When the University of St. Thomas plays St. John's, you can throw wins and losses out the door.

Saturday, April 17, was no exception. St. Thomas entered the game 7-0 on the season, while St. John's came in with a 9-2 record, both of the losses coming against top-five nationally ranked teams.
 
In this rivalry, a successful regular season means winning the Tommie-Johnnie game.

This season? The edge goes to St. Thomas, as the Tommies got a hat-trick from attackman Joe Costello to beat host St. John's 9-7 at Clemens Stadium.

“It was a really tough game," Costello said. "We just went out and played hard. We would have loved to have kept our third quarter momentum going, but as our offense slowed, our defense came through.”

St. Thomas scored four goals in the third quarter to take an 8-5 lead, then held off a furious Johnnies' comeback in the fourth.

St. John's opend the fourth quarter by scoring two goals to close to within 8-7.

The Tommies regained their two-goal lead with 6 minutes remaining.

“It’s a typical Tommie-Johnnie game," St. Thomas coach Peter Moosbrugger said. "It’s a battle of hard play and lots of pressure. It was clearly the toughest game of the season.”

St. Thomas and St. John's likely will meet again in the UMLL Division II Championship game (Sunday, May 2, at the Concordia-St. Paul dome).