The time has come.

Once again, head-to-head against the Cardinal and gold.

No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (18-2, 4-1 MPSF) will travel 15 miles southeast to take on No. 1 USC (20-2, 5-0) at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon. The Bruins have already faced the Trojans twice this season in tournament play, winning both matches 12-9 and 10-9, respectively.

But everything changes when playing on someone else’s home turf.

Or in this case, in their home pool.

“It’s a really loud pool to play in,” said redshirt senior attacker Emma Lineback. “There’s a lot of yelling from fans, from coaches and teams – it’s hard to hear. We’re just focusing on trying to hear each other, play connected and play as a team.”

UCLA is coming off a recent win against No. 7 LMU on Senior Day in its last home matchup of the year, and it now looks to another emotional game against its crosstown rival.

Depending on how the weekend concludes, the Bruins have the chance to take the MPSF regular season title, claiming the No. 1 seed position before entering postseason competition next weekend.

The top three teams – No. 2 Stanford, USC and UCLA – all remain in close competition, having stayed relatively tight at the top of the ranks all season. Several possible scenarios could play out that allow UCLA to come out on top of the MPSF this weekend, with another matchup between Stanford and No. 4 California occurring at the same time as the crosstown showdown.

With a Stanford win in Northern California, UCLA would need a multi-goal victory over USC to clinch the title. Any UCLA victory would secure the MPSF title should Stanford lose.

“They (USC) play a really fast, high-powered counterattack game,” said interim co-head coach Jason Falitz. “We got our work cut out for us on defense, but they’ve proven that they can play defense against anybody, and that’s really where it starts. Hopefully our offense starts to come around a little bit more because if it does, we’re going to be really tough.”

A top-three matchup to close the regular season allows the squad to test itself before entering the postseason.

“On offense, making extra passes, pulling each other out,” said senior attacker Taylor Smith when asked about what the Bruins are looking to improve when facing the Trojans again. “When we work for our centers, we usually get pretty good looks, and our defense has gotten a lot stronger. Our five-man has gotten a lot stronger. So I’m excited to showcase that against a good team like USC.”

However, USC is not without threats.

Attacker Emily Ausmus – who leads the team with 60 goals and 34 steals – center Rachel Gazzaniga and attacker Ava Stryker have all been put on the Peter J. Cutino Award watchlist.

Having lost to Stanford in the NCAA championship match last year, USC responded with a one-point March 22 rematch victory. However, the Trojans’ only loss has been to the Bruins on neutral territory by narrow margins, so playing at home may give them enough advantage to triumph over the Westwood team.

Playing away from their home pool isn’t deterring the Bruins, however, and the focus remains inward.

“We’re our strongest when we play as a team, and we play together,” Smith said.

The crosstown rivalry has split evenly across the squads’ last 10 games. And since 1999, UCLA has won 36 matches and lost 37. It will have the chance to tie the overall record this weekend, with the 74th meeting between the two teams on the horizon.

Despite the outcome, the Bruins are focused on improving for the future.

“A win is a win, a loss is a loss,” Lineback said. “We learn from it either way, so we’re just excited to play and grow.”