The Georgetown women’s lacrosse team (1-7) lost its fifth straight game Wednesday night, falling to No. 16 Loyola Maryland (6-4, 3-0 Patriot League) in a game that was closer than the 12-8 score suggests.

The Hoyas jumped out to a 5-2 first-half lead but conceded four goals in the last 13 minutes before the break to enter halftime down 6-5.

Despite its best efforts in the second half, Georgetown was never able to retake the lead. The Hoyas were in striking range of the Greyhounds, never falling behind by more than two goals until the final seconds of the game, but they did not successfully go on any offensive runs.

Loyola secured its victory in the final 30 seconds, when it scored two goals to win the game 12-8.

In spite of the loss, Head Coach Ricky Fried was impressed with his team’s engagement, especially against such a physically strong team.

“I think the biggest difference across the board, for us, was that they were more athletic than we were,” Fried said. “We did a pretty good job considering the disparity in athleticism. I think it’s the first time in a while that everybody was engaged and contributed to what we were doing on the field, when they were on the field, as opposed to having those people who were just existing on the field.”

Freshman midfielder Hannah Seibel led the way for Georgetown with two goals, both of which came in the first half.

Fried praised the team’s overall energy, but looking back, he acknowledged that it could always be improved.

“It was our most complete game, I would say,” Fried said. “We played for 60 minutes, and we made some mistakes, but I thought we played our best game in the sense of putting everything together and competing for the entire 60 minutes. … We’re going to make mistakes every game, just because that’s the nature of athletics, or of anything as you do. We have to make sure the other team is making us make mistakes, opposed to us making our own mistakes.”

The mistakes to Fried referred to included little things such as rebound goals and draw controls, which are important enough to sway games one way or another.

The Greyhounds held the lion’s share of draw controls, beating the Hoyas 14-8 in that category, and Fried said that the loss of that crucial possession time in the second half was frustrating.

“Draw controls probably hurt us the most, because there were a number of times we had opportunities to get the ball, and lost them,” Fried said. “And that’s obviously a possession for us, late in the game; every time we’d come back to within one, they would get the draw, go down, and possess it, and eventually score. So that took some wind out of our sails.”

Senior attack Sammy Giordano, who scored her fourth goal of the season in the loss to the Hoyas’ Patriot League opponent, praised the team’s consistency in Wednesday night’s game. Giordano noted that unlike previous games, the Hoyas refused to allow the Greyhounds any major scoring runs.

“We came out with a lot of heart last night. Everyone really wanted it,” Giordano said. “Despite the outcome, I think we put a few steps together for the first time this season. Coming off [an 8-6 loss to Johns Hopkins], we took one step, and then last night was a really big step. Everyone bought in, and it just felt a little different, so we really think it’s a turning point in our season.”

In the face of a five-game losing streak, the team is focused on taking steps. The Hoyas are slowly progressing from a tough 17-5 opening loss to Delaware (7-4, 1-0 Colonial Athletic Association) and multiple subsequent lackluster performances.

“I don’t think the score was necessarily indicative of how close the game was throughout,” Fried said. “As I said to them, we took another step from Hopkins, frankly, and we have to focus on what we’re doing well. … We have the conference coming up now, starting Saturday, and the things that we want to attain are still attainable, but we’ve got to make sure that we continue to get better.”

The Hoyas next take on a scrappy Vanderbilt team (3-7, 0-1 SEC) at noon Saturday before hosting No. 1 Maryland (9-0) Wednesday night.