May 9, 2013
STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford women's water polo standouts and 2012 Olympic Gold Medalists Annika Dries, Melissa Seidemann and Maggie Steffens were named finalists for the 2013 Peter J. Cutino Award, The Olympic Club of San Francisco announced Thursday.
The Cardinal trio was joined by USC's Monica Vavic on the list of finalists. The Peter J. Cutino Award is given annually to the top collegiate male and female water polo players in the nation as voted by head coaches of the Division I schools. Dries aims for her second honor, having captured her first in 2011, while Seidemann was named a finalist for the second time in her career (previously in 2011).
Stanford (27-2) begins play at the 2013 National Collegiate Championship Friday at 10:45 a.m. PT at Harvard's Blodgett Pool. The Cardinal goes for its third straight NCAA title and fourth overall when it opens tournament action against No. 7 seed Iona (21-8).
Dries, in the running to become just the second two-time winner of the award, is fifth in the Cardinal rankings this season with 32 goals despite missing the first month of the season due to injury. After taking the 2012 season off to train for the Olympics, Dries has been a key two-way player inside for the Cardinal, adding to an offense that averages 13.03 goals a game and helping anchor a defense that leads the MPSF with just 4.52 goals allowed per game.
Seidemann, who was also away from The Farm in 2012, picked up right where she left off as one of Stanford's top goal scorers. Entering this weekend's National Collegiate Championship the Walnut Creek native leads the Cardinal with 67 goals and is third in the MPSF with 2.31 goals per game.
Also providing offensive help to a Cardinal team that has scored an MPSF-high 378 goals this season is Steffens. In her first season at Stanford after deferring her admission for the 2011-12 school year due to Olympic training, the 2012 FINA World Player of the Year has scored 54 goals in 2013 second-best on the squad. Her 1.86 goals-per-game average ranks 10th in the MPSF.
The 2013 Peter J. Cutino Award will be presented at the 14th Annual Cutino Awards Night Dinner Saturday, June 1 at The Olympic Club's City Clubhouse in San Francisco.