Paige Hauschild and Amanda Longan Are Back-to-Back Cutino Award Finalists

For the first time in program history, USC women's water polo has the same two Trojans named back-to-back finalists for the Peter J. Cutino Award. Outright leaders for USC's 2019 MPSF Champions and NCAA finalists, Paige Hauschild and Amanda Longan again top to the list of the nation's best collegiate water polo players. The repeat honors give senior Longan a chance at claiming her second straight Cutino Award — a feat accomplished only by one other Trojan in Kami Craig. A sophomore, Hauschild would be the youngest Trojan to win the award. Joining Longan and Hauschild as a finalist once again for this year's top honor is Stanford's Makenzie Fischer. The award will be announced June 1 in a ceremony held at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Longan and Hauschild's back-to-back finalist status marks the sixth time in program history that USC has had two finalists for the Cutino Award. On each previous occasion, a Trojan has ended up winning the award. Longan was the winner last year after USC's run to the 2018 NCAA title. In 2016, 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), Stephania Haralabidis (2016) and Longan (2018). In all, Longan and Hauschild have run USC's total count of Cutino Award finalists to 19.

Senior goalie Amanda Longan has been the backbone of the Trojan team since arriving at Troy, and she finishes her USC career as the program's No. 2 saves leader with 840 career saves. Her nine saves in the 2019 NCAA final put her over the count of fellow Cutino Award winner Bernice Orwig, a 2000 Olympian and 1999 national champion. Longan's 260 saves tallied in her senior year was a personal best and ranks fourth all-time in single-season saves by a Trojan. In her four years at USC, Longan recorded 48 games with double-digit saves and set her career high with 19 saves — second most by a Trojan goalie — in a game this year. A team captain for the second season, Longan averaged 10.9 saves and just 4.7 goals-against per game in this senior campaign that saw the Trojans drop just two one-goal games all year. Longan stands tall as the only USC goalie to have been in the cage for two NCAA Championship victories (2016 and 2018). In addition to her 2018 Cutino Award, Longan was the 2018 National Player of the Year and has laid claim to three All-MPSF First Team selections.

Now a sophomore, Paige Hauschild was again a dominant force on both ends of the pool for the 2019 Trojans. In addition to being a lock on opening sprints, Hauschild's relentless defense helped to anchor the best defense in the nation, as USC allowed just 4.6 goals-against per game. Offensively, Hauschild laced in 49 goals, including an incredible game-winning blast from distance to give USC the 2019 MPSF Championship in sudden death. That was her fourth goal of the day, matching her season high. She wound down the season having scored 20 goals against top-five opponents. Earlier in the year, Hauschild knocked in her 100th career goal, and she continued to climb the career ladder at USC to finally settle at No. 24 all-time with 117 goals as a Trojan to date. A repeat Cutino Award finalist now, Hauschild also collected All-MPSF First Team honors as well as MPSF Tournament MVP accolades in 2019.

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 (California) & 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)
2017-18 - Luca Cupido (California) & Amanda Longan (USC)

Players Mentioned

Paige Hauschild

Amanda Longan