A little more than a week after both UCLA basketball teams toppled their USC counterparts, a third Bruin squad has a chance to defeat its rivals.

UCLA women’s golf will take on No. 5 USC on Monday in the Battle for the Bell in its second match play event of the season. The two-team competition enters its third iteration this year and will take place only 25 miles away from campus at the Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos Verdes Estates, California.

The Bruins may welcome the proximity, as their last two events have hinted at the strength of home-field advantage.

Last week, it was No. 4 South Carolina who tied for first place in Hilton Head, South Carolina, at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, while the Bruins placed 14th. The week prior, UCLA found itself on top at the Bruin Wave Invitational, which took place in Santa Clarita, California.

But as the crosstown rivalry goes, the Trojans will also play on familiar grounds.

Coach Alicia Um Holmes said the team’s score at Hilton Head pinpointed areas where the it could improve.

“We’re going to focus more so on our putting,” Um Holmes said. “Just hit the short game pretty hard and see if we can clean up and shed a few strokes there.”

The event will mark the second time this year that the Bruins have gone head-to-head against the Trojans following their 3-2 loss in the East Lake Cup semifinals Oct. 29.

Circumstances have changed since that event, however, with UCLA seeing two of its star players, seniors Zoe Antoinette Campos and Caroline Canales, depart the team to pursue professional golf. Both Canales and Campos recorded multiple top-20 finishes each across the events they played earlier this season.

In the last two iterations of the Battle for the Bell, the Bruins emerged victorious, winning 2024’s event 4-1 and the inaugural edition 8.5-3.5 the year prior.

Senior Tiffany Le, who won her head-to-head at last year’s Battle for the Bell against USC’s Bailey Shoemaker, said the Bruins are anticipating the rematch.

“Although we’re rivals, we’re pretty good friends with USC, so I think it would be a fun matchup,” Le said. “Our team is pretty good in match play.”

Those friendly rivals could present the Bruins with stiff competition. The Trojans have recorded three wins on the season, including at the East Lake Cup, and have placed third or higher at every event they’ve played.

The USC squad features Jasmine Koo, the nation’s second-best female collegiate golfer and the second-ranked female amateur globally. Koo, in her first year with the program, has already picked up four individual wins across seven events.

Catherine Park, who ranks 10th globally, has also performed for the Trojans, picking up a first-place finish at the Leadership and Golf Invitational Sept. 16 to 17 along with tying the single-round program record with an 8-under 63 at the Stanford Intercollegiate a month later.

In contrast, the Bruins’ squad features only one player ranked above 95th in collegiate standings – freshman Francesca Fiorellini, who comes in at 24th. Fiorellini has led UCLA in three events this year, including a first-place win at the Bruin Wave Invitational.

Despite the potential challenge, Um Holmes said she anticipated the play style the format allows.

“It allows the team to be a little bit more aggressive and confident, and even if you do make a mistake, it’s only one hole that you lose,” Um Holmes said. “It should be a good event for us, and I’m excited to compete against a great team.”