IRVINE, Calif. – For the second consecutive season, Navy attacker
Kiefer Black was among the 20 student-athletes selected to the Cutino Award Watch List. The Peter J. Cutino Award, named in honor of the late Hall of Fame coach, recognizes the best player in men's and women's college water polo.
USA Water Polo and The Olympic Club are excited to collaborate with the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) on the Cutino Award Watch List. This watch list was created in 2022 in an effort to help promote the college game, awareness of the honor, and the excellent play of athletes around the country.
Twenty (20) athletes, as submitted by varsity college coaches around the country, are recognized for their outstanding play. While it's possible the 2026 Cutino Award winner will come from the list of athletes below, the watch list is completely independent from the nomination and voting process for the Cutino Award as that honor will acknowledge the full impact of the 2025 men's season. A women's Cutino Award Watch List will be shared in Spring 2026.
Black, who joined goalkeeper Caden Capobianco ('24) as the second Midshipmen to be named to the list last season, becomes the first Navy student-athlete to be recognized on the list multiple times during the award's short tenure.
Black has played in all 12 games this season, helping lead Navy to a 9-6 overall record. He leads the team with 52 points on a team-high 32 goals and team-best 20 assists.
He began the 2025 season with 296 career points on 162 goals and 134 assists. With 13 points at the Triton Invitational, he became the seventh player in program history with 300 or more career points. The junior currently has 348 points on 194 goals and 154 assists.
Black enters the week in fourth place in program history with 348 points and is eight (8) points back of Greg Mendenhall ('97) who is third with 356. Navy head coach
Luis Nicolao ('92) is the program's all-time leader in points with 377.
Additionally, with 17 goals at the Navy Open, the San Diego native entered Navy's all-time top 10 in career goals. With 194 goals entering the week, he ranks ninth and is four goals shy of Tom Popp ('89) who stands in eighth-place with 198 goals and is 11 scores shy of Michael Mulvey ('09) who finished his career with 205. Black is six (6) goals back of becoming the eighth player in program history with 200 or more goals.
The junior is already the all-time assists leader in Navy history with 151, passing Popp who had 139 career helpers for the record.
Last season, Black registered his second consecutive 100-point season (125 points in 2023; 171 points in 2024), joining Nicolao (118 point in 1990; 114 points in 1991) and Doug Munz (113 points in 1993; 184 points in 1994) as the only players in program history with multiple 100-point seasons. Fifteen games into the 2025 season, Black has 52 points.
2025 Men's Cutino Award Watch List (athletes are listed in alphabetical order)
Kiefer Black | Navy | Junior | Attacker
Jack Burghardt | Harvard | Junior | Utility
Jon Carcarey | Pepperdine | Junior | Utility
Chase Dodd | UCLA | R-Senior | Attacker
Ryder Dodd | UCLA | Sophomore | Attacker
Brendon Gyapjas | San Jose State | Junior | Goalkeeper
Bernardo Herzer | USC | R-Junior | Goalkeeper
Reese Jenican | Santa Clara | Senior | Center
Kristóf Kovács | Princeton | Junior | Goalkeeper
Luka Krstic | UC Irvine | Senior | Attacker
Tom Leggett | Air Force | Sophomore | Utility
Robert Lopez Duart | USC | Junior | Attacker
Alika Naone | Loyola Marymount | Graduate | Attacker
Ryan Ohl | Stanford | Sophomore | Attacker
Luca Provenziani | Fordham | Sophomore | Utility
Will Schneider | Stanford | Sophomore | Center
Ilias Stothart | Brown | Senior | Center
Laszlo Strasser | Wagner | Senior | Attacker
Andras Toth | Fordham | Sophomore | Attacker
Mihailo Vukazic | USC| Senior | Attacker
