Members of the men’s soccer team, alumni and former players will be represented by former Western soccer player Doug Gorman Thursday at the Board of Regents meeting as they try to make one last plea to bring the team back.

Attorney Rick Evans, who represents the former players, said he contacted the Board of Regents about having five or six people speak on behalf of the team at the meeting. However, they were only granted permission for one person to speak.

According to Gorman, he will be given five minutes to speak.

“I will relay issues with the elimination and solutions the alumni have that could possibly sway that decision,” Gorman said.

According to sophomore defender Tim Muessig, the team had talked about showing up at the meeting to make their presence known, but as of Monday afternoon hadn’t decided whether or not a large group of them were going to show up.

The men’s soccer team cut was announced on Feb. 1 as part of Western’s attempt to meet the mandatory 3 percent budget cuts ordered by Gov. Steve Beshear because of an imbalance in the state budget.

After the cut, the team and its supporters protested outside of President Gary Ransdell’s house on Feb. 5.

Men’s soccer was a Sun Belt-supported sport when Western joined the conference, but the Sun Belt eliminated men’s soccer after the 1996 athletic season. The team joined the Missouri Valley Conference in September 1997.

Athletics Director Wood Selig said the soccer team was at a disadvantage because it had the smallest travel and operating budget in its conference.

In their final game of their spring season, the Toppers beat Kentucky 2-0.

Neither junior midfielder Dustin Downey, who led much of the campaign to try to bring the team back, nor head coach David Holmes could be reached for comment.

Check wkuherald.com for a live blog on the Board of Regents meeting and more on the soccer cut.