The Western Washington University men’s soccer team lost its first game of the season on the road Thursday night, breaking a 10-game unbeaten start while suffering a key injury in a 2-1 loss to Simon Fraser University.
It was a rotten trip across the border to Burnaby, British Columbia, as junior midfielder Kyota Hiate suffered a shoulder injury that required hospitalization, according to Western Athletics.
The Japanese-born Hiate injured his shoulder with just 1:28 left in the match, and athletic trainers from both WWU and SFU were unable to “get the shoulder back in place” on the field. The injury required a delay of over 75 minutes due to long ambulance response times by Burnaby, B.C. medical personnel, according to Western Athletics.
Hiate received medical treatment and the shoulder was stabilized before returning to Bellingham early Friday morning with head coach Greg Brisbon and assistant athletic trainer Masa Migita.
Western Athletics does not typically release injury reports, and it remains unclear the level of severity, which shoulder was injured and how long Hiate might be held out from an impressive season so far by the Vikings.
Western came into Canada ranked No. 20 nationally in Division II, and looked poised to extend their unbeaten season against Great Northwest Athletic Conference foe Simon Fraser, until a penalty kick gave the Red Leafs a lead less than two minutes into the game.
The Vikings quickly responded with a 5th-minute equalizer from sophomore forward Andrew Rotter, adeptly netting a rebound shot after an attempt from freshman Albin Jonsson bounced off the crossbar.
Jonsson, a former ice hockey goalkeeper from Skellefteå, Sweden, leads the team with six goals through 11 contests.
Western couldn’t find the winning goal and was forced into a defensive struggle for the majority of the game. It wasn’t until the 72nd minute that the Viking defense finally broke, allowing Simon Fraser’s Devin O’Hea to score on a corner kick header.
The Vikings were unable to find an equalizer and dropped their first game of the season. Western, now 7-1-3 overall and 3-1 in GNAC matches, return home to Harrington Field at 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 8 when they host Saint Martin’s University.
