The fate of several men's soccer players and possibly the team's season remains in question following a Sept. 25 hazing incident that landed one freshman player in the hospital.
After news of the hazing broke Monday, a member of the team said the hazing incident went "too far" and the team's assistant coach said it was not outside the realm of possibility that the team's season would be ended.
Also, police admitted to an error in their initial police report, which said the victim was admitted to the hospital for alcohol consumption. The victim did not consume alcohol and was admitted only for dehydration, according to John Grela, the director of University Police.
In addition to the three student-athletes suspended from UB and the team after hazing a teammate at an on-campus party, other members of the team are scheduled to appear in front of the Student-Wide Judiciary in a closed-door hearing Tuesday night to receive separate punishments.
"A couple guys took a hazing act too far," said Ross Tauchert, a junior member of the team. "It's an unfortunate situation, and I think the athletic department is on top of it."
The act of hazing committed by Tauchert's fellow teammates, Braden Byler, Brandon Foley and Erik Jaanimagi, resulted in the victim being admitted to the hospital for dehydration.
According to the police report, the victim was admitted to the hospital for alcohol consumption and dehydration, but the university police said the information was false.
"It was just dehydration, not alcohol," said John Grela, director of public safety. "It was a mistake made by the original officer, and after we investigated, we realized that alcohol was not consumed by the victim at all."
Tauchert said he was not at the party and had no part in the incident, but even members of the team who were not involved in the hazing incident will receive some sort of punishment.
"People who had nothing to do with the hazing act are being punished," he said. "We have a judiciary hearing tonight (Tuesday) where we'll get our punishment."
Tauchert said he could not confirm any rumors that John Astudillo would be relieved of his duties as men's soccer coach.
Astudillo refused to comment.
Tauchert said he still has full confidence that the team will pull together and make it through this tough time. He added that although some of the star soccer players have been suspended from the team, they still have quality players and a winning squad.
"We were undefeated for a while, but we still have a good team," he said. "We just need to move on."
Dave Hesch, assistant men's soccer coach, said that a forfeit for the team's remaining schedule was not out of the question.
"It's always a possibility, everything is a possibility," Hesch said. "But we're hoping that we can just pick up where we left off and move on with the rest of the season."
Hesch added that the team's recent losses have nothing to do with the fact that a few of the best players were absent on the field.
"We played great against Akron and Kentucky," he said. "They were fired up, and our guys gave them all they've got."
Dennis Black, vice president of student affairs said he felt the athletics department acted appropriately by not releasing information about the incident.
"I don't believe that the athletics department worked to hide the situation," Black said. "They had a statement prepared to get themselves ready, and responded to it when necessary."
Paul Vecchio, assistant athletic director for communications, refused to comment.
Black said he thinks more information will be released once the "dust settles."
