After the number of COVID-19 cases spiked in the Wisconsin Badgers soccer program, the UW has made the decision to temporarily suspend all team-related activities for at least seven days. As a result, the two-team match against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday will not be played.
Barry Alvarez and Chancellor Rebecca Blank made the decision to pause football activities after consulting with the Big Ten Conference. The match will not be rescheduled. You can read the full statement below, focusing on our statement:
Madison, Wes. – The Wisconsin soccer team will temporarily suspend all team-related activities for at least seven days due to the high number of COVID-19 cases within the Badgers program.
The scheduled team match against Nebraska will not be played on Saturday.
The joint decision to temporarily suspend soccer activities and cancel Saturday’s match was made by Athletics Director Barry Alvarez and UW-Madison advisor Rebecca Blank, in consultation with the Big Ten Conference. The match will not be rescheduled.
“We have said from the start that the health and safety of our student athletes, coaches and staff comes first,” Alvarez said. “Over the past several days, we have seen an increase in the number of student athletes and staff infected with the virus. The responsible thing for us is to stop football-related activities for at least seven days.”
“We thank and appreciate our sports coaches, doctors and public health personnel who support the health and safety of our student-athletes and our program,” said Blank.
As of Wednesday morning (Oct 28), 12 people on the Wisconsin state football program have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past five days. This number includes six student athletes and six staff, including head coach Paul Crest. Additional test results are pending.
Christ said, “This morning I got the news that my PCR test results yesterday came back positive.” I told the staff and staff this morning that I am now defenseless at home. I have not had any symptoms and are feeling good as of this morning.
“I am disappointed by our players and the coaching staff who are doing a lot to prepare for the game every week. But the safety of everyone in our program must be our top priority and I support the decision to temporarily suspend our team’s activities.”
Wisconsin’s next scheduled home game is against Bordeaux on November 7.
Wisconsin Athletics Director Barry Alvarez and Head Coach Paul Christ will be available to the media via Zoom at 3 pm Cairo time today.
According to the statement, a total of 12 people on the Wisconsin state football program have tested positive for COVID-19 over the past five days. Six of them are students athletes and six of them are faculty. Trainer Paul Chryst has tested positive with a PCR test and is isolated at home. More tests are currently pending, too.
Now that the formal jargon is out of the way, let’s just say it. This freaking sucks. It’s disgusting to the players, it’s bad for the coaches, it’s disgusting for Nebraska, it’s disgusting for the top ten, it’s disgusting for everyone. I don’t know what to really say other than that. We’ll keep updating the story as we learn more, but I think “This is really disgusting” concludes it for now.
A few quick additional notes:
