NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Catholic women's lacrosse went on the road for its final non-conference contest of the season but fell to Christopher Newport 13-9 on Wednesday evening. Both teams were receiving votes in this week's USILA poll. 

Riley Cherkes had a hat trick to lead six different goal scorers for the Catholic attack while Rachel Rubenstein scooped up four ground balls and caused three turnovers in front of junior goalie Lauren Davidson who recorded nine saves in the losing effort. 

The Cardinals jumped ahead 2-0 just over six minutes into the contest with Mia Scarduzio scoring a woman-up goal at the 10:04 mark to start the scoring before Cherkes finished her first of three goals off with 8:51 left on the first quarter clock. The Captains scored the next four goals before Catholic answered with consecutive goals in the second period to tie the game at 4-4 with 8:10 to play in the half. Caroline Beckett scored with 9:06 on the second quarter clock before Madeline Kelly tied the game with 8:10 to play in the half to knot the game up. 

CNU scored three goals in a 2:23 span to take a 7-4 lead into the break. The dynamic duo of Kate Olsen and Beckett combined for the first goal of the second half as Olsen's lone goal of the game made it 7-5 with 11:49 to go in the third. However, Christopher Newport scored the next three goals to balloon the lead to 10-5 with 2:53 to go in quarter number three. 

Cherkes scored with 1:41 remaining in the quarter off of a Shelby Graser feed before Scarduzio beat the third-quarter buzzer on a woman-down goal assisted by Caroline Regan to trim CNU's lead to 10-7 entering the fourth. 

CNU took a 12-7 lead less than 90 seconds into the final quarter and held a five-goal advantage until Cherkes scored her third of the game with 5:06 to play. Jessie Lee was the final goalscorer of the contest, finding the back of the net with 1:54 left to make it a 13-9 game. 

Catholic held the overall advantage in shots (33-27), draw controls (13-11), and free-position shots (7-4), but the Captains totaled 16 ground balls to Catholic's nine and turned it over two fewer times in the game. Scarduzio had a team-high four draw controls to go with a pair of goals while Lee chipped in with three draw controls. 

Catholic will complete the regular season on Saturday at Carlini Field as Elizabethtown comes to D.C. before the top-seeded Cardinals host the Landmark Conference semifinals on Wednesday.