May 24, 2004

LOS ANGELES - USC sophomore two-meter Moriah Van Norman was named Saturday as the 2004 Peter J. Cutino Award recipient, becoming the third USC women's player to earn the honor. The award, considered the Heisman Trophy of water polo, is given annually to the nation's top male and female collegiate players.

Van Norman (San Diego, CA/USC/San Diego Shores) is the sixth woman in as many years to win the honor and the third Trojan to win it (Bernice Orwig-1999 and Aniko Pelle-2000).

The award is named after Peter J. Cutino, one of the country's most storied and revered coaches. 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.

This season, Van Norman was second on the team in scoring with 58 goals and named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Player of the Year, along with being named MPSF Championship MVP. She was named MPSF/Mikasa Player of the Week twice this season. Van Norman has appeared in USA Water Polo's Top 40 Festival twice and has been a key player for the U.S. Junior National Team the past two years. She also helped the U.S. to its fourth-straight Holiday Cup championship last December.

The Women of Troy won the 2004 NCAA Championship, going undefeated (29-0) in the process. USC won its second national championship after winning the 1999 National Collegiate Championship (women's water polo was not an NCAA-sponsored championship until 2001).