June 7, 2015 Neushul Wins (Recap via GoStanford.com) - Scroll down for Genidounias
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Stanford driver Kiley Neushul was named the recipient of the 2015 Peter J. Cutino Award when The Olympic Club of San Francisco held the 16th Annual Cutino Awards Dinner on Saturday night. The award, given to the outstanding female and male collegiate water polo players in the United States as voted by the coaches of the Division I schools, has been won by a Cardinal each of the last five years.
Also the 2012 Peter J. Cutino award winner as a freshman, Saturday marked the second time Neushul was picked as the nation's best and is now Stanford's second two-time winner. Annika Dries won in 2011 and 2014. Five Stanford women have earned the honor seven times, including every year since 2011. In addition to Neushul and Dries, Brenda Villa (2002), Jackie Frank (2003) and Melissa Seidemann (2013) are the other Cardinal student-athletes to achieve the accolade, which was instituted in 1999.
On May 10, Neushul led Stanford to the program's fourth national championship in the past five seasons with a 7-6 victory over UCLA at Avery Aquatic Center. The Cardinal, which has won five NCAA crowns in program history, also became the first host institution to claim the title in the 15 years since the tournament's inception in 2001. The NCAA title was also the 106th won by a Stanford team and extended the school's national-best streak of years with at least one NCAA championship to 39, dating back to 1976-77.
The senior Neushul capped her collegiate career by converting a game-winning penalty shot with 11 seconds remaining to send the capacity crowd into a frenzy. She scored five of Stanford's seven goals in the championship and was named to the tournament's first team after scoring nine goals in three games.
A three-time All-American, Neushul's 222 career goals are third in Cardinal history. Her 63 in 2015 were a personal best and are tied for seventh in Stanford single-season history. The communication major scored in all but one of Stanford's 27 games, putting up 18 multi-goal efforts and 12 hat tricks. She leaves The Farm a three-time national champion after guiding Stanford to a 105-8 record over the last four years.
Teammate Maggie Steffens and UCLA goalkeeper Sami Hill were the other finalists for the award.
Neushul and Steffens, along with Ashley Grossman, Seidemann and Stanford signee Makenzie Fischer are currently with the USA Senior Women's National Team, which just won the 2015 Kunshan Cup in China. They will move on to Shanghai to represent the United States in the FINA World League Super Final, which begins Tuesday.
Genidounias Wins (Recap via USCTrojans.com)
Kostas Genidounias completed his USC career as the Trojans' all-time leading scorer, with three NCAA Championship rings captured and a host of impressive honors and accolades. On June 6 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, Genidounias was selected as the 2014-15 winner of the Peter J. Cutino Award -- the highest honor in collegiate water polo. A two-time finalist for award, Genidounias has now become the fourth male Trojan to win the Cutino Award. He follows in the footsteps of fellow NCAA Champions Juraj Zatovic, J.W. Krumpholz and Joel Dennerley.
Genidounias was unable to attend the ceremony in San Francisco due to training obligations with the Greek National Team, but he had taped a speech in advance in the event that he won the award. In his acceptance speech, Genidounias thanked his coaches, staff, family and friends, and dedicated his award to former teammate Jon Walters, who passed away in January 2014.
A native of Athens, Greece, Genidounias proved a quick fit at Troy, and his impact on the Trojan history books was almost immediate. As a freshman, in his first-ever game against crosstown rival UCLA, Genidounias hammered home five goals to help his Trojans beat the Bruins early in 2011. Over a year later, Genidounias was responsible for the game-winner in USC's come-from-behind win over UCLA in the 2012 NCAA Championship game, completing the year as the Trojans' second leading scorer in that sophomore season. As a junior, he'd finish just a goal off the top mark, again a driving force in USC's run to an unprecedented sixth straight national championship.
And in his senior stretch, Genidounias would go even bigger than ever before. Captain of a young Trojan roster in 2014, Genidounias helped USC defy the odds and ignore the predictions of a mediocre season. Shrugging off injury and focused wholly on success, Genidounias was near unstoppable in his efforts to help USC turn heads and power back into a 10th consecutive NCAA title match. His four goals -- including the sudden-death winner -- in the 2014 NCAA Semifinal victory over Stanford were all epic blasts. In the NCAA play-in game there previous weekend, Genidounias had officially locked his place as USC's all-time leading scorer, and he just kept adding to the count in his final games. The Trojans would come up just short of the national championship this year, taking second place with a one-goal loss, but Genidounias' impact on the USC program still shines through. His 82 goals scored in his senior year is the second most ever by a Trojan in a single season. And his 261 career goals sets a new record at Troy.
Genidounias also was named National Player of the Year in his senior season while collecting his fourth set of All-American honors. He also was the 2014 MPSF Player of the Year, a three-time member of the NCAA All-Tournament First Team, a three-time All-MPSF First Team selection, and was named the 2014 MPSF Tournament MVP to notch his third pick to an MPSF All-Tournament Team. Genidounias also was a finalist for the Cutino Award last year as a junior.
Joining Genidounias as the male finalists for this year's Cutino Award were Bret Bonanni and Alex Bowen of Stanford.
All-time Peter J. Cutino Award winners:
1999 - Bernice Orwig (USC)
2000 - Aniko Pelle (USC) & Sean Kern (UCLA)
2001 - Coralie Simmons (UCLA) & Sean Kern (UCLA)
2002 - Brenda Villa (Stanford) & Tony Azevedo (Stanford)
2003 - Jackie Frank (Stanford) & Tony Azevedo (Stanford)
2004 - Moriah Van Norman (USC) & Tony Azevedo (Stanford)
2005 - Natalie Golda (UCLA) & Tony Azevedo (Stanford)
2006 - Lauren Wenger (USC) & Juraj Zatovic (USC)
2007 - Kelly Rulon (UCLA) & John Mann (Cal)
2008 - Courtney Mathewson (UCLA) & Tim Hutten (UC Irvine)
2009 - Kami Craig (USC) & J.W. Krumpholz (USC)
2010 - Kami Craig (USC) & J.W. Krumpholz (USC)
2011 - Annika Dries (Stanford) & Ivan Rackov (California)
2012 - Kiley Neushel (Stanford) & Joel Dennerley (USC)
2013 - Melissa Seidemann (Stanford) & Balazs Erdelyi (Pacific)
2014 - Annika Dries (Stanford) & Balazs Erdelyi (Pacific)
2015 - Kiley Neushel (Stanford) & Kostas Genidounias (USC)
