrez, 25, were killed in a two-vehicle crash Saturday morning just after 2:00 am on the 400 block of East Palm Canyon Drive between South Palm Canyon and Via Salida.

Daniel’s friends, family, and his coach said he was an outstanding soccer goalie and a good friend.

“If you ever got to know him, you would know the type of aura he had with him. Every single time you were with him, he was happy so it made you happy,” said Angel Zamora, a friend of Daniel.

“I’ll always remember that when he put on his jersey he would morph into a machine,” said Bonifacio Hernandez, another friend of Daniel.

Carlos Serratos, Daniel’s coach, took Daniel & other friends to Mexico to try out for Mexican soccer club “Chivas de Guadalajara.”

“When we arrived, the goalie coach for Chivas, Jorge “El Gato” Lopez, loved his form of playing and determentation. In fact, he wanted him to stay with the team,” Serratos said.

Unfortunately, Daniel and Serratos were overwhelmed with the cost of staying in Mexico and had to return the United States. Serratos says Daniel never lost the hope of one day playing professionally.

Serratos said that he was planning on telling Daniel this past Sunday that he was offered a contract to play for a team in the second-division of the Mexican soccer league.

A wake will be held Monday from 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Forrest Lawn in Coachella. Mass will be held Tuesday at 11:00 pm at Sacred Heart Church in Palm Desert. He will be buried afterward.