Welcome to this week’s edition of the USA Weekly: your go-to source for a concise, overview of what’s been going on in the United States over the last seven days.
In this week’s article, we bring you the most important updates from the past week, a preview of a huge matchup between USC and Stanford this weekend, and the latest news on the highly anticipated Cutino Award watchlist.
Last week at a glance
MPSF Conference
USC enjoyed a comfortable win against San Jose in the MPSF (14-3), with Bayley Weber notching a hat-trick of scores to reach the 200-goal milestone for the Trojans. Meanwhile, Indiana bagged a first win in their fifth conference match-up with Arizona State, 11-7. Four goals from Sophia Sollie led the Hoosiers to their first win over the Sun Devils in 15 years.
Big West Conference
Hawaii continues to boss their way through the Big West Conference, with their fourth and fifth straight conference wins over the weekend against San Diego (12-10) and Cal State Fullerton (20-3). Bia Mantellato Dias continues with her captivating form, with a seven goal-haul in the narrow win over San Diego. The 20-3 rout of Cal Fullerton benchmarked Wahine coach Maureen Cole’s 200th win for the Honolulu side.
UC Irvine are the other unbeaten team in Big West conference play, with Kennedy East’s hat-trick led Irvine to a narrow 7-5 over Davis.
Golden Coast Conference
There was some interesting action in the Golden Coast conference, with narrow victories for Fresno State, Pacific, Azusa and Concordia. Fresno secured a 10th straight win of the season (the sixth in the GCC) with a 10-7 win over LMU, while Israel international Hila Futorian netted four as Pacific edged out San Diego (10-9). A late rush from Azusa saw them defeat Cal Baptist 17-15, while Concordia also defeated the same opponents by two scores (11-9).
How does the US conference system work?
Game of the Season: USC vs Stanford (Saturday 8th April, 22:00 CET)
The biggest game in the women’s water polo calendar takes place this weekend, with the top-two ranked teams in the country squaring off this Saturday evening (22:00pm CET) in the MPSF conference. As first takes on second, in a re-match of last season’s NCAA final, USC Trojans are vying for revenge, however, their sole defeat this season came to Stanford in the narrowest of defeats (11-10) in February. The teams have met 83 times before, with USC picking the Cardinal with 42 wins to Stanford’s 41.
Cutino Award nominations
Olympic Club and USA Water Polo have released their annual watch-list for the 2023 Women’s Cutino Award. Named after the legendary Hall of Fame coach Peter J. Cutino, the prestigious award recognizes the best players in men’s and women’s college water polo.
This year, the list features 20 outstanding players, as nominated by women’s varsity college coaches from around the country.
The finalists for the Cutino Award will be announced after the conclusion of the women’s season, at the conclusion of the NCAA Championships, which is scheduled for May 14 in Stockton, California.
Notable players on the list include eight members of the USA national team, including Tokyo Olympic gold medalists, Aria Fischer and Paige Hauschild. Aussie Stinger, Tilly Kearns, is also on the list, having been short-listed for last season’s award.
European interest on the list includes former Serbian international, Lara Luka; Hungarian and former player of BVSC, Kata Utassy; and British superstar, Lily Turner.
Zoe Banks (Havard) Abigail Burton (McKendree University), Aria Fischer (Stanford University), Shauna Franke ( Brown University), Paige Hauschild (USC), Ava Johnson (UCLA), Tilly Kearns (UCLA), Emma Lineback (UCLA), Lara Luka (Long Beach State), Ryann Neushul (Stanford), Erin Neustrom (Michigan), Jewel Roemer (Stanford), Jovana Sekulic (Princeton University), Abbey Simshauser (Wagner), Lily Turner (California), Kata Utassy (Michigan), Emma van Rossum (Hawaii), Bayley Weber (USC), Noëlle Wijnbelt (UC Davis), Isabel Williams (California).
This weekend’s top picks
Friday 7th April
UC Davis vs UC San Diego
Saturday 8th April
Long Beach State vs UC Santa Barbara
Indiana vs Michigan
Arizona State vs UCLA
USC vs Stanford
San Jose vs California
Conference Standings
MPSF
- Stanford – 3 games – 3 wins
- USC – 3 – 3
- UCLA – 3 – 2
- California – 3 – 2
- Indiana – 5 – 1
- San Jose – 2 – 0
- Arizona State – 3 – 0
Big West
- Hawaii – 5 games – 5 wins
- UC Irvine – 4 – 4
- Long Beach State – 4 – 3
- UC Davis – 3 – 2
- UC Santa Barbara – 4 – 1
- UC San Diego – 4 – 1
- CSUN – 4 – 0
- Cal State Fullerton – 4 – 0
Golden Coast
- Fresno State – 6 games – 6 wins
- LMU – 5 – 4
- Pacific – 5 – 3
- Concordia – 5 – 3
- San Diego State – 4 – 2
- Azusa Pacific – 5 – 2
- California Baptist – 5 – 0
- Santa Clara – 5 – 0
CWPA
- Michigan – 7 games – 6 wins
- Princeton – 5 – 5
- Havard – 5 – 3
- Sant Francis – 7 – 2
- Brown – 5 – 2
- Bucknell – 7 – 0
Read more articles from the Total Waterpolo’s USA Weekly
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
For more video content, subscribe to our Youtube Channel and Tik Tok account
