BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Rotter brothers – Andrew and Ryan – each scored a goal to lift the Western Washington University men's soccer team to a 2-0 shutout victory over Simon Fraser University Thursday evening at Harrington Field.

 

Andrew, the older brother, got the Vikings on the board in the 21st minute on beautiful goal with assists to Dakota Stamnes and Albin Jonsson and the younger Ryan tallied an insurance goal in the 59th minute.

 

WWU bounced back from a 2-0 home loss last Saturday vs. first-place Northwest Nazarene, improving to 10-2-3 overall and 6-2-0 in GNAC play. The Vikings are alone in second place in the table with 18 points, one behind NNU (6-1-1, 19 points). SFU dropped to 7-5-0 overall and 4-3-0 in league play. 

 

The Vikings recorded their 10th win of the season, marking the 17th time to accomplish that in 42 full seasons in program history, and the fifth in the last nine seasons. WWU has four regular-season games remaining, with the next three on the road. 

 

Andrew Rotter opened the scoring at the 20:28 mark one-timing a perfectly-place cross from Jonsson inside the 18-yard box. Stamnesinitiated the scoring play on a through ball from the Vikings defensive side of the field.

 

Just 14 minutes into the second half, Ryan Rotter scored his second goal of the season with an assist to senior co-captain Gus Diehl. Rotter weaved through the SFU defense and took a chance with a shot at the edge of the 18-yards box that tucked inside the left post.

 

The Vikings recorded their GNAC-leading eighth shutout of the season, climbing to within one of the program record of nine set in 2001. Senior goalkeeper Patrick Restum made a pair of saves to record his seventh clean sheet of the season, tying him for the GNAC lead and tied for second in WWU single-season history.

 

The Vikings (10-2-3, 6-2-0 GNAC) are off this weekend and return to action next week with a pair of road matches at Montana State Billings (10/27) and Seattle Pacific (10/29). The complete 2022 schedule can be viewed online via wwuvikings.com/22_MSOC.

M⚽️ | What a goal by Andrew Rotter, with assists by Albin Jonsson and Dakota Stamnes...and gotta love that celebration! pic.twitter.com/eSuv5Vwfsy
— WWU Athletics (@WWUAthletics) October 21, 2022

Western Washington 2, Simon Fraser 0

Date: October 20, 2022

Field: Harrington Field   Site: Bellingham, WA

Attendance: 125

 

Goals by period               1  2    Tot

-----------------------------------------

Simon Fraser................  0  0  -  0

Western Washington..........  1  1  -  2

 

SCORING SUMMARY:

1.       20:28     WWU     A. Rotter (Jonsson, Stamnes)

2.       58:57     WWU     R. Rotter (Diehl)

 

Shots: WWU 11, SFU 11

Shots on Goal: WWU 4, SFU 2

Saves: WWU 2 (Restum – 2), SFU 2 (Sandhu – 2)

Corners: SFU 9, WWU 2

Fouls: SFU 13, WWU 11

Offsides: WWU 1, SFU 1

Kits: WWU (Navy Blue), SFU (White)

Records: WWU (10-2-3, 6-2-0), SFU (7-5-0, 4-3-0)

 

WWU split the season series with SFU, winning 2-0 Thursday night at home and dropping a 2-1 contest October 6 in Burnaby. The Vikings have won each of the last three meetings vs. the Red Leafs at Harrington Field and are 4-5-1 in the last 10 meetings. SFU leads the all-time series 41-20-8. WWU is 4-2-2 vs. SFU at Harrington Field.
 

Here is a look at Western's record breakdown for the 2022 season:

 

 

Here is a look at the Vikings 2022 season schedule and results. WWU is 10-2-3 on the season and 6-2-0 in GNAC following Thursday's 2-0 victory over Simon Fraser:

 

 

Here is a look at GNAC table and how the conference's seven teams have fared following Thursday's games. WWU is alone in 2nd place in the GNAC at 6-2-0 (18 points):