EMITTSBURG, Md. – Seniors Kathleen Rossetti (Perry Hall, Md./Perry Hall), Katelyn Catanese (Huntington, N.Y./St. Anthony's), Brianna Gauthier (Severna Park, Md./St. Mary's) and Breana Waraksa (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) combined for 10 goals to lead Mount St. Mary's past Sacred Heart 12-7 in Northeast Conference (NEC) women's lacrosse action on Thursday in the Mount's final regular season home game of the year.

Rossetti posted four goals, including the go-ahead score at 35:39 to hand the Mountaineers (5-9, 5-1 NEC) the lead for good. Catanese posted a hat trick while Gauthier found the twine for a career-high two times and Waraksa added a goal and an assist in the winning effort.

Amanda Williams paced the Pioneers (7-6, 4-1 NEC) with three goals and an assist while Cori Horelik and Alicia Fuchs each recorded a marker and a helper in the loss.

Sacred Heart rallied to grab the advantage early in the second half before Mount St. Mary's rolled off five unanswered and eight of the final 10 tallies to come away with the 12-7 win in the first-place showdown. Prior to the run, neither team held more than a one-goal margin.

After Williams scored back-to-back goals to start the second half to give the Pioneers a 5-4 advantage, the Mountaineers scored the next five goals with the first four markers coming courtesy of its seniors.

Gauthier started the surge with an unassisted goal at 33:07 to tie the game at 5 before Rossetti gave the Mount the lead it would not relinquish with her fourth goal of the afternoon at 35:39. Catanese then scored on an 8-meter shot at 36:32 and Gauthier found the back of the net at 41:12 for a three-goal lead. Fellow senior Caitlin Preas (Rockville, Md./Our Lady of Good Counsel) then capped the surge when she fed Lucy Pompa (Baltimore, Md./Bryn Mawr) 17 seconds later for a 9-5 lead.

Sacred Heart scored the next two goals to make it a two-goal game. Horelik registered her first tally of the afternoon at 44:43 before Mary Montesarchio scored unassisted at 49:04 to trim the margin to 9-7.

The Mount St. Mary's seniors stepped it up again to score the final three markers of the day to improve to 7-0 at home against Sacred Heart and to retake possession of first place in the league. After Catanese started the spurt unassisted at 50:05, Waraksa scored unassisted at 52:04 before the duo ended their final regular season home game fittingly by Waraksa feeding Catanese at 56:57.

After honoring the five senior prior to the game, Rossetti got the scoring started with an unassisted tally at 6:17 for a 1-0 edge.

Fuchs started a 2-0 run by the Pioneers to grab a 2-1 lead. The freshman scored off a Williams pass at 11:46 before Carissa Hauser converted a free-position chance at 16:13.

Nicole Price (White Hall, Md./North Harford) tied the game with her fifth tally of the year at 18:39 before Williams found the back of the net at 30:32 to retake a one-goal margin for Sacred Heart.

Rossetti ended the first half with consecutive unassisted markers at 23:23 and at 28:05 to give the Mountaineers a 4-3 advantage at halftime.

Williams responded out of the break with back-to-back tallies to start the second half. The senior scored off a Fuchs' helper 53 seconds into the final stanza to square the match and then handed Sacred Heart a 5-4 advantage unassisted at 24 seconds later. Fueled by its seniors, Mount St. Mary's scored the next five goals and never looked to earn the win in the final game of the year at Waldron Family Stadium.

Brigid McTavish (Mount Airy, Md./South Carroll) made two saves for the Mount while Chelsea Wagner turned away eight shots for Sacred Heart.

Gauthier paced the defense with five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Aly Jost (Abingdon, Md./Bel Air) added three ground balls, two caused turnovers and a draw control while Catanese and Pompa both added three ground balls and a caused turnover on the afternoon.

Prior to the Mountaineers' run Sacred Heart held an 8-2 advantage in draw controls, but the Mount won eight of the final 11 draws to end the game by scoring eight of the last 10 markers.

Catanese moved into second place on the program's all-time points list with 183 points while Waraksa is now within two assists of Jenna Duffy's (70, 2004-07) program record for career assists.

Mount St. Mary's, who ended 4-0 in the league at home in 2009, hits the road for the final two games of the year. The Mount travels to Wagner on Saturday. Game time is 12 p.m.