Before you meet with your new client, your online research showed that she played golf for a local college you also attended. bringing this up in when you meet would:

Help create familiarity

Explanation:

Familiarity is being created by bringing up common events shared in the past. Familiarity can be a useful tool while dealing with a new client because it makes the meeting less formal. The client, hearing that the other person went to the same college, may feel a sense of belonging which in turn may influence his decision regarding the outcome of the meeting.

Some people however, do not like any kind of familiarity in meetings and the shared past has absolutely no meaning to them, they may even become annoyed and see the mentioning of the past event as a way to influence their decision making ability.