10:00pm |  The Long Beach State women’s golf team begins the spring season of the 2009-10 campaign by hosting The Gold Rush presented by Golfsmith at the Old Ranch Country Club (par-72, 6,157 yards) in Seal Beach, Calif. The inaugural two-round tournament begins on Monday, Feb. 8, at 9 a.m. and concludes on Tuesday, Feb. 9, with final round action beginning at 7:52 a.m. The Gold Rush will feature 11 teams from five different conferences (BYU, Cal Baptist, Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, New Mexico State, Portland State, No. 56 San Diego State, No. 22 UC Davis, UC Riverside, No. 44 San Francisco). Live action can be followed on golfstat.com.

ALL HANDS ON DECK: All seven 49ers will be making their spring debut as they participate in The Gold Rush in Seal Beach. Freshmen Simone Hoey, Reece Feducia, Monica Villareal, sophomore Noelle Zavaleta and junior Lindsey McAtee will represent LBSU in the team competition, while senior Brenda Chhuor and junior Reina Rogers will compete as an individuals. Villareal will be playing in her first collegiate tournament for LBSU.

LBSU CONCLUDES FALL SEASON: The 49ers wrapped up the fall season by competing in three tournaments, the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic, Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational and the Turtle Bay Invitational. Out of the three tournaments LBSU participated in, the 49ers recorded their best performance at Turtle Bay in Hawaii as they tied for seventh place (out of 17 teams) with Tulsa with a three-round score of 38-over par 902. The Beach finished in 13th (16 teams) at Ptarmigan and tied for 11th (13 teams) at Edean Ihlanfeldt.

HOEY RECORDS FIRST TOP 10 FINISH: Freshman Simone Hoey recorded her first top 10 mark as a 49er as she tied for 10th at the Turtle Bay Invitational in Kahuku, Hawaii back in November. Hoey, finished the three round tournament with a two-over 218. In her first tournament as a 49er, Hoey tied for 29th at the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic with a five-over 221 and tied for 35th at the Edean Ihalnfeldt Invitational with a 23-over 239.

ZAVALETA HAS IMPRESSIVE FALL SEASON: Sophomore transfer Noelle Zavaleta (Boise State) made an impressive debut as a 49er as she led LBSU in their first two tournaments of the fall season and recorded her first top 20 finish (fifth overall) at The Beach as she tied for 29th at the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic with a five-over 221 and tied for 20th at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational with a 17-over 233.

MCATEE NAMED TO NGCA ALL-AMERICAN SCHOLAR TEAM: For the second straight year, junior Lindsey McAtee was named to the 2008-09 National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team. A total of 410 women’s collegiate golfers from Division I, II and III were recognized for the prestigious honor that is some of the most stringent in all of college athletics as student-athletes must have a minimum cumulative GPA is 3.50 and must have competed in at least 50% of the scheduled competitive rounds during the year.

CERULLE TAKES OVER THE HELM: On Aug. 3, Joey Cerulle became the eighth head coach in the 43-year history of the women’s golf program at Long Beach State. Cerulle spent the past year as the assistant coach for the men’s and women’s golf teams at California Baptist in Riverside. Cerulle was selected to replace Sue Ewart, who stepped down after serving 13 years as the 49ers’ head coach. From 2005 to the spring of 2008, Cerulle was the first-ever head coach at Concordia University in Irvine. While at Concordia, Cerulle guided both men’s and women’s teams into the NAIA Top 25. In 2007, the men’s team advanced to the NAIA National Championships. He also coached one NAIA All-American and one Daktronics-Scholar Athlete. Prior to coming to Concordia, Cerulle spent three seasons as assistant head golf coach at nearby St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower. While there, he coached a trio of players that went on to play at the collegiate level. From 1998-2003, Cerulle was a golf instructor with the Long Beach Junior Golf Association as he taught course etiquette and rules and helped maintain and run the largest junior golf organization in California.

49ERS RELOAD WITH HOEY, ZAVALETA: Although the 49ers lost two of their best players this past season (All-American Kay Hoey to graduation and Lee Lopez tranferring to UCLA), the team welcomes two new players that are very familiar to the program, sophomoreNoelle Zavaleta (Long Beach) and freshman Simone Hoey (Rancho Cucamonga). Zavaleta, a Wilson High School graduate, transferred from Boise State where she played in eight tournaments for the Broncos with two top ten finishes and three top 25. Zavaleta finished second for Boise State at the Western Athletic Conference Championships in Reno, Nev. as she tied for 17th with a 229. She finished the season with a stroke average of 77.17. Hoey, the younger sister of Kay, graduated from Rancho Cucamonga High School where she was a four-year letterwinner on the boys golf team.

LBSU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: For the second time in program history, LBSU took part in the NCAA Tournament as the 49ers were among 21 teams at the West Regional in Tempe, Ariz. The Beach finished in 17th place with a score of 908 (299-310-299) at the Karsten Golf Course. Kay Hoey was the top player for LBSU as she finished in 17th. 

BEACH WINS FIRST BIG WEST TITLE: After finishing in second place three of the past four years, LBSU won their first Big West Conference Championship at the San Luis Obispo Country Club this past April. The 49ers won on the last hole by one-stroke over UC Irvine and UC Davis. The Beach finished with a tournament score of 965 (308-313-308). Freshman Lee Lopez was the 49ers’ top player as she finished in a four-way tie for second place with a 12-over 228 (74-76-78). Senior All-American Kay Hoey tied for seventh with a 17-over 233 (76-79-78), while junior Brenda Chhuor tied for 12th with a 237 (83-79-75). Sophomore Reina Rogers finished in 17th as she carded a 240 (75-82-83) and fellow classmate Lindsey McAtee tied for 18th with a 241 (85-79-77).

NEXT UP FOR THE BEACH: The 49ers travel to the Bay Area for the Stanford Invitational on Feb. 13-14, at the Stanford Golf Course on the campus of Stanford University .

Reports From LBSU