USC’s Amanda Longan and Paige Hauschild Named Cutino Award Finalists

Recently crowned as 2018 NCAA Champions, two members of the USC women's water polo team are also in line for collegiate water polo's highest honor — considered the Heisman Trophy of water polo — as finalists for the Peter J. Cutino Award. Junior Amanda Longan and freshman Paige Hauschild have been pillars of excellence for the Trojans all season long in USC's run to the program's sixth national championship. Goalie Longan and utility Hauschild reflect the balance of power on the Trojan roster this season, which finished 26-1 overall and ended the year on a 16-game win streak as USC hoisted the NCAA trophy at its home pool. Individually, both Trojans have made their marks in USC history already, as Longan now stands at No. 3 all-time in career saves with 580 while Hauschild served up the most goals ever scored by a USC true freshman with her 68 strikes in 2018. Joining Longan and Hauschild as a finalist for this year's top honor is Stanford's Makenzie Fischer. The award will be announced June 2 in a ceremony held at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Longan and Hauschild's finalist status marks the fifth time in program history that USC has had two finalists for the Cutino Award. On each previous occasion, a Trojan ended up winning the award. Most recently, in 2016 — the last time USC won the NCAA crown — Stephania Haralabidis and Brigitta Games were named finalists, and Haralabidis came away with USC's seventh Cutino Award on the women's side. Prior to 2016, USC doubled up on female finalists in 2006 (Lauren Wenger & Brittany Hayes), 2009 (Kami Craig & Michelle Stein) and 2010 (Kami Craig & Tumua Anae). Past USC women's Cutino Award winners are: Bernice Orwig (1999), Aniko Pelle (2000), Moriah Van Norman (2004), Lauren Wenger (2006), Kami Craig (2009 & 2010) and Stephania Haralabidis (2016). In all, Longan and Hauschild have run USC's total count of Cutino Award finalists to 17.

Junior goalie Amanda Longan has been the backbone of the Trojan team since arriving at Troy, amassing 580 career saves after making 214 stops this season. Recently named the NCAA Tournament MVP and the MPSF Player of the Year, Longan had 11 games with double-digit saves this season and became the first USC goalie ever to record two complete-game shutouts. A team captain, Longan averaged 11.03 saves and just 5.24 goals-against per game in this junior campaign that saw the Trojans drop just one game all year en route to the 2018 NCAA Championship. Longan is the only USC goalie to have been in the cage for two NCAA Championship victories (2016 and 2018).

New to the USC scene this season, freshman Paige Hauschild looked right at home with her Trojan team from the very first opening sprint of the year. Near-flawless on sprints this season, Hauschild also was a steal machine on defense for the Trojans. On the offensive end, she proved just as powerful, racking up 68 goals to set a new true-freshman record at USC. Named the MPSF Newcomer of the Year, Hauschild also joined Longan on the NCAA All-Tournament First Team. She and Longan also snagged MPSF All-Tournament Team honors as USC claimed that crown as well.

The award is given annually in honor of the late Peter J. Cutino, the former University of California Berkeley and The Olympic Club coach, who passed away in September 2004. Mr. Cutino is in the U.S. Water Polo Hall of Fame. He won "Water Polo Coach of the Year" 17 times. He led UC Berkeley to eight NCAA National Championships. In his career Mr. Cutino also coached in the Pan American Games, the Water Polo World Championships and the World University Games.

All-time Peter J. Cutino Award winners:
1998-99 - Bernice Orwig (USC)
1999-2000 - Sean Kern (UCLA) & Aniko Pelle (USC)
2000-01 - Sean Kern (UCLA) & Coralie Simmons (UCLA)
2001-02 - Tony Azevedo (Stanford) & Brenda Villa (Stanford)
2002-03 - Tony Azevedo (Stanford) & Jackie Frank (Stanford)
2003-04 - Tony Azevedo (Stanford) & Moriah Van Norman (USC)
2004-05 - Tony Azevedo (Stanford) & Natalie Golda (UCLA)
2005-06 - Juraj Zatovic (USC) & Lauren Wenger (USC)
2006-07 - John Mann (Cal) & Kelly Rulon (UCLA)
2007-08 - Tim Hutten (UC Irvine) & Courtney Mathewson (UCLA)
2008-09 - J.W. Krumpholz (USC) & Kami Craig (USC)
2009-10 - J.W. Krumpholz (USC) & Kami Craig (USC)
2010-11 - Ivan Rackov (California) & Annika Dries (Stanford)
2011-12 - Joel Dennerley (USC) & Kiley Neushel (Stanford)
2012-13 - Balazs Erdelyi (Pacific) & Melissa Seidemann (Stanford)
2013-14 - Balazs Erdelyi (Pacific) & Annika Dries (Stanford)
2014-15 - Kostas Genidounias (USC) & Kiley Neushel (Stanford)
2015-16 - Garrett Danner (UCLA) & Stephania Haralabidis (USC)
2016-17 - McQuin Baron (USC) & Ashleigh Johnson (Princeton)

Players Mentioned

McQuin Baron

Brigitta Games

Stephania Haralabidis

Paige Hauschild

Amanda Longan