WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic University women's lacrosse team dropped a top-25 match-up to No. 16 Chicago on Saturday afternoon on Carlini Field.

In a game that was close throughout, a big Chicago second-half run was the difference. No. 21 Catholic led by a single goal at halftime but the Maroons rattled off seven-straight to claim their fifth victory in a row.

Catholic and Chicago exchanged blows in the first half as neither team pulled ahead by more than two goals. The Cardinals got a big momentum boost when Riley Cherkes found the back of the net with just five seconds remaining in the opening quarter to push Catholic ahead, 4-3.

After Chicago's Avery Song completed her hat trick just over a minute into the second quarter to equalize, a women-up goal from Grace Hill and a Madeline Kelly free-position tally pushed Catholic out to its biggest lead of the day at 6-4.

Meghan McDonogh's team looked to be coming out of halftime with momentum when it got the first tally of the third quarter less than a minute into the stanza. Hill was able to take advantage of a Jessie Lee feed to restore Catholic's two-goal advantage.

The Maroons, however, responded with suffocating defense that held the Cardinals scoreless for just under 24 minutes of gametime. Chicago put together a 7-0 run to push ahead and put the game out of the Cardinals' reach.

Catholic held Chicago's season-leading scorer Lulu Hardy goalless but Avery Song and Camille Kuwana each netted four goals. Kuwanna completed a hat trick in less than three minutes during Chicago's big second-half run.

Catholic's Kate Olsen scored her fourth hat trick of the season while Hill netted two and won five draw controls. Lee claimed six draw controls while gathering two ground balls and causing one turnover and two-time reigning Landmark Conference Defensive Athlete of the Week Rachel Rubenstein caused three turnovers and scooped up three ground balls.

The contest marked Catholic's Alumni Game and saw former Cardinal player and assistant coach Kate Robinson return to Catholic. Now in her fifth season in command at Chicago, Robinson played under McDonogh and holds numerous Catholic program records, including career goals (268) and goals in a single season (91).

The Cardinals will look to right the ship on Wednesday evening when they host No. 9 Gettysburg in what will be Catholic's fifth game against a ranked opponent in this young season. Opening draw control is set for 5 p.m.