GRANVILLE, Ohio (March 4, 2023) – Playing against its third nationally-ranked opponent in its first four games of the 2023 season, the No. 24 Denison University women's lacrosse team fell 20-9 to the No. 17-ranked University of Chicago on Saturday inside Deeds Field-Piper Stadium.

It was the first matchup between Denison (0-4 overall) and Chicago (2-0) since a 10-7 win for the Big Red to advance to the NCAA Division III Final Four for the first time in program history back in 2021. On that day, Denison outscored Chicago 4-1 in the second half to complete the victory, but in today's meeting, the Big Red let up nine goals in the second quarter and could never recover.

Denison actually led 2-0 after goals by Josie Lucchesi and Jane Bailey and then led 3-2 thanks to another goal by Lucchesi with four minutes left in the first quarter.

Chicago, however, rattled off the final two goals of the first quarter followed by four goals in the first three minutes of the second quarter to take an 8-3 advantage.

The Big Red battled back to within one at 8-7 after four straight goals over a three-and-a-half-minute span in the second quarter before the Maroons added five more goals in the final five and a half minutes of the period to make it a 13-7 lead at halftime.

Denison managed only two more goals the rest of the way while Chicago put up six goals in the third quarter to stretch its lead to 19-8 entering the final period.

Lucchesi would finish with three goals for the Big Red while Mary Martinson had four draw controls, Liz Hinton had three groundballs and Emma Repke had two caused turnovers.

This is the second weekend in a row with back-to-back games on back-to-back days for the Big Red as they host the University of Lynchburg at 2 p.m. tomorrow, Sunday, March 5.