By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
The USCB women’s soccer team’s preseason training schedule has been put on hold and the team is quarantined on campus after two players tested positive for COVID-19, the school’s athletics department announced Monday evening.
The NAIA announced on July 28 it would postpone the national championship in cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball until spring 2021 but left it to the individual conferences to determine whether they would compete in the fall or winter.
Although two conference schools — SCAD Savannah and Johnson & Wales (which canceled all sports after announcing the school will close after this school year) — elected to postpone or cancel their fall sports seasons, USCB and the rest of the Sun Conference voted this month to proceed with the fall campaign.
But now the soccer team is sidelined for the rest of the month.
The two athletes who tested positive have been placed in isolation, though only one of the two has exhibited symptoms, which have already diminished significantly, according to a statement from Director of Athletics Quin Monahan. No other team members have tested positive nor shown symptoms.
“Per our protocol, once the student-athletes have completed their quarantine and isolation periods, they will meet with appropriate medical personnel to determine their fitness levels and readiness to return to play,” Monahan said. “This, along with the decision to isolate those in contact with positive individuals, was made with their utmost health and safety in mind, as well as that of our full campus community and larger city and town communities.”
NAIA protocols dictate that every student-athlete be tested in a reasonable time prior to outside competition. The Sand Sharks are scheduled to play an exhibition against Bob Jones University on Sept. 11, so Monahan said team members would be tested about 7-10 days before that date.
