WASHINGTON, D.C. - Steven Dezelic logged a five-goal game while freshman Matt Moore recorded the first hat trick of his career, but the Cardinals fell to Stevenson 18-12 on a rainy and windy night at Carlini Field. 

Stevenson held the edge in a number of key categories, winning the face-off battle comfortably while taking more than 30 more shots than Catholic in the contest. The Mustangs improve to 2-1 on the 2024 season while Catholic drops to 0-2. 

Catholic stood right in the mix with a deep and talented Stevenson team in the first and fourth quarters, but the Mustangs controlled the middle portion of the game to emerge victorious. The Cardinals were outscored 11-4 in the second and third quarters of the six-goal loss. 

Stevenson took an early four-goal lead with less than eight to play in the first, but Peter Donley's team responded well, scoring the next three to trim the deficit to one-goal after 15 minutes of action. Freshman Cullen Lotz put Catholic on the board, scoring his third goal of the season off a find from Fitz McLaughlin with 5:42 left in the quarter. Just over two minutes later, Dezelic scored his first of the night in a man-up situation as Mike Mulligan recorded the assist. Dezelic followed up with another 1:20 later to bring Catholic within a goal as Moore picked up the assist. 

Dezelic's third goal was the lone Catholic goal of the second quarter as Stevenson built a 9-4 lead at the break. Moore scored the first two goals of his career in the third quarter while McLaughlin scored the final goal of the third to make it a 15-7 game after three. 

The Cardinals battled to the end, outscoring the Mustangs 5-3 in the final period. Moore completed his hat trick with 9:41 to play before Mike Mulligan got in the mix to make it 17-9 with 7:57 to play. Dezelic scored his fourth and fifth goals of the game with assists from Logan Farrington and Victor Rosado. Brady McMahon scored the final goal of the contest with 1:06 to play to close things out. 

Freshman goalkeeper Tyler Merchant battled in his first career start, making a career-high 15 saves in the game. Ryan Macksoud won 11 face-offs and led Catholic with three ground balls while Mike Tayloe caused two turnovers and added two ground balls. 

Catholic hits the road for the first time this season on Saturday, heading to Franklin & Marshall for an afternoon non-conference tilt.