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UCLA Labor Center report uncovers unfair work practices in nail salon industry

A UCLA report found that full-time nail salon workers earn less than half the median income of other U.S. workers.

Researchers from the UCLA Labor Center released a report Tuesday showing that the majority of nail salon workers in the United States are low-wage workers, and that while many work long hours, 89 percent are not paid for overtime work.

Preeti Sharma, the report’s main author and gender studies Ph.D. student, said these workers often face exploitative working conditions, especially as the workforce is 81 percent female and 79 percent foreign-born, groups she says are especially susceptible to labor and wage exploitation.

Sharma said many of these workers are often afraid to speak out about exploitative policies or simply don’t know how to. These groups of workers have trouble filing complaints about wage- or working-condition violations.

The report details that 80 percent of nail salon workers are earning what the report classifies as “low wages,” less than $13.46 an hour. This percentage is much higher than the national average of 33 percent of workers that are classified “low-wage workers.”

The report also addresses labor and wage issues often seen in the industry, such as long hours and a lack of overtime pay.

Nearly two-thirds – 61 percent – of women who work at nail salons have young children and one-third are the heads of their households.

The data was compiled from an analysis of existing literature such as journal articles, policy reports and government data. This data was used to analyze the working conditions and wages of nail salon workers across the country.

In her work, Sharma outlines how government statistics often underrepresent the number of nail salon workers across the country, and how she hopes her work will help to create a more accurate depiction of their realities.

Vina Nguyen, an author of the report and a recent UCLA alumna, said she thinks the data is underreported in government statistics. She said the researchers found discrepancies between government reports and the number of nail licenses given.

“We strongly believe that this is an undercount of the number of nail salons in the United States,” Nguyen said. “There are more nail salon workers out there who aren’t even included in this count who are likely low-wage as well.”

The Labor Center has been working in tandem with the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, an organization that works with salons to improve the rights of beauty industry workers. Lisa Fu, director of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, said the collaboration has been encouraging salons to adopt health and safety policies that create better conditions for workers.

Fu said a major shift needs to happen in the industry, as labor laws aren’t traditionally being followed.

“We want to highlight those that are doing the right thing,” Fu said. “For us it’s about providing education and information in a way that they actually know what to do and support workers to make sure they are being protected.”

Sharma said her report aims to create a more humanized and worker-focused analysis of the nail salon industry.

“A lot of the conversations about salons tend to be around health and environment, which is definitely very important,” Sharma said. “But when you focus on the industry solely from health perspectives, it (tends) to ignore the crucial role of workers and labor conditions.”

Nguyen said she thinks the general public often fails to see the workers as real people, as opposed to numbers or statistics.

“It’s important to really listen to the workers, to look beyond the facts and statistics – these are the lived experiences of workers,” Nguyen said. “Our main goal is to humanize these workers.”

Ly Nguyen, a worker at InStyle Nails & Spa in Westwood, said the salon has been making workers wear protective gear such as face masks and allowing for more flexible hours to address health and labor concerns. She said flexible hours are important for her to raise her two young children.

Sharma said she thinks migrant women are an extremely important force in the beauty industry, but that they are still facing hardships in the industry.

“I think the nail salon industry offers a glimpse into the history of how women’s and immigrant women’s work is valued,” Sharma said. “Given all the anti-immigrant, sexist rhetoric, these salons do provide us an example of ethnic entrepreneurship and they are very much driven by ethnic and women’s labor.”

Care Extender Program gives pre-med students experience working in hospitals

A volunteer organization on campus aims to help students gain firsthand experience in the medical field.

The UCLA Care Extender Program is located at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, and consists of over 1,000 volunteers in about 50 departments. The program is made up of students from schools across California, such as California State University, Northridge, Cal Poly Pomona and UC Irvine, according to Care Extenders Public Relations Coordinator William Narinyan.

Care Extenders allows volunteers to experience health care from a clinical perspective as well as gain experience working with doctors and nurses and interacting with patients.

Volunteers who apply to the program must be at least 18 years old and willing to work with patients in the various departments. After an application and selective interview process, volunteers who are accepted into the program are assigned to specific departments of their choice, such as radiology, oncology and pediatrics, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Diamond Nguyen, the quality control coordinator, worked as a volunteer in radiology and pediatrics before working at Care Extenders. She said her experience in the program was different because it provided a new perspective of what it’s like to work in a hospital. She said for someone like herself, who only had knowledge in optometry, she was exposed to parts of the hospital she hadn’t experienced before, such as the emergency room.

“The program is there to provide people like me experience in health care. There aren’t a lot of programs where you are exposed to the hospital environment,” Nguyen said. “You learn things you wouldn’t know about without being in the hospital.”

Volunteers must complete four rotations in different departments before they are able to officially graduate from the program. Each rotation lasts three months, adding up to a year in the program. However, there are others who choose to extend their time in the program. Narinyan said during his time at the program, he has learned new medical skills like reading patients’ vital signs, safety protocols and what to do if a patient is at risk of having a stroke.

Jade Elliott, a former volunteer in the program who graduated this spring, said sometimes volunteers can’t be prepared for patient care no matter how many times they have seen it on TV. Part of the volunteer experience is learning how to interact with patients who have terminal conditions or are going through treatments for diseases such as cancer.

“Right before I started my shift once, a small kid died,” Elliott said. “That was really hard because I had to take the belongings with the family to their car and they were crying.”

Nguyen added she thinks the program has been successful in its initial goal of teaching volunteers new skills while emphasizing patient interaction.

“When you think about volunteering, you mostly think about doctors and nurses, and it’s easy to forget that a lot of the (patients) who are here, don’t want to be here. It’s rewarding when you get to sit and talk with them,” Elliott said. “It means a lot to them.”

The program is trying to expand to new departments, such as a gastrointestinal laboratory and an eye institute, and implement a shadowing unit where volunteers are able to observe doctors and nurses. The purpose of the staff interactions with the volunteers is to teach what the staff does on a day-to-day basis.

UCLA Medal awarded to activist Rev. James Lawson for contributions to civil rights

This post was updated Dec. 4 at 10:38 a.m.

An acclaimed civil rights activist received UCLA’s highest award for his contributions to civil rights and talked about the urgency of ending violence in America at the award ceremony Wednesday.

Rev. James Lawson received the UCLA Medal, the university’s highest honor, at an event hosted by the Institute for Research on Labour and Employment on Wednesday. The medal has been given to individuals, including presidents, philanthropists and artists, who have demonstrated heroism. Past awardees include Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright, author Toni Morrison, Congressman John Lewis, and President Jimmy Carter.

Chancellor Gene Block said he thinks Lawson is the perfect example of a hero because of his support for nonviolence for over 50 years.

“Heroes have the rare responsibility to hear and heed the calls of conscience, often at great risk to themselves but great benefit to humanity,” Block said.

Lawson has been a professor at UCLA for over 15 years, according to Block, and teaches an undergraduate class on nonviolence and social movements.

Lawson helped organize the Memphis sanitation strikes that occurred 50 years ago. During the Memphis strikes, black sanitation workers successfully pushed to join an organized labor union.

Lawson said he has hope that America will forsake violence, both in terms of civil rights and abroad.

“If we can take the ideas and experiences of the past and use them, we will be surprised at all that can be accomplished,” he said. “We are not where history wants us to be right now, or where creation wants us to be.”

Darnell Hunt, dean of social sciences at UCLA, said Lawson has inspired civil rights leaders and continues to serve as a moral compass for progressive politics today.

“Rev. Lawson, plain and simple, is a civil rights and human rights icon,” he said. “He helped to develop strategy for Freedom Riders who traveled throughout the South and was an advisor to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.”

Hunt added Lawson has served as an advisor to California Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom.

Newsom told The New Yorker earlier this month that a meeting with Lawson made him realize his campaign was not about dozens of policy ideas, but about an overall crusade to end poverty, especially of children.

Newsom added Lawson asked him what his purpose in life was, which forced him to think more deeply about his goals.

Abel Valenzuela, a professor of urban planning and Chicana/o studies, said Lawson’s advocacy for workers has inspired his and many others’ views.

“Wages of the people who do work are essential ingredients to justice and community. Hard work pays, not in monetary riches sometimes, but in living a dignified and contributing life,” Valenzuela said.

Hunt added Martin Luther King Jr. once said “Rev. Lawson is the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.”

Students and labor advocates demonstrated against the UCLA administration outside the ceremony to protest the perceived hypocrisy of rewarding a civil rights activist, who worked with labor unions for years, while also failing to work with the university’s largest employee union.

The UCLA Labor Center and the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment will launch the UCLA Lawson Legacy Project by the end of November to celebrate Lawson’s contributions. The Lawson Legacy Project will establish an annual Lawson Lecture on Nonviolence beginning in 2019 and an annual scholarship for UCLA students engaged in the theory and practice of nonviolence.

Lawson said he thinks nonviolent theory is as important now as it was earlier in his life.

“Nonviolence is not just nice words,” Lawson said. “Violence is now threatening the very existence of our planet.”

AFSCME and students protest stalled negotiations at UCLA Medal ceremony

Students and labor advocates demonstrated against UCLA administration at an award ceremony over stalled union negotiations.

Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, the UC’s largest employee union, and students protested the University’s approach to negotiations with AFSCME on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Chancellor Gene Block presented Rev. James Lawson Jr., a civil rights activist and professor at UCLA, with the UCLA Medal.

The labor union and students said they were not protesting Lawson receiving the medal. Instead, they said they were protesting the perceived hypocrisy of rewarding a civil rights activist, who worked with AFSCME and other labor unions for years, while simultaneously failing to work with the university’s AFSCME contingent.

AFSCME 3299 claimed the pay gap has increased between lower and higher earners, and that bias against women and employees of color is prevalent in a report they released in April.

Maddy Offerman, a fourth-year human biology and society student, said she felt if the university cared about Lawson’s work, it would support the employee union.

“I think it’s really disappointing that the university can’t uphold the same values that they’re rewarding Lawson for upholding, and they can’t follow through on supporting fair labor when that’s exactly what they’re recognizing him for doing,” Offerman said.

UCLA representatives were not immediately available for comment.

Eddie Thompson, another AFSCME member at UCLA, said he was protesting purely against the UC’s propositions.

“It’s really against the chancellor, because the chancellor and the UC are really not trying to give us a contract,” Thompson said.

Madalena Burke, a third-year mathematics student, said she felt the University’s unwillingness to grant AFSCME workers’ requests reflects badly on the celebration of Lawson.

“It’s just kind of hilariously hypocritical that they’re awarding him for all of this lifetime of service and work when they fail to respect the dignity of their own workers and fail to address the needs of AFSCME when they’re asking for the same things,” Burke said.

AFSCME 3299 has been in negotiations for more than a year with the UC system, pushing against health care premium increases, different retirement plans and job outsourcing.

Offerman said it is the UC’s responsibility to reach an acceptable contract, but added she hoped Block would do his part to pressure the UC into doing so.

“We really want (Block) to stand up for the values he is trying to say that he has by holding this event for Rev. Lawson,” Offerman said.

AFSCME members went on strike during May and October after the UC and AFSCME stalled in their negotiations.

Davina Woods, an AFSCME member at UCLA, said this issue is the responsibility of the larger UC system.

“The regents and (UC President) Janet Napolitano and the chancellor all have the authority to stop this, but still they want to devalue us workers, while doing more outsourcing, and then widening the pay gap between the top and the bottom,” Woods said.

Lawson helped organize the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike with Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Many of the employees involved were AFSCME members.

Chelsea Dyapa, a third-year philosophy student, said she thought Block was taking advantage of Lawson’s history in civil rights.

“A lot of us kind of see this as an extension of UCLA’s racism – (Block) is racist – he’s trying to tokenize Rev. Lawson and what he stands for,” Dyapa said.

Offerman and Burke said the union tried to contact Lawson and ask him to decline the award due to the context of the situation.

Woods reiterated that she greatly respects Lawson and that the day was mainly about honoring his achievements and contributions.

“He’s been a leader in social justice movements for some time now and we’re celebrating his legacy today,” Woods said.

Woods said she hopes Lawson speaks up against the perceived injustices perpetrated by the University.

“I’m hoping that he would call UC out,” Wood said. “Make them realize what’s going on, that we have people too, we have family, we also have bills, and we work hard to keep this place running smoothly.”

UCLA swim and dive to cross country for invitational after break

The Bruins will be competing across the country for the first and only time of the season this week.

UCLA swim and dive (3-0, 3-0 Pac-12) will begin a three-day contest at the Georgia Fall Invitational in Athens, Georgia, on Thursday, where it will face a slew of top-20 teams.

The Bruins will square off against familiar Pac-12 foe No. 5 California (2-1, 2-0) along with No. 3 Michigan (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten), No. 7 Virginia (3-1, 2-0 ACC) and No. 11 Georgia (2-1, 2-1 SEC).

“It’s a different meet with different teams than we usually face,” said swimming coach Cyndi Gallagher. “So, our goal is to go there, compete hard and take measure of where we can improve for our next indoor meet.”

California, riding its 10th consecutive top-3 season, faltered early on against No. 1 Texas. Host team Georgia and Virginia both dropped meets to Southeastern Conference opponents No. 10 Florida and No. 17 Auburn, respectively, while Michigan remains undefeated with wins over smaller Big Ten schools.

The meet will be the swim team’s first action in nearly a month due to the postponement of its mid-November meet against UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego.

Despite the prolonged gap, Gallagher remains confident in the team’s ability to perform.

“We’ve been off for awhile, but the girls are still in hard training,” Gallagher said. “A couple of weeks off is no big deal because we’re still focused and racing competitively every day in practice.”

UCLA will send 14 swimmers to Georgia this week, including junior Kenisha Liu.

Liu – who is coming off leading performances in the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle races against Arizona and Arizona State – praised her coach’s ability to maintain concentration, as well as the team’s eagerness to return to the pool.

“(Gallagher) does a great job keeping us hungry and focused in practice,” Liu said. “Our freshmen are also great this year because they really have no cap on their energy and enthusiasm, and have made a real impact on the team.”

UCLA dive will once again showcase a trio of divers at the invitational. Diving coach Tom Stebbins echoed Gallagher’s optimism.

“It’s not a long enough break for our divers to go cold,” Stebbins said. “As they rest they tend to get sharper and fundamentally cleaner, and we’re hoping to see that they’ve succeeded in doing so at the meet.”

Seniors Traci Shiver and Madeline Russell are set to compete in both the springboard and platform diving events alongside sophomore Alice Yanovsky, who will make her season debut on the springboard.

Shiver and Russell – who took part in the Trojan Diving Invitational earlier in November – placed sixth and seventh out of 18 divers, registering scores of 405.85 and 398.75 respectively.

“(Shiver has) been the most consistent in her ability to prepare each week, so I expect her to perform well,” Stebbins said. “It’ll be good for (Russell) to get back out there now that she’s healthy, and I am looking forward to seeing (Yanovsky) in action for the first time.”

Battle of the Editors: UCLA sports see winless Thanksgiving weekend

Student-athletes gave up their Thanksgiving break to compete all around the country last week, but the Bruins combined to finish 0-9 across five different sports. Each of the Daily Bruin Sports editors picked which program’s winless holiday weekend stung the most.

Men’s basketball
Ryan Smith, Sports editor

UCLA men’s basketball is a young program with a lot of injuries to key players – I get it.

However, its performance over the Thanksgiving holiday at the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational left much to be desired, and frankly, it was hard to watch.

On Thanksgiving night, Michigan State (5-2) ran UCLA (4-2) off the court with a barrage of 3-pointers and an overall shooting percentage of 51.6. To be fair, UCLA never looked great against any of the smaller programs it faced in the first few weeks of the season, but I would have expected the Bruins to have an extra pep in their step playing the then-No. 11 team in the nation.

Despite my frustration, the Spartans are an outstanding team with an all-time great in coach Tom Izzo leading the program. Sure, it was a disappointing way to spend the holiday evening, but Friday’s game against then-No. 6 North Carolina stung the most.

The Tar Heels – who had lost to unranked Texas Longhorns the night before – were a team that I expected the Bruins to have a good chance of defeating.

The Bruins built up an early 11-point lead which was impressive, but sure enough, it crumbled in a matter of minutes. UCLA then lost the game after being outscored by 21 points in the second half.

But it wasn’t the fact that UCLA lost that was so frustrating.

The Bruins had a team that had lost the night before on the ropes, and they let the momentum slip away with little to no fight. If players on a young team like UCLA are going to learn and grow together, those are the games they need to close out.

Women’s soccer
Gabe McCarthy, assistant Sports editor

The season came to a heartbreaking end for the Bruins.

UCLA women’s soccer (17-3-2) fell to UNC (20-3-2) in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament in penalty kicks.

The Bruins scored twice in under one minute to equalize the game at 2-2 in regular time but neither side could break the deadlock in overtime.

The drama of penalties is unrivaled in any sport. It seems simple to just kick the ball into an 8-meter frame from 12 yards out, but the process to have the perfect technique is clouded with nerves. It’s a nightmare for any player to have the entirety of a season relying on the execution of a kick done dozens of times in practice.

UCLA had the experience of winning a penalty shootout 4-3 last season against Duke in the NCAA College Cup semifinals to advance to the final against Stanford. Unlike then, the Bruins replaced junior goalkeeper Teagan Micah with redshirt freshman goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy in goal for the shootout.

UCLA missed two kicks in the shootout and UNC scored all four of their efforts. Senior forward Julia Hernandez’s kick to the right was saved and junior midfielder Jessie Fleming’s attempt to the corner was parried away by Tar Heels goalkeeper Samantha Leshnak to clinch the win.

The loss marked the end to a remarkable streak, as the Bruins had won 12 matches in a row and scored 44 goals in that period since falling 3-2 to Stanford. Sophomore forward Ashley Sanchez recorded either a goal or assist in 13 straight games, including the UNC match, and was a part of a UCLA offense that had scored a total of 15 goals in three postseason games.

It is cruel the Bruins will not be appearing in the College Cup, ending a record-breaking season in the oft-tragic drama of penalties.

Women’s basketball
Joy Hong, assistant Sports editor

It’s the poor shooting, the lazy defense and the inexperience. It’s basically everything.

UCLA women’s basketball (3-4) lost to just four unranked opponents over the last two years. But the Bruins have already dropped three against unranked teams less than a month into their season.

After winning three straight games following its season-opening loss to Loyola Marymount, UCLA returned home from the 2018 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam winless – falling to North Carolina, then-unranked Kentucky and then-No. 17 South Florida.

UCLA’s 83-49 loss to North Carolina was the program’s worst to an unranked opponent under coach Cori Close, who took over the program in 2011.

The Bruins’ 34-point loss on Nov. 22 became UCLA’s most lopsided loss to a team outside the top 25 since its 89-42 loss to then-unranked Utah in 2001.

After graduating its top-two scorers from the last season in former guard Jordin Canada and former forward Monique Billings, the Bruins are struggling to get points on the scoreboard.

UCLA shot just 26.2 percent against North Carolina and 27.5 percent against South Florida. The Bruins allowed the Tar Heels to shoot over 40 percent from the field and the Bulls to shoot over 40 percent from 3-point range.

The Bruins – who are fresh off of three straight Sweet 16 appearances for the first time in program history – averaged shooting 41.7 percent from the field over those three years.

Against Kentucky, UCLA went 51.7 percent – almost 15 percent better than the Wildcats – but Kentucky made seven more 3s and six more free throws than the Bruins for the 75-74 win.

Close needs to find a way to clean things up before conference play – in which five teams are ranked in the top 25.

Or else, it’s going to be a long season.

Women’s volleyball
Angie Forburger, assistant Sports editor

The Bruins needed one more win.

UCLA women’s volleyball (13-14, 8-12 Pac-12) headed into the weekend one win shy of clinching a spot in the NCAA tournament. But after falling to both Colorado and USC, the UCLA finished with a record under .500 and became ineligible for the postseason.

UCLA tested a new starting lineup against the Buffaloes on Wednesday – but it fell flat.

Redshirt freshman middle blocker Emily Ryan got the first starting nod of her career, and was the only Bruin to record double-digit kills. Sophomore outside hitter Mac May – who reached double figures in kills in 21 matches this season – notched only eight kills.

After dropping three straight sets against the Buffaloes, the Bruins were in a must-win situation against the Trojans on Friday.

UCLA dropped its first two sets to USC but came back to win the next two to force a decisive fifth set. But with a set score of 15-9 in the Trojans’ favor, the Bruins’ season came to an end.

This year marked the program’s first-ever losing season. In coach Michael Sealy’s nine seasons with the Bruins, he has only finished with a .500 record once, and has led the Bruins to the NCAA tournament seven times.

While UCLA’s postseason chances seemed slim after it dropped seven of its last nine matches prior to the weekend, the final two losses still hurt.

Football
Sam Connon, assistant Sports editor

The season was a lost cause, but that doesn’t mean the loss to Stanford didn’t sting.

Of all the other losses last week, UCLA football’s easily hurt the most for me.

Men’s basketball is still early in the season, and two losses – while meaningful – do not sink a season in collegiate basketball. Women’s basketball is a young team with the least star power they’ve had in years, so my expectations for them have been tempered from the start of the year.

Women’s volleyball’s season was hectic, and by the end of it all, I would have rather had them miss the postseason than see them get destroyed and embarrassed on a national stage. And women’s soccer made it to penalty kicks in the Elite Eight – far from a disappointment.

But football, football had me riding a roller coaster of emotions all season long. I had high hopes, and the Bruins started 0-5. A two-game winning streak got me back on board, and then the Bruins followed that up with a fresh losing streak.

Coach Chip Kelly’s first season in Westwood was supposed to be special, and he prevented this season from becoming a nightmare by beating USC. But Kelly had the chance to do something that hadn’t been done in 20 years – beat all three California state rivals in one season.

And the worst part is that they were so, so close. Iconic plays – including a safety by sophomore defensive lineman Martin Andrus Jr. and a 93-yard kick return touchdown by sophomore cornerback Darnay Holmes – brought the Bruins back within striking distance after it seemed like the game was over.

A career day capped off redshirt junior tight end Caleb Wilson’s stellar season, and redshirt senior safety Adarius Pickett was playing his last game in blue and gold.

When I should have been relaxing and enjoying time off with my family, I had to stress over the entire football game all Saturday instead.

And despite getting two chances to tie the game in the final two minutes, graduate transfer quarterback Wilton Speight and the Bruins just couldn’t pull through.

What an awful way to spend a holiday weekend.

Men’s water polo to start NCAA championship contests against George Washington

Another title run is on the horizon for the Bruins.

No. 3 seed UCLA men’s water polo (22-4) will face No. 6 seed George Washington (23-6) to open NCAA championship play Thursday at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center.

While the Bruins have the opportunity to earn their fourth national championship in five years, coach Adam Wright is focused on them playing at the top of their game.

“The expectation is you want to be your best at the end of the year, and we have a chance to do that,” Wright said.

Thursday will be the third time UCLA and George Washington meet in the pool. The Bruins defeated the Colonials at the Princeton Invitational in 2012 and again in 2017 with scores of 22-4 and 20-4, respectively.

George Washington is coming off a 14-13 overtime victory against No. 5 seed Princeton (19-11) in the opening round Saturday. It was the Colonials’ first-ever win in an NCAA championship contest.

The Bruins have had an 11-day break from competition, which Wright said gave them time to make adjustments as they head into the final weekend of their season.

“There’s so many things we can get better at from two weeks ago (at the MPSF tournament),” Wright said. “Our transition game has to get much better. Our front court has to get much better. (Redshirt junior goalkeeper Alex Wolf) has been saving us, and that has to change, because you can’t give up easy goals at this point in the year.”

UCLA will face No. 2 seed USC (28-3) on Saturday in the semifinals should they win over George Washington.

The Bruins’ most recent game came against the Trojans in the third-place game of the MPSF championship Nov. 18. Led by Wolf’s 13 saves, UCLA won 7-4 and avenged its 12-11 loss against USC in the regular season finale.

UCLA would have likely missed out on NCAAs if they had lost to the Trojans at the MPSF championship. Sophomore center Quinten Osborne said playing USC a second time helped motivate the Bruins to play with intensity, which they hope to carry into a potential third meeting.

“Our approach was our biggest difference between the last time we played (USC) and in the MPSF,” Osborne said. “We had to embrace that there really is no tomorrow, and it’s the same in this tournament. If we can come out with that kind of fire and continue to do the little things right, then I think we have a good shot.”

Should the Bruins defeat the Trojans, UCLA will likely play No. 1 seed Stanford (20-2) in the national championship game Sunday. Stanford must defeat the winner between No. 4 seed UC San Diego (19-5) and No. 8 seed Long Beach State (14-11) to advance to the finals.

Senior attacker Austin Rone said the Bruins are preparing for any opponent they may come against.

“We’re getting ready for all three teams we could potentially face,” Rone said. “We don’t want to look ahead, but we have to prepare for every situation.”

Although the Bruins lost seven seniors from their 2017 national championship-winning team, Osborne, who logged 10 goals last season, said his experience allows him to share advice with his freshman teammates.

“Now that I know what’s coming, I feel like I can be more comfortable and help the other freshmen, who are a big part of our team, also be more comfortable,” Osborne said. “We’ve treated every game the same, so if it’s the first game or the NCAA final, it’s the same approach so there’s no surprises.”

UCLA will have the opportunity to avoid surprises Thursday at 2:45 p.m. against George Washington.