EMMITSBURG, Md. – Twentieth-ranked Denver downed Mount St. Mary's 16-6 in non-conference women's lacrosse action on Friday.

Katelyn Catanese (Huntington, N.Y./St. Anthony's) notched her first half trick of the year for the Mount (0-2) while Kathleen Rossetti (Perry Hall, Md./Perry Hall) registered a goal and two assists in the loss.

Ali Flury paced the Pioneers (4-2) with five goals and an assist while Megan Carver tallied three goals and four assists and Karen Morton found the twine four times in the winning effort.

Denver scored the first six markers of the contest and after Mount St. Mary's went on a 4-0 run posted the next eight goals to earn its second-straight win against the Mountaineers.

The Pioneers opened the game with six goals in the first eight minutes and 42 seconds to take the lead they would not relinquish. Morton started the scoring off an assist from Steph Coyne at 1:46 before Coyne found the twine unassisted at 4:01 for a 2-0 edge. Carver then set up the next two goals to Flury and Morton at 4:40 and 5:06, respectively, before finding the twine herself at 6:21 of a Coyne assist. Coyne capped the string of six-straight tallies with a free position goal at 8:42.

Emily Kirby (Reisterstown, Md./Franklin) got the Mount on the scoreboard off a feed from Rossetti at 10:45 for her first goal of the year. Ashley Johnson (Arvada, Colo./Arvada West), the current Northeast Conference Player of the Week, found the twine at 11:24 before Rossetti hooked up with Catanese at 14:21. Rossetti added to her two assists in the Mount St. Mary's 4-0 by scoring her first goal of the year at 19:55.

The Denver duo of Morton and Flury answered with back-to-back goals to grab an 8-4 advantage with 7:54 remaining. Catanese cut the margin to three goals when she found the twine for the second time on the afternoon with 3:12 left in the first half and that was the margin at the intermission.

The start of the second half was almost a carbon copy of the first with the Pioneers opening the final stanza on a 7-0 run to grab a 15-5 lead with 14:46 remaining in the game. Flury powered the Pioneers offensive surge with three goals and an assist while Carver added two tallies and a helper in the run.

Catanese scored unassisted at 46:28 to trim the score to 15-6, but Denver came away with a 16-6 victory to hand Pioneers head coach Liza Kelly a win over her former head coach from her playing days. Mount head coach Denise Wescott coached Kelly at Delaware, where the two won two conference titles and helped the Blue Hens finished ranked three times in their four years together.

Ashley Harman made 10 saves for Denver while Brigid McTavish (Mount Airy, Md./South Carroll) turned away nine shots for the Mountaineers. Lucy Pompa (Baltimore, Md./Bryn Mawr) had a team-high five ground balls, a draw control and a caused turnover, and Nikki Antonious (Baltimore, Md./Mercy) registered four ground balls, two caused turnovers and a draw control in the loss.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Sunday at the Waldron Family Stadium against No. 18 Towson. Game time is 1 p.m.