Emily Ausmus, Stanford Duo Named Cutino Award Finalists
USC’s Emily Ausmus and the Stanford duo of Juliette Dhalluin and Jenna Flynn were named finalists for the Peter J. Cutino Award on Wednesday.
The award for the best college water polo player, both men’s and women’s, has been presented annually by The Olympic Club in San Francisco since 199. This year’s award will be June 6.
Ausmus, a sophomore, was the MPSF Newcomer of the Year in 2026 and then the Player of the Year this season. She captained USC to its first NCAA title since 2021, named tournament MVP for her six goals and three assists in three games. She had two goals and an assist in a final win over Cal. She led USC in scoring for the second straight season at 77 goals to go with 30 assists for 107 points. She came up with 39 steals and went 27-2 on sprints.
Dhalluin is a native of France who transferred to Stanford from Arizona State, helping them win a national title in 2025. This year, the Cardinal fell in the NCAA semifinals despite winning the MPSF Tournament with Dhalluin as the MVP. She scored 12 goals in the tournament, including a career-high six in a win over USC in the final. A redshirt junior, she was All-MPSF second team, with 49 goals (including 15 multi-goal games and nine hat tricks) and a team-high 32 assists.
Flynn, an American Olympian in 2024, was on the All-MPSF team for the third time in her career and the All-Tournament team as a redshirt junior. The attacker led Stanford in scoring with 54 goals to go with 28 assists for a team-high 82 points. With 15 multi-goal games, she sits 11th on Stanford’s career scoring list with 182 goals.
The men’s finalists, named in January, are UCLA’s Ryder Dodd, and Robert López-Duart and Mihailo Vukazic of USC. Both awards will be handed out in ceremony streamed on overnight.com.
