DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:

When Corona del Mar High senior Allison Peotter has the counterattack working, it can appear so effortless.

Peotter sprints toward the opponent’s goal, takes the precision pass from CdM junior goalie Kate Baldoni and scores.

The Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week has done that a lot lately, tallying a team-high 10 goals through the Sea Kings’ first three CIF Southern Section Division I playoff games.

But, while Peotter is certainly a key player for CdM heading into Saturday night’s Division I title game against Back Bay rival Newport Harbor at Irvine High, the road there has not been nearly as smooth.

It has been full of frustration for Peotter, who tore her right latissimus dorsi muscle during workouts in January, 2007, midway through her junior year for the CdM girls’ water polo team.

It was then that Peotter first showed how much she loved the sport, trying to ignore the pain.

“I just played through the pain, which was probably not a very smart decision,” she said. “It hurt pretty bad during the Santa Barbara Tournament [of Champions] last year, and toward the end of the season the pain really got incredibly bad. I couldn’t really bear it. So, I don’t know, I didn’t get much playing time anymore because of it. It was kind of painful just to watch.”

That’s what she had to do last summer, too, when CdM went as a club team to Hawaii for the Hawaiian Invitational tournament. Peotter was there only as a spectator.

“She almost didn’t go to Hawaii with us,” Corona del Mar Coach Aaron Chaney said. “She thought, ‘Why should I go to Hawaii if I can’t play? I can’t do certain things. I can’t go on ocean swims, or jump off the cliff because we were going cliff-jumping.’ But I told her that if she wanted to come back and play, it’d be important for her to go. She’s still part of the team, and it’s kind of hard to not do all the team activities then come back and play. You’re going to feel like an outcast.”

Then, working her way back into shape, she suffered a back injury. When she tried to return too soon from that in the fall, she aggravated the side injury.

“I don’t know how many other people would have done what Allison did,” Chaney said. “If you put 10 people in her position, I think seven or eight of them would have quit. The amount of time she spent going to physical therapy, going to this doctor and that doctor, there’s some incredible desire there to play the game.”

The pain is still there for Peotter, who goes to physical therapy three times a week, but it has lessened. She nearly quit the team, but Chaney and her teammates are glad she didn’t. Peotter has been an integral part of the Sea Kings’ attack since coming back during the Holiday Cup in December. She has scored 35 goals and added 30 steals.

And Corona del Mar, which had a 5-5 record after the Holiday Cup, has now won 19 of its last 20 games.

Seniors Carissa Dice and Corinne Treadaway are team captains, but Peotter has also had a big impact.

“Things started to progress, and she had an impact on that progression,” Chaney said. “She understood what was going on in the game; she could think one step ahead. We talked about that a lot with our team, the inexperience we had and that people weren’t thinking one step ahead. Allison came in and she could do that.

“She’s quick, and she’s helped us on defense and offense. I think it’s really made a big difference. Her physical talents made a difference, but her experience also made a difference. She’s a good example to the other girls, because she works really hard.”

Peotter said the hard work was worth it, because she couldn’t give up the sport she loved.

“I knew I couldn’t quit, because water polo’s really been the most important part of my life for the past four years,” Peotter said. “It brings me so much happiness and I’ve learned so much from it. If I quit, I knew I’d miss going to CIF and the fun times, like the team dinners. Most of my friends are in water polo.”

But Peotter said she’s one of the few water polo girls who also really enjoy swimming. A four-year varsity swimmer, she was missed last year on Coach Doug Volding’s team, as her loss created a big void in the backstroke.

Her older brother Brian, who was the goalie on the CdM boys’ team in 2006-07, also stood out as a swimmer on the Pacific Coast League champion Sea Kings that spring. He now swims for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

“He has been encouraging,” Allison Peotter said. “He gets excited for us when we win. He’s probably going to come watch the game on Saturday.”

Both Peotters know a thing or two about running a counterattack.

“It’s all about anticipation,” Allison Peotter said. “You don’t have to be a fast swimmer to counter, you just have to anticipate the right moment to leave. Instead of watching [the opposition] shoot it when you’re on defense, you assume that your goalie has it. [Baldoni] is a great goalie, and I know she can block almost every shot that’s shot at her. You just anticipate the shot going off, and you counter before you see it. You don’t even look at what happened.

“Normally, the person you’re guarding is still watching the play. You beat them to the chase.”

It happened frequently during the Sea Kings’ 12-7 victory over Montebello in the Division I quarterfinals on Feb. 15. Peotter scored five goals in the game, three of those on counterattacks and one in a power-play situation.

“We lost to Montebello last year in CIF, and that was an emotional game,” she said. “My mind-set, and I think our team’s mind-set, was that we weren’t going to let that happen again. I think that’s why our team came out so strongly. I think we just wanted it more.

“[Chaney] always says that there’s two different types of leaders: leaders who lead with what they say and leaders who lead by example. I try to be a leader by example for our team.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at [email protected].