Women's Water Polo

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    Bernice Orwig
    Bernice Orwig

    Position:
    Assistant Coach

    A goalkeeper with the U.S. National Team and the 1999 National College Player of the Year, Bernice Orwig begins her first year as an assistant coach with both the USC men and women.

    She was the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. team that finished second in the 1999 Pan Am Games.

    Orwig led the USC women's team to the 1999 national championship (she was selected as the MVP of the tourney and the Best Goalie of the tourney) and won the Pete Cutino Award (the Heisman Trophy of water polo) as the nation's top female collegiate player. An All-American first teamer in 1999, she also was the National Player of the Year and the National Goalie of the Year, as well as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year. The previous two seasons, she made the All-American second team. In three seasons, she made a total of 838 saves.

    Orwig transferred to USC from Cypress (Calif.) College, where she played on the men's water polo team as a freshman and later made the Cypress Hall of Fame.

    A native of Anaheim, Calif., Orwig is working on a degree in social sciences/education at USC.