SALISBURY, Md. — Freshman Payton Hardy scored as the Catholic University women's soccer team fell in a hard-fought match to Salisbury on Friday afternoon.

Hardy was active on both sides of the ball. She found the net in the 20th minute, when she was first to react to a loose ball in the penalty area, as ball dropped following a corner kick and Hardy was able to finish past Riley Pinato to push the Cardinals ahead.

She then made a huge defensive contribution midway through the first half. A ball was played over the top of the Cardinal defense that sent Alex Jankowski through on goal, but Hardy made a brilliant recovery run and executed a perfectly-timed tackle just as Jankowski was about to put an effort toward the Catholic goal.

The match was relatively open in the early going, and remained that way throughout. Both teams offered multiple efforts toward goal in the first five minutes. Catholic goalkeeper Maeve Graham was forced into a save less than a minute into the match before freshman Isabel Doherty tested the Salisbury goalkeeper twice in the opening five minutes.

After the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead to the break, Salisbury responded in the second half. They equalized in the 73rd minute after the ball was turned over in the midfield and a low cross found its way to Katy Poltrack at the back post, who made no mistake.

Lauren Spelman then grabbed the winner for the Sea Gulls in the 84th minute, when her strike from distance beat Graham.

Doherty looked the most dangerous for Catholic throughout the match, offering a team-high four shots. Graham tallied eight saves for the Cardinals.

Next up for Catholic is St. Mary's (Md.), who will make the trip to Carlini Field for a midweek contest on Wednesday at 7 p.m.