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GAME WEEK FOR ARIZONA FOOTBALL
After months of excitement and buildup around Arizona Football, the 2021 season officially begins this week.
Kickoff versus BYU is set for 7:30 p.m. (MST) from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on ESPN as well as Wildcats Radio 1290 AM with Brian Jeffries and Lamont Lovett on the call. The game will be a historic crowd with over 57,000 tickets already sold as
Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff announced. There are still some tickets remaining, so
click here to purchase your seats now.
If you missed Coach Fisch's first weekly press conference of the season,
you can watch it in its entirety here. We also had a great turnout for the
Jedd Fisch Radio Show at 5:30 p.m. on Monday at the Union Public House with
Brian Jeffries hosting the weekly event on Wildcats Radio 1290 AM. I've heard from many of our loyal supporters who are enthusiastically preparing for the season, and if you haven't gotten your season tickets yet,
there's still time to buy them.
As I mentioned in
last week's Wildcat Wednesday email, there are many terrific University of Arizona festivities around the game in Las Vegas. It will be a dynamic atmosphere on Saturday night in the Raiders' state-of-the-art facility as our football team plays in front of our loyal supporters for the first time in nearly two years. I can't wait to see all of you there. Bear Down and Go Cats!
A REMINDER REGARDING GAME DAY HEALTH AND SAFETY
We want to remind fans about updated and current COVID-19 guidelines protocols for the upcoming season. For those of you traveling north to Las Vegas for our football season opener at Allegiant Stadium,
the facility requires all individuals entering the stadium to wear a mask at all times regardless of vaccination status.
Looking ahead to all home sporting events on campus, we have the following guidelines.
We expect all those who attend Arizona tailgating and sporting events to be vaccinated or have tested negative for the COVID virus in the last 72 hours. This expectation is necessary to ensure the safety of all those attending and participating.
The University of Arizona campus has a mask mandate for all indoor spaces. This includes restrooms, elevators, common indoor spaces, and indoor entertainment areas.
If you have not been vaccinated, tested negative for the COVID virus within the last 72 hours, or if you are currently having COVID symptoms, or if you are in any way concerned about your personal health, we encourage you to not attend these activities.
Let's work together as a community to protect each other as our student-athletes return to competition.
SPORTS HALL OF FAME CEREMONY
Our prestigious
Arizona Sports Hall of Fame will officially induct the 2020 class at a ceremony on Friday, Sept. 10 at La Paloma Resort & Spa. I cherish the opportunity to help bestow this tremendous honor on former student-athletes, coaches and staff that have fulfilled our Wildcat Way mission by becoming academic, athletic and life champions. This year's class of seven Wildcat legends achieved greatness as student-athletes and coaches and went on to be tremendous ambassadors of the University of Arizona and Arizona Athletics.
If you are unable to join us in person next Friday,
we will be streaming the ceremony via ArizonaWildcats.com for friends, family and fans to watch.
THREE WINS TO OPEN VOLLEYBALL SEASON
It was a perfect 3-0 start to the 30
th season of the
Dave Rubio era of Arizona Volleyball
as the Wildcats swept all three of their opening opponents last weekend. Jaelyn Hodge posted a banner performance in the tournament with a team-high 38 kills in the victories as Kamaile Hiapo tallied an impressive 47 digs as well. The Wildcats were dominant as they did not drop a set in any of the three wins, marking the first time they've won the first nine sets of a season since 2008.
Coach Rubio and company will hit the road this week with tournament action at New Mexico State where they will face UTEP, NMSU in a doubleheader beginning at 12:30 p.m. (MST) on Friday, Sept. 3 before taking on Northwestern at 11 a.m. (MST) on Saturday. You can visit
ArizonaWildcats.com for live stream and live stat information. You can also follow
@ArizonaVBall on all social media platforms to updates.
LUTE OLSON TRIBUTE IN MCKALE
We want to remind Wildcat Wednesday subscribers
about our tribute to Coach Olson at 11:30 a.m. (MST) on Sunday, Sept. 12 in McKale Center. The ceremony will be open to the public with doors opening at 10:30 a.m. (MST), and we recommend visitors enter through the external doors facing south along Fred Enke Drive, alongside the McKale Center Ticket Office. We will stream the ceremony through
a variety of platforms on ArizonaWildcats.com for those who can't attend.
Coach Olson's impact on our athletics department, university and community was powerful and everlasting, and we look forward to celebrating his extraordinary and iconic legacy. In lieu of flowers, we are asking fans and supporters to contribute to the
Lute Olson Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Men's Basketball.
CROSS COUNTRY OPENS THE SEASON
Another one of our programs of excellence opens their season this weekend as Arizona Cross Country competes in the George Kyte Invitational at Northern Arizona University on Saturday. The outstanding young men and women of our program will take on some of the nation's best in Flagstaff and are poised to open the season with a strong showing.
Coach Lagat and the Wildcats will compete again at UC Riverside before our annual home race, the
Dave Murray Invitational, on Friday, Oct. 1. Good luck Wildcats and Bear Down in Flagstaff!
ARIZONA SOCCER WINS HOME OPENER
With
a 2-1 win over Northern Arizona in the team's home opener on Friday, the Wildcats picked up their first win of the season and the first of head coach
Becca Moros' tenure as head coach. Arizona got a pair of goals from the sophomore tandem of Kayden Heinrich and Tianna Sidtikun in the victory of the Lumberjacks. Congrats to the team and Coach Moros on the victory, and we look forward to many more in the future.
The team is on the road this week for a tournament at Arizona State and will face at 1 p.m. (MST) on Thursday, Sept. 1 before squaring off with Cal State Northridge at 11 a.m. (MST) on Sunday, Sept. 5.
Both of our matches in Tempe will be live streamed, and you can visit ArizonaWildcats.com and
@ArizonaSoccer for live stats and updated.
KARLA TERAN LIVING THE WILDCAT WAY
Arizona Athletics' mission is to provide opportunities for student-athletes to become academic, athletic and life champions. Arizona Track & Field star Karla Teran is a recent success story of this important mission. A Pac-12 Champion in the high jump, Karla's academic success story was chronicled by the College of Nursing at the University of Arizona.
Click here to read about Karla's journey as an international student-athlete and champion of excellence.
MOBILE TICKETING
Arizona Athletics
announced its move to mobile ticketing for all sports after officially rolling out mobile ticketing during the spring for the baseball and softball seasons. We want to continue to communicate and inform all our loyal supporters about this important decision. Our fan experience is at the core of what we do, and we consistently aim to enhance your gameday experience. Efficiency, security and ease are key components of our ticketing process, and our move to a mobile offering reinforces those priorities.
As we begin to welcome fans to our venues for Fall sports
, we want to remind you about this easy, convenient and ecofriendly way to get into the game through Apple Wallet or your Arizona Wildcats app. We have sent 2021 Football season tickets out for mobile utilization, beginning with next week's home opener versus San Diego State on Saturday, Sept. 11. Arizona Athletics Ticketing staff are here to assist you with this process and can be reached at 520-621-2287, at
catsinfo@arizona.edu or at the McKale Center Ticket Office on Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (MST).
A-CLUB LETTERWINNERS EXTRA YARD FOR TEACHERS
The A-Club was proud to participate in the annual
Extra Yard for Teachers contest this past August. Over 20 alumni letterwinners joined us for a zoom event where we randomly selected two winners to receive $1,900 from the College Football Playoff Foundation. A big thank you to these Wildcats who are making a difference in the classroom as well as their community!
Softball Letterwinner (1989-1993) Stacy Redondo is a 3
rd grade teacher at Roskruge Bilingual Magnet School in Tucson.
Football Letterwinner (1998-1999) Orlando Rodriquez a World History/ Geography teacher at Sunnyside High in Tucson.
Soccer Letterwinner (2007-2011) Alexandra Davis is a P.E. teacher at Centennial Elementary School in Tucson. Our 3
rd Letterwinner won a $1,000 gift card to donorschoose.com, a website that provides educational materials including musical instruments, lab equipment, art supplies, and sports equipment.
WEAR THE COLORS – SHARE THE PHOTOS
Send us your photos of you wearing the colors while staying safe!
Thank you for wearing the colors and sharing your Arizona pride! Make sure to take a picture the next time you are wearing the colors and send it to us, we just might include it in next week's Wildcat Wednesday! And even if your photo submission doesn't make next week's edition, please check our "Wear the Colors" album at
facebook.com/ArizonaAthletics on Fridays.
NOTE: Please submit photos for Wildcat Wednesday with an original email to
uofaad@arizona.edu using the subject line
'Wildcat Wednesday photo.' Also, please ensure all submissions are clear and properly lit. We also ask that you identify everyone in the photo so we can highlight them accordingly.
Stay Safe, Bear Down and Mask Up!
Dave Heeke
Director of Athletics
University of Arizona
uofaad@arizona.edu
