WASHINGTON, D.C. — Playing for a spot atop the Landmark Conference standings, Catholic narrowly fell to Scranton on Saturday afternoon.

The match saw neither team take a single shot in the first half with Catholic earning the lone penalty corner of the opening 30 minutes. Neither side produced any scoring chances of note.

It was Scranton who came out of the break the stronger of the two sides. The Royals earned their first penalty corner four minutes into the quarter but were unable to find the breakthrough courtesy of some top class goalkeeping Catholic's Abigail Kearney.

Kearney saved Katie Redding's initial shot then stood tall at the back post to thwart Bridget Abraldes before smothering a shot from Annie Shaw to complete a stunning triple save.

Five minutes later Scranton earned another penalty corner after Mary Rojack was issued a green card. This time Redding went close again but Gracie Burford came up big, producing her third defensive save of the season before Kearney followed wth another save to keep the deadlock intact.

With three minutes remaining in the quarter, Scranton began to string corners together and eventually made good on their sixth of the stanza. It was the Royal leading-scorer Redding who rifled a shot that ran off of Kearney's near post and fell for Shaw at the back post, who made no mistake, finishing into an unguarded cage.

Catholic pushed for an equalizer throughout the fourth quarter but struggled to test Gianna Travia in the Royal goal. The Cardinals only mustered two shots in the contest, both coming from Niki Micciche in the fourth quarter. Kearney logged eight saves in the game.

Rachel Palumbo's team now sits at 5-4 and 2-1 in conference play. The Cardinals will turn their attention to a midweek matchup with Mary Washington. Catholic will host the Eagles in its final non-conference contest of the season at 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening.