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The two soccers players allege that the team was forced to travel 500 miles by bus to a match in Louisiana while the school chartered a plane for the football team.
Tho unidentified embers of the Cardinals' women's soccer team made the allegations when addressing the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, according to the daily.
Margie Olivares, a former media relations coordinator for UIW's athletic department shared a version of the approximately 2,500-word speech on Twitter, and as of Wednesday evening, it had been retweeted by at least 25 current athletes across five UIW sports, the Express-News reports.
UIW's athletic department didn't offer an immediate response to the Current's request for comment.Enough is enough. I’ve read this over and over and cried because I know A LOT of what these brave empowered student athletes said is TRUE. Wake up @uiwcardinals I’m shaking with anger and so should the female student athletes that leadership has neglected, this is a cry for help! pic.twitter.com/LQnESGJLer
— Margie Olivares 🌵 (@MargieOlivares) October 25, 2022
In the text of the speech, the women from UIW soccer program said their team took a 500-mile bus trip to Thibodaux, Louisiana, for an Oct. 14 match against Nicholls State on Oct. 14, while the college chartered a plane for the football team's game against the same opponent.
Players also said that each member of the women's soccer team is allocated just one pair of cleats for the entirety of a 19-game season.
"Our solution was to tape and superglue them back together every weekend," the speech reads. "D1 institution with super glued cleats, how are we expected to succeed?"
Despite the players' concerns, UIW deputy athletic director DaShena Stevens assured the women that Texas' largest catholic University is Title IX compliant, the Express-News reported, citing a recording of the exchange.
Even so, the school began scheduling half-hour followup meetings between Athletic Director Richard Duran, senior staff and committee members from each sport, the daily reports.
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