The rest of the USC campus might be fond of pink and red for Valentine’s Day, but the USC women’s golf team is focused on the green.

Beginning this Saturday, the Trojans will face off against Long Beach State in the Alice and John Wallace Classic. The tournament will consist of three days of fierce competition extending into the Monday holiday. The team is preparing to travel as Long Beach is hosting this year at the Monterey Country Club in Palm Desert, California.

The Trojans are ready to crush it on the course and continue their legacy of bringing home the first-place honor against the Beach. 

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USC hasn’t been hosted by Long Beach formally since February 2021. It did, however, compete against the Beach in mid-September, where it took home the first-place title in its first tournament of the season hosted by Seattle. 

The women’s golf team is the favorite to win in this weekend’s tournament, considering Long Beach holds just two first-place wins compared to the Trojans’ four out of five tournament wins this season. The Trojans remain eager to compete. 

“In [golf], there are no easy wins,” said Head Coach Justin Silverstein. “The expectation is for us to be really patient and stick to our plan that we come up with tomorrow during our practice round. I think if we do that, we’ll be in a good position to compete and hopefully leave with a trophy.”

It will be vital to manage individual pressures and expectations to perform well by focusing on what the Trojans can control — whether that be their strokes, approach, stance or breathing.

“Controlling the control is something we preach regularly … individually, everyone’s got different kind of expectations for themselves, and usually we’re having to control those expectations — and whether that’s from themselves or of the group that surrounds them — whether it be through support groups outside of college athletics or even our support staff inside,” Silverstein said. 

Among the Trojans is standout freshman Jasmine Koo, who averages 69.8 strokes per 18-hole course and has a track record of three out of five personal player wins so far this season. There is no doubting her tremendous contribution to the team’s overall score of 843 for three rounds of 18 holes. Koo has swung 65 three times this season as a freshman. Her best performance to date has been at the East Lake Cup on Oct. 28, where she won first place individually for the third time in a row.

Junior Jasmine Leovao is the top-scoring golfer for Long Beach, averaging 71 hits per 18-hole course this season.

Two weeks ago, USC dominated its Big Ten opponent Ohio State in the Therese Hession Regional Challenge. The Trojans held first place on all three days of competition, which resulted in a score of first place overall.

But it wasn’t easy. On day one, the Trojans finished two under par 282 and were tied for first place. However, USC battled hard and fought on. By day two, they cemented a lead of a cumulative nine below par. At the end of day three, the win was secured by a margin of only five strokes.

Currently, the Trojans rank No. 3 in the NCAA for Division I teams. Ahead of USC are No. 2 Stanford and No. 1 Arkansas.

This upcoming tournament could mean big things for women’s golf. Already harboring the title of the only Big Ten team to sit top three, the Trojans are gunning for the No. 2 ranking. USC has an expected upward trajectory of performance, whereas Stanford — who USC beat this past October in the Stanford Intercollegiate — seems to be on the decline.

Big things are coming for the women’s golf team in the new conference and beyond. The Alice and John Wallace Classic brings the Trojans one step closer to the Big Ten Women’s Golf Championships in mid-April. “To date, not much has changed for us —except for the logo on our shirt,” Silverstein said when asked about the aforementioned change in conference.

“[We] hope for some good weather. But quite honestly, we’ve played in some poor weather, even in patchy landscapes. We’ve played in torrential downpours in Eugene, we’ve played in snow in Boulder, we’ve played in hail and snow in Corvallis … we’ve seen it all, so we’ll be ready for whatever that week brings,” Silverstein said.

So, as USC students buy flowers, plan festive activities and spend time with their loved ones, the Trojans hope to bring back what is perhaps the sweetest Valentine’s Day gift of all: first place.