Daily Pilot High School Athlete of the Week:

When Hayley Raguse first met Bryan Middleton six years ago, she said it was scary. Keep in mind Raguse was a seventh-grader.

“I was a lot more intimidated,” Raguse said of adults back then.

Middleton had just taken over the junior high girls’ soccer program at Corona del Mar. The coach decided to play Raguse on defense and he stuck her there for the next two years.

During that time, Raguse broke out of her shell and spoke up.

“[Middleton] played me [at] sweeper … and I’m a forward,” Raguse said. “I kept telling him, ‘That I don’t do that.’ He said, ‘No, it’s fine.’ I think he knew we had a lot of good girls, a lot of forwards, so he wanted me to stay back there.”

Six years later, Raguse has emerged to the front at Corona del Mar High. The senior is a co-captain and last week she showed her scoring prowess.

Raguse recorded her first hat trick of her high school career, as the Sea Kings beat San Juan Hills, 5-0, in a Pacific Coast League match. Raguse remembers the first two goals very well, the last one not so much.

Cut the midfielder some slack. When a player scores three goals in a match, it’s easy to forget how they found the back of the net each time.

One thing Raguse won’t forget is her fourth season on varsity.

Sure, the Sea Kings fell short of defending their league championship and placed third at 6-3-1. When’s the next time Raguse can say she played on a team with three sets of sisters?

Raguse’s younger sister, Sydney, is a sophomore at CdM. The other sisters are Kaylee and Maddie O’Connor, and Paige and Karsten Sigband.

The day after tying league champion Beckman, 1-1, in overtime in the rain, the Sea Kings returned to the practice field Wednesday and sang “Happy Birthday” to one of the sisters. Karsten, a freshman, turned 15.

Sometimes, Raguse said it’s hard to tell the other sisters apart. Raguse clearly stands out. She’s a redhead, and of course, a leader.

“She’s definitely going to be one of the individuals that I will talk about in the years to come about the type of quality player that I want,” said Middleton, who’s impressed by Raguse’s ability on the field, a team-best seven goals to go with five assists, and in the classroom, where Raguse said she has a 3.9 grade-point average.

“She’s the type of captain that the younger girls look up to because she makes everyone feel welcomed.”

The youngsters are a key reason why Raguse said she believes the Sea Kings managed to qualify for the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs after finishing the second half of league play with a 4-1-1 record.

Since early January, Middleton said CdM was without two senior starters, striker Alexandra Reinach (shoulder) and defender Lauren Smits (foot). Players like freshman Emily Krebs and sophomore Allyson Brahs have elevated their play, combining for 10 goals and seven assists.

As the postseason starts next week, Raguse believes the Sea Kings are ready to make a run at the title. With Reinach and Smits back, plus the younger players gaining valuable experience, CdM might be a dark horse.

“We had a lot of tough competition, so that should hopefully help us,” said Raguse, whose team played the likes of Beckman, ranked No. 3 in Division II, Los Alamitos, Palos Verdes Peninsula and Mater Dei, ranked No. 8, 9 and 10, respectively, in Division I, and Alhambra Ramona Convent, No. 9 in Division V.

“We wanted to be league champs. We now want to make it as far as we can in CIF, get a ring. We’ll see how far we get.”

Middleton said since he first coached Raguse in seventh grade that she’s come a long way.