Student Athlete of the Week- Palm Desert soccer trio

As the Palm Desert boys soccer program prepares for a quarterfinal showdown, we take a look at three of their senior stand outs. Instead of choosing just one as our student athlete of the week, why not make it all three? Cody Krupp has the story of Leonardo Garcia-Guerra, Ryan Cieslikowski, and Josh Phillips.

First lets meet Leonardo Garcia-Guerra, one of the valley’s best soccer talents.

“A lot of times defenders will assume that he is not very talented and that is their mistake cause he is right by them in the first few seconds which usually leads to a goal.” Head Coach Brenner Lopez said. “Hoping to go play soccer at some university and study kinesiology so I can stay in the sport.” Guerra said. So well Guerra has been scoring the goals, the defense behind him has been the best in the Coachella Valley. “I trust those guys with my life.” Guerra added. “Our defense has let the least amount of goals in by 3-goals.” Ryan Cieslikowski said. “When you watch the game it is the attacking players that get on the score sheet, catch everyone’s eye, but I take pride in a clean sheet and limiting the teams chances. Giving us the best chance to succeed.” Josh Phillips said. So now lets meet Phillips, a future surgeon who has always had his eye on the future whether it was setting himself up to chase his dreams after college or as a freshman in high school realizing what soon could be. “Came into this school and I remember a big thing when I came in freshman year was that they have banners of the championships that all the programs have won. Soccer was one of the three that was empty. Told all my friends hey, by the time we are done we are going to put a number up on that banner. It wound up being that we put up two.” Phillips said Then there is Ryan “RC” Cieslikowski, the goalie and future Stanford Freshman. “Acceptance letters were coming out at 4pm on a certain date. Happened to be right in the middle of practice and I asked coach if I could check my phone and went over for a water break. Some of the guys knew so they were peering over my shoulder as I checked my phone so next thing I remember I was jumping up and down screaming and crying.” Cieslikowski said. Cieslikowski and Phillips have a 5.1 GPA while Guerra a 4.1 so these guys get it done in the classroom, win DVL Championships, and now all that is left is a CIF title. Nominate a student-athlete of the week! REQUIREMENTS: 3.0+ GPA Strong contributor to his/her team Person of good character Email blake.arthur@kesq.com or cody.krupp@kesq.com to submit a request!