MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The St. John's men's soccer team (9-6-4, 3-3-2 BIG EAST) dropped an overtime heartbreaker to West Virginia (13-4-3, 7-2-0 Sun Belt) in the NCAA Tournament First Round on Thursday night, 4-3. 
 
In a back-and-forth thriller, the Red Storm jumped out to a 2-0 lead during the first six minutes of the season. West Virginia came back to tie it before Guilherme Gomes scored the go-ahead goal with under 10 minutes to play. Sun Belt Player Marcus Caldeira tallied the equalizer with three minutes left in regulation and went onto score the game-winner in overtime. 
 
Bjorn Nikolajewski scored his fourth goal of the season and third from the penalty spot to give the Red Storm the lead. Gabe Smyth added the second goal to build a two-goal lead. Gomes', the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, scored his ninth goal of the year in the 81^st minute to give the Johnnies a 3-2 edge. 
 
Four Red Storm players- Andrew Porucznik, Ank Nibogora, Julian Jakopovic and Godwin Partey recorded assists at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. 
 
Caldeira after coming off the bench led the offensive effort for the Mountaineers scoring a hat trick. 


 
The Red Storm's three goals in an NCAA Tournament game marked the most since the 3-2 victory over Boston University in 2008 Round of 16 and the most ever in a defeat. 
 
As postseason action got underway in Morgantown, both sides battled in the middle third of the field through the opening 20 minutes. Just one shot was record by either team coming from West Virginia. 
 
Gomes generated the first offensive opportunity of the match unloading a strike from 20 yards out that whistled wide of the left post. 
 
In the 30^th minute, Alec McLachlan made a diving save steering the well-driven strike from the Mountaineers' Thijs Veldhorst into the post as the crucial stop kept the score level. 
 
The Johnnies and Mountaineers went into the locker room all square on a foggy night in Morgantown, 0-0. West Virginia held a narrow edge in the shot category, 4-3, after 45 minutes. 
 
In the first minute of the latter stanza, St. John's earned a corner kick on the right side of the pitch. Julian Jakopovic provided the service. As the teams battled for possession in the box the ball hit the hand of a West Virginia defender. After a video review, St. John's was awarded a penalty kick. Nikolajewski, the team captain stepped up to penalty marked and delivered a strike upper-90 into the top left corner of the twine to propel the Red Storm to a 1-0 advantage just 0:57 into the second half. 
 
Just under five minutes later, Nibogora fed a leading pass into the box off a combination play. Porucznik sped to the ball and chipped a high-arching cross to the back post to an unmarked Smyth for a tap in header to put the Red Storm in front, 2-0, in the 51^stminute. The two Red Storm goals came 4:53 apart. 
 
West Virginia chopped into the lead in the 69^th minute with Marcus Caldiera adding his first of three goals off assists from Isaac Scheer and Pablo Pozos. After Partey made multiple quality sweeping defensive plays, the Mountaineers equalized in the 79^th minute as Nicolas Scargle finished one off a corner kick from Ethan Dekel Daks. 
 
The Red Storm remained resilient responding quickly. Just 1:36 after West Virginia erased a two-goal deficit Partey won possession with a strong tackle and took off down the right flank. The All-BIG EAST Third Team selection played a swinging cross into the box that skidded to the far post. Jakopovic centered a pass with his first touch directly to a streaking Gomes as the rookie phenmo sent one home to put the Red Storm back in front, 3-2, with 9:26 remaining in regulation. 
 
In the 87^th minute, a Mountaineers combination play setup Caldiera on goal as the forward tucked a line drive strike into the twine to tie the game for the third time. 
 
In the final seconds of regulation, West Virginia had an opportunity to end it firing a dangerous strike on frame but McLachlan made a game-saving stop to send the contest into overtime. It marked the extra time NCAA Tournament game for St. John's since the 2013 First Round when it defeated Delaware, 2-1. 
 
Heading into the overtime period, Porucznik had an opportunity on the left flank before it was halted by the Mountaineer defense. In the 94^th minute, Caldeira weaved his way through to fire home the game-winner and secure a hat trick to send West Virginia to the NCAA Tournament Second Round. 
 
The Red Storm conclude the 2025 campaign with a 9-6-4 overall record and made its 23^rd appearance in the NCAA Tournament.