May 4, 2007
San Francisco, CA - After a 59 goal season Katie Hansen was named as one of the three finalists for the Pete J. Cutino award- which is widely considered the Heisman trophy of Women's Water polo. The award will be presented in a ceremony at the Olympic Club in San Francisco on June 2.
Katie Hansen (Coronado, CA - Coronado High School) finished the year strong and completed her senior campaign with 59 goals. She was named 1st Team All-MPSF for her efforts this season and was named to the MPSF All-Conference team after a second place finish in the conference tournament. This makes Hansen a four-time All-MPSF performer after she made the All-Freshmen team her freshman year, MPSF second-team her sophomore, and MPSF first-team her junior and senior seasons. With Hansen in the lineup, Stanford has reached at least the national semifinals every season she has been in uniform.
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 U.C. Berkeley to eight NCAA National Championships. In his career Mr. Cutino also coached in the Olympic Games, the Pan American Games, the Water Polo World Championships and the World University Games.
Past recipients of the prestigious award are:
1999 - Bernice Orwig (USC)
2000 - Aniko Pelle (USC) and Sean Kern (UCLA)
2001 - Coralie Simmons (UCLA) and Sean Kern (UCLA)
2002 - Brenda Villa (Stanford) and Tony Azevedo (Stanford)
2003 - Jackie Frank (Stanford) and Tony Azevedo (Stanford)
2004 - Moriah Van Norman (USC) and Tony Azevedo (Stanford)
2005 - Natalie Golda (UCLA) and Tony Azevedo (Stanford)
2006 - Lauren Wenger (USC) and Juraj Zatovic (USC)