The Marquette women’s lacrosse team extended its losing streak to three Saturday, falling short to the No. 5 Northwestern Wildcats, 13-6.

The Golden Eagles fought hard against their favored opponent, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Wildcats high-flying offense. Freshman attack Riley Hill led the Golden Eagles in scoring with two goals and junior goalie Sarah Priem made six saves. Northwestern’s star freshman midfielder Selena Lasota had an outstanding performance, scoring six goals and scooping four ground balls in the game. The Golden Eagles were out-shot 26-11 and committed 25 turnovers to Northwestern’s 17.

Despite the final score, the Golden Eagles held their own for the majority of the first half. Northwestern opened up a 4-1 lead just more than seven minutes into the first half, then scored again to go up 5-1 with 22:10 remaining. It was at that point Marquette coach Meredith Black took a timeout.

“I just said, ‘Hey listen, we got this, believe,'” Black said. “I think we stuck to the game plan post-timeout and it really worked.”

It worked perfectly. The Golden Eagles scored shortly after the stoppage on a rip from redshirt junior attack Emily Donovan and Marquette found a new energy on the defensive end of the field. Northwestern didn’t score again for the rest of the half, thanks in part to multiple interceptions by Priem to stop Wildcat advances.

The problem for Marquette was converting offensively during the Wildcat drought. The Golden Eagles only recorded three shots on net in the first half, even though they had multiple opportunities and a two-minute man-up opportunity. Despite the chances, Marquette trailed by three at the break.

The three-goal deficit only grew from that point on, as it appeared Marquette awoke a sleeping giant. Northwestern scored five goals in less than six-and-a-half minutes to establish a 10-2 lead. The run was part of a 7-1 streak, which proved to be insurmountable for the Golden Eagles.

“I think they came out really, really strong,” Black said. “We weren’t able to recover. I think we shook it off eventually, but it was too little, too late.”

Marquette scored three of the game’s last four goals, but by that point the game had been decided and the Golden Eagles fell 13-6.

“We gotta be ready to come out of the second half fired up,” Black said thinking ahead to next Saturday’s game. “We gotta play for 60 minutes, not 50, and we gotta go into every game with the same energy that we came into this game with.”

Marquette faces off against Duquesne in Pittsburgh Saturday at 10:30 a.m.