COLLEGES
The University of Maine baseball team canceled its weekend series at Stony Brook following a positive COVID-19 case in the program. After contact tracing, six members of the program have been placed into quarantine or isolation.
The Black Bears were supposed to open their America East schedule against Stony Brook after going 5-3 against nonconference opponents.
Testing continues for all Tier 1 personnel in the baseball program, which includes players, coaches and support staff. Tier 1 personnel are required by America East to take an antigen test twice a week in preparation for games.
FIELD HOCKEY: Hana Davis scored two goals to lead visiting Maine (1-2) to a 3-2 win over UMass Lowell (2-2).
Jenna Berger scored 1:49 into the game before Davis tipped in a shot by Cassandra Mascarenhas at 7:07 to tie it. Then 5:52 into the third quarter, Davis put in a loose ball for a 3-1 lead.
Poppy Lambert also scored for Maine.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Marquette fired Coach Steve Wojciechowski after seven seasons with no NCAA Tournament victories.
The Golden Eagles finished 13-14 for their first losing season since 2014-15, Wojciechowski’s debut year. The Golden Eagles’ season ended last week with a 68-49 loss to Georgetown in the first round of the Big East Tournament.
Wojciechowski went 128-95 overall and 59-68 in Big East competition during his tenure. He played for Duke and spent 15 seasons as an assistant on Mike Krzyzewski’s staff.
After going 13-19 in his debut season at Marquette, Wojciechowski led the Golden Eagles to winning records each of the next five years. He spent much of his tenure coaching Markus Howard, who ended his college career last season as the leading scorer in Big East history.
• New Iowa State Coach T.J. Otzelberger has agreed to a five-year contract that will be loaded with incentive bonuses, Athletic Director Jamie Pollard said Friday.
Terms were still being worked out, Pollard said, but the deal will be structured creatively to account for the athletic department’s financial problems stemming from the pandemic.
BASEBALL
MAJOR LEAGUES: Washington reliever Will Harris has a blood clot in his right arm and is leaving spring training camp to be examined by a specialist, Manager Dave Martinez said.
Opening Day is April 1, less than two weeks away.
“He felt weird his last outing,” Martinez said. “So we kind of backed off a little bit, got an MRI, and in the arm was a little small blood clot.”
Harris, 36, last pitched in an exhibition game on March 9, throwing one scoreless inning against the Astros. The right-hander appeared in a “B game” on Saturday.
• Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has joined the board of directors of the New York Mets.
Christie, 58, was New Jersey’s governor from January 2010 to January 2016. His son Andrew has worked for the team since 2018 and is the Mets’ coordinator of international scouting.
Jeanne Melino also joined the Mets board under new owner Steve Cohen, and New York said Friday she will be hired by the team as senior vice president of the Amazin’ Mets Foundation. A former assistant district attorney in Westchester and Suffolk Counties, she is executive director of the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation. She will oversee the Mets’ community engagement and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
TENNIS
MIAMI OPEN: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic pulled out of next week’s tournament, citing coronavirus restrictions as he joined Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on the sideline.
The tournament begins Tuesday, with only 750 fans allowed on the grounds per session. The pandemic is also affecting attendance by players.
“I decided to use this precious time at home to stay with my family,” Djokovic said in a statement. “With all restrictions, I need to find balance in my time on tour and at home.”
Nadal pulled out Tuesday, citing a bad back that bothered him during the Australian Open. Federer, mounting a comeback from knee surgery, withdrew March 1. They’re based overseas, as is Djokovic.
There has been less attrition on the women’s side. Serena Williams, Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka and No. 1 Ash Barty are among those scheduled to compete. Barty won the tournament in 2019. It was canceled last year because of the pandemic.
DUBAI CHAMPIONSHIPS: Lloyd Harris continued his run of upsets by beating the third-seeded Denis Shapovalov 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the semifinals.
The 81st-ranked South African saved three of the four break points he faced for his seventh win in as many days, making him the first qualifier to reach the hard-court tournament’s final. He had already defeated Dominic Thiem for the first top five win of his career.
Going for his first title, Harris will need to overcome Aslan Karatsev in the final on Saturday.
Karatsev upset top-seeded Russian compatriot Andrey Rublev 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to advance to his first final.
It was Karatsev’s fourth consecutive win over a seeded player at the tournament. Karatsev soared up the rankings after reaching the Australian Open semifinals on his Grand Slam main draw debut last month. Since the start of February his only losses have come against Novak Djokovic and Thiem.
ST. PETERSBURG: Margarita Gasparyan upset top-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 7-5, as Russian players filled the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
The 126th-ranked Gasparyan saved three of the six break points she faced and broke Alexandrova six times for a last-four clash with Vera Zvonareva. Zvonareva dispatched qualifier Anastasia Gasanova 6-3, 6-1.
The fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova rallied to beat the only non-Russian in the quarterfinals, Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3, and will next face Daria Kasatkina. Kasatkina also had to fight hard, coming back to beat Veronika Kudermetova 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the last quarterfinal.
SOCCER
FIFA FINANCES: FIFA expects to hit its four-year revenue target of $6.44 billion leading up to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar despite the pandemic.
Total spending of $1.04 billion in 2020 included $270 million in grants to soccer bodies worldwide as part of a COVID-19 relief plan, FIFA’s annual financial report said.
It also included a $10 million donation to the World Health Organization.
FIFA again awarded its president Gianni Infantino a $1 million annual bonus to raise his overall pre-tax pay above $3 million in 2020, matching his 2019 income.
The pandemic relief payments helped reduce FIFA’s reserves by $705 million in 2020. They stood at almost $1.9 billion by the end of the year.
ITALY: Cristiano Ronaldo was named the Italian league player of the year for the second successive time.
Ronaldo won the prize in 2019 after his debut season at Juventus. The awards did not take place last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ronaldo scored 31 goals in 33 league matches last season and helped Juventus to a record-extending ninth successive Serie A title.
Juventus forward Cristiana Girelli received the best female player award.
Atalanta’s Gian Piero Gasperini took home the coach prize and his side was team of the year. Atalanta finished third in Serie A for the second straight season and also reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
GYMNASTICS
CANADIAN COACH BANNED: Former Canadian women’s gymnastics coach Dave Brubaker has been banned for life by the sport’s domestic governing body following an internal investigation. Brubaker was found not guilty of sexual assault and sexual exploitation in 2019 after being accused of sexually assaulting a young gymnast years ago.
Gymnastics Canada says he was suspended upon his arrest in December 2017. The organization says his suspension was extended and an internal investigation was started after written complaints. He did not immediately respond to an interview request from The Canadian Press.
Liz Brubaker, his wife, also was provisionally suspended in 2019 following the receipt of written complaints while she was a coach at Bluewater Gymnastics Club in Sarnia, Ontario. Gymnastics Canada says Liz Brubaker’s suspension has been extended until 2024. The discipline panel for the case says the Brubakers breached policies that were in effect during the period when the events occurred (1996-2017).
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