A Message From The Athletics Director - March
Hurricane Fans,
The UM campus is buzzing this week, and not just because the students have returned from Spring Break.
We have one of the more exciting weekends for Miami Athletics in recent memory on tap, starting with our women’s basketball team, which will host the NCAA Tournament first and second rounds at Watsco Center.
The fourth-seeded Hurricanes (24-8) will host 13th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast at 9 p.m. on Friday night. UM’s game will be preceded by a matchup between fifth-seeded Arizona State and 12th-seeded UCF at 7 p.m. Both games will be televised on ESPN2.
This marks the eighth NCAA appearance in the last nine years for Katie Meier’s Hurricanes, and the second time UM has hosted during that stretch. Miami has defeated six ranked teams so far this season, including Notre Dame and Louisville, who both earned No. 1 seeds. We need our fans to turn out this weekend and help vault the Canes to the Sweet 16! Call 1-800-GO-CANES or visit hurricanesports.com/tickets to secure your seats for this weekend’s hoops action.
Amy Deem’s track and field squad is ranked eighth in the USTFCCCA preseason outdoor poll and the Hurricanes have the honor of hosting the second Power 5 Trailblazer Invitational at Cobb Field on Friday and Saturday. The event features the five Power 5 track and field programs led by female head coaches – Miami, USC, Tennessee, Mississippi and Ohio State. Top-ranked USC hosted the inaugural meet last year. We are so proud of Amy and all that she has accomplished at The U, and we’re excited to welcome the four other head coaches to Coral Gables as well. I know it will be a terrific meet, featuring some of the top teams in the nation and our own reigning NCAA Indoor pentathlon national champion, Michelle Atherley. We hope to see you out at Cobb Field!
Gino DiMare’s baseball team split its first two ACC series, winning two out of three at home against Georgia Tech before dropping two of out three games at No. 8 North Carolina this past weekend. Miami (15-6) boasts an ACC-best batting average of .297, and sophomore Alex Toral ranks second in the nation with 10 home runs. The Hurricanes now turn their attention to this weekend’s series against fifth-ranked N.C. State at Mark Light Field, starting Friday at 7 p.m. Come out to The Light and cheer on the Canes!
Did I mention spring football practice started this week? Manny Diaz presided over his first practice as head coach on Tuesday in the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility. There will be 15 total practice sessions, including two open scrimmages – one at Traz Powell Stadium in Miami on April 13, and another at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on April 20 to conclude the spring. We hope to see you there! The football team also received some good news this week as the NCAA approved a waiver for quarterback Tate Martell, who is immediately eligible to play. If you haven’t yet secured your football season tickets please call 1-800-GO-CANES or visit hurricanesports.com/tickets. You won’t want to miss a moment of the action at Hard Rock Stadium this fall!
Both of our tennis teams are off to stellar starts. Aljosa Piric’s men’s squad, ranked 23rd in the country, is 14-4 overall and 5-0 in conference play – Miami’s best-ever ACC start. Included in those five wins was a sweep of Florida State and a 4-3 victory over then-No. 11 Notre Dame. Our No. 25 women’s team is 11-3 overall, and 4-2 in ACC play after winning four straight conference matches. Junior Estela Perez-Somarriba is 13-0 this spring and currently ranked second in the nation. Next up for Paige Yaroshuk-Tews’ squad is two road matches against ranked foes in No. 12 N.C. State and top-ranked North Carolina. The men also head to the Triangle this weekend to face Duke and No. 11 UNC. Good luck to both of our tennis teams!
Our diving team is readying for the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas. Sophomore Alicia Blagg will be competing in the women’s 1-meter and 3-meter this weekend. Next week in Austin, redshirt senior Briadam Herrera will compete in the men’s 1-meter and 3-meter, while redshirt junior David Dinsmore and sophomore Zach Cooper will compete in the men’s platform. Good luck to all of our divers!
Patti Rizzo’s golf squad placed second at the recent Florida Gators Invitational, moving the Hurricanes up to 19th in the latest rankings. Freshman Anna Backman was named ACC Golfer of the Month for February. Congratulations to Anna! Miami is off until the first week of April, when it competes in The Bruzzy Invitational in Argyle, Texas.
Rowing opened its spring schedule with the Oak Ridge Cardinals Invitational last weekend as the Hurricanes’ Varsity 4 and Varsity 8 competed against teams from the ACC, Big Ten and SEC. Dave Sanderson’s squad next hits the water for the Sunshine State Invitational in Sarasota on April 5-6.
Our men’s basketball team wrapped up a tough 2018-19 season last week at the ACC Tournament after defeating Wake Forest in the first round before falling to Virginia Tech in the second round. Jim Larrañaga and his staff now turn their attention to next season, which will start with ACC play for the first time. The Hurricanes will host Louisville on Tuesday, November 5, as part of a doubleheader on the new ACC Network, which launches in August. What an exciting way to tip off the season! Call 1-800-GO-CANES or visit hurricanesports.com/tickets to secure your seats for next season.
I want to again extend my heartfelt thanks to Carol Soffer and her family for the lead gift for the magnificent new Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility. We have already raised more than $36 million but are not done yet — and we still need your support. Your donations will ensure that this facility continues to be one of the best in the country. Visit Give2IPF.comto pledge your support.
For the latest information on each of our varsity teams, please be sure to visit HurricaneSports.com or follow us on Twitter @MiamiHurricanes. We hope to see you on campus for some of our events this weekend, and through the rest of the spring. Enjoy this month’s magazine!
Go Canes!
Blake James
