Coming into the event the question was whether the University of Southern California could capitalize on the absence of 2024 NCAA champions Stanford. The answer was an emphatic yes.

This year’s championship marked Southern California’s fourth win at the East Lake Cup in five starts and means it now has the most East Lake Cup titles in tournament history.

‘I think they played really disciplined golf this week,’ said Head Coach Justin Silverstein. ‘I think all the changes they made are really good here. It rewards really good shots, it accepts and spits out mediocre and it just destroys bad.

‘If you hit good shots to your disciplined targets, you can make this place look pretty simple, but it can also completely embarrass you for an hour, two-hour stretch during the round if you get undisciplined.’

Right out the gate, USC freshman, Jasmine Koo (below) set the tone by claiming the individual title with an impressive 65 (-7), her third consecutive victory this season. Her teammate Catherine Park followed close behind carding a 68 (-4) to end as runner-up.

The team also gained the No. 1 spot going into match play with a -6 finish, setting up a semi-final clash against UCLA, at the time ranked #29 in the National Collegiate Golf Rankings. In the other semi-final, #16 LSU faced off against #4 Oregon.

On Tuesday, USC required extra holes to see off their state rivals. Cindy Kou (USC) battled it out with Natalie Vo to the 21st hole before gaining USC’s second point to tie the match at 2 - 2. Kylie Chong (USC) then defeated Tiffany Le (UCLA) with a birdie putt on the third extra hole.

The Oregon Ducks, coming off their close loss against Arkansas at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup, put up quite the fight against LSU in the other semi-final.

Both sides had early wins — Aine Donegan’s 6&5 win for LSU against Ting-Hsuan Huang and Kiara Romero’s 5&3 for Oregon over Taylor Riley — before Suvichaya Vinijchaitham took her match all the way to 18 to put Oregon 2-1 ahead.

In the final two matches, Oregon’s Tong An and Karen Tsuru fought to stay alive but LSU had other plans, winning both matches and advancing to the championship match.

USC started the final in decisive fashion with veteran Cindy Kou winning the first match 4&2 before Jasmine Koo doubled USC’s advantage with a birdie on the 18th hole to finish 2 up over LSU senior Áine Donegan.

The Tigers countered with freshman Josefin Widal’s 4&3 victory against Kylie Chong. In the anchor match, Southern California sophomore Bailey Shoemaker took home a 6&4 win over LSU senior Elsa Svensson.

With the match locked up, the remaining contest between Tigers freshman Rocío Tejedo and Trojan junior Catherine Park ended in a tie with two to play.

‘It's always an honor to be here, means you took care of business the year before,’ said Coach Silverstein. ‘But to win on a golf course as difficult and a format that's this unique and difficult, means a lot.’