On Friday, the 49ers were outmatched by a Cougars team that proved a little bigger and a little faster, and that was all they needed to put two goals in the net and keep Long Beach from doing the same.

Long Beach State announced today that the men’s basketball team will add Ryan Hellenthal as the director of basketball operations. Hellenthal’s last two seasons were spent as director of basketball operations for the Boise State Broncos.

Longtime Long Beach State columnist Dr. Dan Barber joins the lbpost.com crew and shares his thoughts on tonight’s 49ers women’s soccer match, the women’s volleyball outlook and much, much more.

Now that we’ve had a couple of days to digest the Long Beach State women’s soccer team’s season debut over the weekend, let’s take a look at the performance and what we can deduce about the coming campaign.

The Long Beach State women’s soccer team will open play this Saturday with an exhibition game on their home turf of George Allen Field, and after a disappointing showing last season the team is anxious to get off to a hot start.

The Long Beach State women’s volleyball program has won two consecutive Big West Conference titles and holds the conference record with ten all-time. Opposing coaches are not going to bet against them. Yesterday, the 49ers were picked to finish first in the Big West Preseason Coaches Poll.

All 5-feet-11 of point guard Michael Caffey will join the 49ers for the 2011-12 season after completing his upcoming senior year at Corona Centennial. Caffey apparently committed on Sunday night.