“We didn’t plan a party”

Cameron Wheeler, one of the players kicked off on the Louisville men’s soccer program on Thursday, released a statement on twitter on Friday. 

Louisville’s men’s soccer coach John Michael Hayden decided to kick three players off the team and suspended three others.

Wheeler, a redshirt junior, said in the statement that he and his five roommates who were also part of the soccer team did not play on having a party or “large gathering last Saturday.” 

The explanation from Wheeler is that the players invited another player over to their house - Wheeler states that everyone living in the house and the person they invited had tested negative for COVID-19. The one invitation led to a series of events that had a number people, uninvited, show up at their house. 

Wheeler stated that he reported to his trainer that he may have been in contact with “other student-athletes that” he didn’t know if they were COVID free. The party is linked to an outbreak of 29 cases of COVID-19 and suspended activities for four fall sports teams that were training on campus. 

“We tried shutting it down and getting people to leave, but it took over an hour,” Wheeler said in his statement.

Wheeler’s profile page has been deleted from the Louisville athletics website. Wheeler appeared in 34 games over the past two seasons with 13 starts. He contributed one assist in 2019. 

The statement also addressed the previous disciplinary measures that factored into Wheeler’s dismissal. The player stated that one was regarding a grade in the class, which he says he improved to help raise the team GPA. He said that the other one had to do with him leaving the hotel and walking around campus on an away trip with the team. 

“We were unable to convince anyone that we hadn’t intended for this to happen,” Wheeler said. 

My statement regarding my recent dismissal from the U of L soccer team. pic.twitter.com/bG1SxiBgp7

— Cameron Wheeler (@_cameron_w11) August 7, 2020

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