EMMITSBURG, Md. – Sacred Heart held off a furious comeback attempt from Mount St. Mary's to squeak out a 3-2 victory in Northeast Conference (NEC) men's soccer action on Sunday.

Scott Phinith (Gaithersburg, Md./Magruder) notched his fourth goal of the season for the Mount (9-7-0, 5-2-0 NEC) while Steve Pathroff (North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Ignatius) notched his first tally of the year in the loss.

After Pathroff cut the margin to 3-2 with 1:16 remaining, the Mountaineers had a couple chances to tie the contest, but could not convert. Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier) nailed a shot high over the goal with 31 seconds remaining. Mount St. Mary's got the ball back one more time, but Joshua Barnaby's (Takhoma Park, Md./Archbishop Carroll) had his shot stopped by Pioneers' (4-7-2, 3-3-1 NEC) goalkeeper Matt Jones from the left six-yards out as time expired.

Jones made six saves for Sacred Heart while Fillipe Celikkaya, Mario Mililli and David Backman each found the twine in the winning effort.

The Pioneers jumped out to a 3-0 advantage going into halftime and held on despite a furious rally attempt by Mount St. Mary's to earn its second-straight win against the Mount.

With the game scoreless, Matt Mones served a through ball to Celikkaya, who found the twine for his first tally of the year at the 16:07 mark. Backman then set up Mililli at 23:49 to increase the margin to two goals.

After a foul at the edge of the box on the left side of the field, Backman buried the eventual game-winning goal on a penalty kick at 35:41 to hand Sacred Heart a 3-0 advantage going into the intermission.

Despite trailing by three goals, the Mountaineers came roaring back to cut the margin to 3-2 with 1:16 remaining. Wheeler had his shot stopped by Jones, but Phinith was there to knock in the rebound at 57:23 to put Mount St. Mary's on the scoreboard. In the waning minutes of the match, Kyle Patrick (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) crossed the ball from right to left and found Pathroff, who drilled in his first goal of the year at 88:44.

Prior to the game, the Mountaineers honored seniors Barnaby, Pathroff, Vinnie Berry (Helensburgh, Scotland/St. Patrick's) and C.J. Cover (Joppa, Md./Fallston).

Mount St. Mary's remains in the hunt for a NEC Tournament berth, but will have to clinch its first playoff appearance since 2000 on the road. The Mount travels to Central Connecticut State on Friday at 2 p.m. before closing out the regular season at Quinnipiac on Sunday.