Three Trojans Named Peter J. Cutino Award Finalists
May 10, 2006 | Women's Water Polo
May 10, 2006
The USC water polo programs will be well represented at the 2005-06 Peter J. Cutino Awards this season, with three athletes in line for collegiate water polo's most prestigious honor. The 2005 NCAA Men's Championship team was headlined this season by senior 2-meter defender Juraj Zatovic, who has been named a Peter J. Cutino Award finalist for the second straight year. Another two-time finalist hails from the women's side in junior utility Brittany Hayes, who also was a finalist in 2004-05. Also in the running for the high honor is senior 2-meter defender Lauren Wenger, who has been named a finalist for the first time in her USC career.
The three Trojans have been unquestionable forces for USC in both the men's and the women's successful recent seasons. Zatovic became USC's all-time leading scorer on the way to helping the Trojans to a 19-game winning streak that culminated in the 2005 NCAA Championship. Zatovic wound down his USC career with 220 goals to go along with his two NCAA championship rings. He was named the 2005 MPSF and American Water Polo Coaches Association Player of the Year as well following a 68-goal season that also saw the senior earn his third consecutive First Team All-American award. Zatovic is joined by three other finalists for this year's Peter J. Cutino Award: Thomas Hopkins of Stanford, Dreason Barry of UC Irvine and Jesse Smith of Pepperdine.
The Women of Troy also are within reach of an NCAA Championship as the top seed into this weekend's tournament at UC Davis. Wenger and Hayes both were also members of USC's 2004 NCAA Championship team, and the pair have been instrumental once again in pushing the Trojans to a 25-game winning streak this year.
Most recently, Wenger was named to the All-MPSF First Team in recognition of her versatility as one of the country's top 2-meter defenders, a powerful offensive force and USC's steals and assists leader this season. Wenger has scored 32 goals for the Trojans this season, and has moved up to rank in an eighth-place tie on USC's all-time career scoring list with 122 career goals. She was also named to the MPSF Mikasa All-Tournament Team following the MPSF Tournament action. As a member of the U.S. Women's National Team, Wenger won silver at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal.
Hayes was also a finalist as a sophomore in 2005. Now as a junior, she's in line to better her scoring total of 51 from last year as she now boasts a team-best 48 going into the NCAA Championships. A dangerous left-hander, Hayes was selected to the All-MPSF Second Team this year and has moved up to rank No. 6 all-time with 158 career goals.
Wenger and Hayes are finalists along with Stanford goalie Meridith McColl. The winners of the 2006 Peter J. Cutino Awards will be announced at the seventh annual awards banquet on June 3 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif.
USC has had three women receive past Peter J. Cutino awards, beginning with 1999 winner Bernice Orwig and followed by 2000 winner Aniko Pelle and 2004 winner Moriah Van Norman. A USC male athlete has never won the Peter J. Cutino Award.
The award is named after Peter J. Cutino, one of the country's most storied and revered coaches, who passed away in 2004. During 26 years as head coach at Cal Berkeley, Cutino guided his teams to eight NCAA titles and a record of 519-172-10, a winning percentage of .740. He was a four-time Pac-10 and NCAA coach of the year (1974-75, 1983, 1988), coaching 68 All-Americans and five Olympians in that time. The award sponsor, the Olympic Club, was founded in San Francisco in 1860 by 23 members.
