SEAL BEACH, Calif. – BYU women’s golf is tied for eighth place following 36 holes of play at The Gold Rush, hosted by Long Beach State at Old Ranch Country Club.

“Conditions were tougher than we expected, and unfortunately we didn’t handle it very well,” said head coach Carrie Roberts.

Despite the challenging conditions, three BYU players are in the top-25 through two-rounds of play.

Allysha Mae Mateo’s 153 puts her in a tie for13th with four other golfers from USC, Fresno State, Sacramento State and Cal Poly. Kerstin Fotu’s 154 and Lila Galeai’s 155 tie them for 19th and 25th respectively. 

Mateo’s team-best round began as she carded a 1-under-par 35 on the front-9 of the first round, setting up an opening round total of 1-over par 73. In the second round it was Galeai who led the Cougars with a 4-over-par 76.

BYU ended day one with a 36-hole total of 309-316—625. In addition to Mateo and Galeai, the Cougars scoring included Naomi Soifua (163) and Annick Haczkiewicz (172). Cynthia Tu competed as an individual, posting a two-round score of 156. 

No. 21 ranked USC leads the field after scoring 290 in each of the opening rounds for two-round score of 590. The Trojans are followed by UNLV (597), Fresno State (607), Sacrament State (610) and Cal Poly (613) rounding out the top five. USC's Allisen Corpuz leads the individual scoring with a 4-under par 69–71—140. 

Final round action begins Tuesday at 7 a.m. PST and can be followed with updates from Golfstat. 

BYU Individual 36-Hole Scores

SEAL BEACH, Calif. – BYU women’s golf will continue its spring season at the ninth edition of The Gold Rush at Old Ranch Country Club on Feb. 22-23.

The 54-hole tournament, hosted by Long Beach State, tees-off at 7:00 a.m. PST on Monday with 36-holes of golf. The final round of 18-holes will begin at 7:00 a.m. PST Tuesday.

Nationally ranked USC (No. 21) headlines the challenging field of 12 opponents awaiting the Cougars in Seal Beach. The Trojans are coming off two-straight tournament championships, including a win in the Sun Devil Winter Classic on Feb. 15-17.

For the second straight week, BYU will face Fresno State and UNLV in tournament play. At the Rebel Beach Intercollegiate, Fresno State took second and UNLV finished seventh, nine shots ahead of BYU. WCC-foe Santa Clara is also scheduled to compete.

Teeing off for BYU in The Gold Rush will be Allysha Mae Mateo, Annick Haczkiewicz, Naomi Soifua, Lila Galeai and Kerstin Fotu. Cynthia Tu will compete as an individual. Haczkiewicz, a junior from Las Vegas, will compete with the team for the first time since the Mercer Invitational on November 9-10.

The Cougars are no strangers to The Gold Rush. In February 2020, Mateo recorded her third career top-5 finish with a score of 78-68-73—219, tying her for fifth and leading the team to a fourth-place finish. Current BYU assistant coach Lea Garner won The Gold Rush in 2015.

Follow the Cougars from Seal Beach with live stats from Golfstat.