Perez quietly emerges as the key for McAuley

Coach Larry O’Connell calls Laura Perez ‘‘the person other teams will be most concerned about.’’
(Mary Compton/SouthtownStar)

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Quiet and unassuming? It hardly seems possible to use that description for Mother McAuley senior Laura Perez, who is emerging as the player other girls water polo teams will be most concerned about.

But McAuley coach Larry O’Connor said Perez, who led the Mighty Macs with four goals in their 9-8 upset of Fenwick last season for the state title, is quiet and unassuming.

‘‘I’m not usually the top scorer,’’ said Perez, a driver who will be a threat, especially on defense. ‘‘I’m a very quiet girl when I have to be.’’

‘‘Laura has been overlooked by many in the state because of Maggie [Wood, who graduated],’’ O’Connell said. ‘‘Now she will be the person other teams will be most concerned about.’’

Perez last year had 32 goals and 24 assists for the Macs, who only lost two games — neither to a local team.

‘‘It was an amazing feeling, having the lead the whole time,’’ Perez said of the title game. ‘‘We were so nervous. All the hard work we put into practices paid off at the end.’’

Perez is one of three co-captains along with Lillian Cortes, who scored the game-winner in the state-title game, and Meghan Nolan.

Nolan has a heart defibrillator, a device that activates automatically and could do so if she works too hard.

Perez’s sister, Sandra, a 2004 McAuley graduate, played on state-champion teams in 2002 and 2003.

‘‘She inspired me,’’ said Perez, who also looks up to U.S. Olympic water polo player Brenda Villa. ‘‘I wanted to be just like her.

‘‘She’s Hispanic, and there’s not many Hispanics on the water polo team. She’s small and she’s petite, but she has so much power.’’

Perez, who does about 50 pushups a day, says she knows it will take a lot of work to stay as competitive as last year.

‘‘[Sandra] always told me don’t get cocky about it,’’ Perez said. ‘‘Just because you’re having a great season doesn’t mean you stop trying. You’ve got to work and never give up. They’re not going to hand it to you.’’