Long Beach State University Athletics
No. 40 LBSU opens spring season in San Diego
2/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Feb. 12, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
FIRST TEE: Long Beach State will open up the spring season as they travel down to San Diego for the Aztec Invitational hosted by San Diego State. The three-day tournament will take place at the Salt Creek Golf Course (par-72, 6,187 yards) in Chula Vista. Opening round action is scheduled to begin on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 7 a.m., with the final 18-holes concluding on Tuesday, Feb. 17 with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Brenda Chhuor, Kay Hoey, Lee Lopez, Lindsey McAtee and Reina Rogers will be competing against 17 teams (San Diego State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Colorado, Colorado State, East Tennessee State, Hawaii, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico State, Sacramento State, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Texas Tech, UC Irvine, San Francisco, Texas-El Paso and Wyoming). Live action will be available on golfstat.com.
LAST TIME IN SAN DIEGO: The last time the 49ers played in the Aztec Invitational was back in the fall of 2004 at The Auld Course in Chula Vista. LBSU finished tied for second place with a two-round score of 601 (300-301). Kay Hoey in her freshman year, was the top player for The Beach as she tied for fourth with a 146 (72-74).
EWART ON SPRING SEASON: "The spring season will be very rigorous early on. Three tournaments back to back will be a solid test for the team but one test I expect they should handle very well," said 49er Head Coach Sue Ewart. "After that we should have some time to re-group and replenish for our remaining two tournaments, UCI and the Big West Championship. The team has the Big West Championship in their sights and it should be a very solid test before we progress to post season. Providing we can stay healthy and not stumble along the way, the team should enjoy its' second trip into post season. I'm excited to get the season started!"
BEACH HAS SUCCESSFUL FALL CAMPAIGN: Despite not winning a tournament in their fall campaign, the 49ers finished in the top-10 in all four tournaments they played in. LBSU placed fifth at the Heather Farr Memorial, a sixth place finish at the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic and Edean Ihlanfeldt and tied for seventh at the Las Vegas Showdown. "I thought the fall season was very successful even though we didn't win a tournament," said Ewart. "Anchored by Kay Hoey and Lee Lopez, it was very satisfying to see the rest of the team had stepped up as well. To finish the fall campaign ranked in the top 40 provides a solid platform to begin our spring campaign."
FORTY-NINERS IN THE RANKINGS: The 49ers begin the spring campaign ranked at No. 40 in the Golfstat and No. 44 in Golfweek/Sagarin ratings. On the individual side, freshman standout Lee Lopez ranks at No. 60 and senior Kay Hoey at No. 72 in both Golfstat and Golfweek.
LBSU WELCOMES VILLARREAL TO THE TEAM: Redshirt freshman Monica Villarreal (Yorba Linda) joins the 49ers this season as the former Mater Dei player helped the Monarch's to three Trinity League Championships and a CIF Southern Section Division Championship. "I'm excited to have Monica join our team as she seems to be a perfect fit," said 49er Head Coach Sue Ewart. "Though she will be unable to play until the spring of 2010, I can only expect her to get stronger and more refined in her game. She will provide consistent scoring capabilities along with her pleasant personality."
LOPEZ HAS THREE TOP TEN FINISHES: Playing only in her third collegiate tournament, true freshman Lee Lopez recorded her third top ten finish as she tied for seventh place at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational in Washington as she carded a 227. Lopez tied for third in her first tournament as a 49er as she scored a 210 (68-74-68) at the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic. She also tied for seventh at the Heather Farr Memorial Invitational shooting a 213 (69-70-74). Lopez currently ranks at No. 66 by Golfweek.
HOEY WINS HEATHER FARR INVITATIONAL: Senior All-American Kay Hoey claimed the individual medalist at the University of Colorado Heather Farr Memorial Invitational. Hoey fired a 7-under 65 in the opening round and posted score of 71 in the last two rounds for a total of 207. Her opening round of 65 tied her personal best as she shot the same low score at the 2007 Peg Barnard Collegiate in Palo Alto. This was Hoey's seventh tournament win in her stellar career as a 49er.
HOEY NAMED BIG WEST GOLFER OF THE MONTH: Long Beach State All-American senior Kay Hoey was named Golfer of the Month by the Big West Conference for September. This was the first monthly award handed out by the Big West for men's and women's golf this season. This marked the ninth time that Hoey has been named Big West Golfer of the Month as she has won the honor three times as a junior and sophomore and twice as a freshman.
HOEY RETURNS FOR SENIOR YEAR: All-American Kay Hoey returns to the 49ers as its lone senior after redshirting last year. As a junior in 2006-07, she was selected second team All-America by the National Golf Coaches Association. She was named Big West Golfer of the Year and first team All-Big West as she claimed the individual medalist at the Big West Conference Championship. Hoey tied for 46th place at the NCAA Championships with a 305 (79-77-75-74) and qualified for the NCAA Finals by tying for 10th place at the NCAA West Regionals with a 220 (77-73-70). She had eight Top 10 finishes in her 11 tournaments and captured three individual titles.
NEXT UP FOR THE BEACH: The 49ers are back in action on Feb. 23-24, as they travel to Central California for the Fresno State Lexus Classic at the Copper River Country Club in Fresno.
Players Mentioned
