This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Real Salt Lake rookie Omar Holness suffered a seizure on the field in his professional debut Saturday night and was taken by ambulance to a Salt Lake Valley hospital, according to RSL communications.
Holness was released from the hospital around 11:30 p.m. late Saturday night, nearly four hours after suffering the seizure. According to RSL, he will continue to undergo testing in the coming days under the supervision of Dr. Mike Cosgrave and the Real Salt Lake medical staff.
The 22-year-old Jamaican midfielder, starting in the Real Monarchs' 2016 USL opener, collapsed in the 34th minute against St. Louis FC at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Once Holness, RSL's No. 5 pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft out of the University of North Carolina, fell to the pitch in Sandy he was immediately surrounded by teammates Devon Sandoval and Max Lachowecki as players from both sides frantically waved for medical personnel to attend to Holness.
"It's something none of us have ever witnessed, at least I haven't," Monarchs coach Freddy Juarez said after Saturday's 1-0 victory. "Our prayers are with him and our players were very supportive."
"It's really traumatic seeing one of your friends, your brothers out there ... when something serious like that happens," said Sandoval, who set up the Monarchs' late game-winning goal. "So [I] just tried to focus on the game and do it for him because he wants to be out there."
Against the Seattle Sounders earlier this season, Holness was part of RSL's game-day 18-man roster, but did not see the field.
Twitter: @chriskamrani