Forward Pierce Erickson and the St. Thomas men’s soccer team struck first, but rival St. John’s stormed back to defeat the Tommies 2-1 in overtime Wednesday at South Field.

Erickson’s team-leading fourth goal of the season came just two minutes into the game on assists from forwards Miles Stockman-Willis and Shae Bottum and stood as the only goal of the first half.

“I’ve been playing my whole life, so I feel like it’s kind of natural for me to go to where I think the ball will be,” Erickson said. “It also helps to have players around me to give me the ball and know where I’m going to be.”

St. John’s returned the intensity through the rest of the half but could not beat St. Thomas goalkeeper Grant Larson. Both teams battled aggressively and the Tommies had the majority of possession, but the Johnnies out-shot the Tommies 4-3 in the first stanza.

“I thought we were all over them the first 15 minutes, and I think St. John’s did a great job of figuring the game out,” coach Jon Lowery said. “They have experienced players that I figured would do that.”

Despite having a 6-1 edge in shots in the second half, the Tommies were unable to beat Johnnie goalkeeper Kevin Lebahn for the rest of the game.

While Lebahn stymied the St. Thomas offense, St. John’s made the most of its lone shot in the second half. Johnnie forward Paul Wageman was able to beat Larson to tie the game at 1-1 in the 79th minute.

“We were the better team in the second half,” Lowery said. “Our guys were definitely in check, and they executed a good plan.”

St. Thomas began overtime with strong pressure on the St. John’s defense and continued to push throughout the 10 minutes, almost scoring on its first possession down the field. The Tommies couldn’t capitalize on their chances, but once again, the Johnnies did. Forward Robert Deetz sealed the win for St. John’s with a goal in the 99th minute to hand St. Thomas its first loss of the season.

“It was just a heartbreaker … I thought we did a good job,” Lowery said. “I thought we left the game on the table. That game was ours to win, but we didn’t value our chances and we paid the price for it.”

St. Thomas hopes to rebound Saturday when it heads to Arden Hills to take on Bethel.

Eric Bromback can be reached at brom0030@stthomas.edu.