Orwig attended and played Water Polo for
USC, under Coach Jojan Vavic, graduating with a degree in Social Science Education in 1999. As a senior, she helped lead USC to the 1999
NCAA Collegiate title, in an exciting game over the women from Stanford University that included five overtime sessions. That same year, she won the
Peter J. Cutino Award as the top female college water polo player in the United States. She received first team All-America honors in 1999 and second team All-America honors during her sophomore and junior year.
2000 Sydney Olympics Orwig participated in the 2000 Olympics under U.S. Olympic Women's Head Coach
Guy Baker, serving as the team's starting goaltender. In the Olympic preliminary rounds, known as the Round Robin, eliminated Kazakhstan and Canada, seeing Australia win four of five games, and capturing the first place standing into the semi-finals. The semi-final rounds were all close, usually decided by only one goal. Australia and the United States defeated Russia and the Women's team from the Netherlands, with the final match seeing USA leading Australia 2-1 at halftime . With only 13 seconds left in the second half, the Americas tied the match 3-3, but with only 1.3 seconds remaining Australia’s Yvette Higgins scored giving Australia the gold medal, 4-3. ==Coaching water polo==