EMMITSBURG, Md. - Monmouth defeated Mount St. Mary's 13-10 in Northeast Conference (NEC) women's lacrosse action on Friday night.

Esther Rufolo (Woodstock, Md./Chapelgate Christian Academy) paced the Mount (5-8, 4-1 NEC) with a career-high six goals while Nicole Price (White Hall, Md./North Harford), Mary MacAdam (Palmyra, N.J./Holy Cross), Jen Semler (Baltimore, Md./Perry Hall) and Aly Jost (Abington, Md./Bel Air) also scored in the match. Brigid McTavish (Mount Airy, Md./South Carroll) made 10 saves in the loss.

Sam Lillo and Molly O'Brien each had a hat trick to fuel the Hawks (9-4, 4-1 NEC) while Olivia Salata and Rachel Feirstein each tallied a marker and two assists. Kirby Mundorf turned away nine shots in the winning effort.

In a battle at the top of the NEC standings, Monmouth jumped out to the advantage and held off a pair of Mountaineer comeback attempts to hand Mount St. Mary's its first league loss of the year.

After Rufolo gave the Mount a 1-0 edge at 6:32 on an unassisted tally, the Hawks rolled off eight of the final nine goals of the first half.

O'Brien started a 6-0 run with a free-position tally at 8:47 before Salata found the twine off an Erica Abendschoen feeder at 9:06. Abendschoen then found the back of the net off a Feirstein assist 20 seconds later and Kaitlin Feeney set up O'Brien at 17:14 for a 4-1 lead. Lillo posted back-to-back goals off a Salata helper at 21:10 and unassisted at 22:54 for a five-goal advantage.

Rufolo momentarily halted the Monmouth run with an unassisted goal at 24:36, but Kristyn Urbas scored off a Salata assist at 27:56 and Lynn White closed the first half scoring with an eight-minute goal in the closing seconds of the stanza to give the Hawks an 8-2 lead at halftime.

Mount St. Mary's scored four of the first five goals in the second half to trim the deficit to 9-6 with 13:55 left in the game. Rufolo started the spurt with an unassisted tally at 31:49 and a free-position goal at 33:03 to cut the margin to 8-4.

After Feeney answered with a score off a Feirstein feeder at 35:47, MacAdam posted her fourth goal of the year on an 8-meter chance at 38:09 and Semler converted one of her own at 43:55 to make it a three-goal match.

Monmouth responded with four unassisted goals to grab a 13-6 lead. O'Brien stopped the Mountaineers 4-1 run with an 8-meter goal at 43:11. Rachel Obregon scored unassisted at 45:08 before White feed Lillo at 46:25 and Feirstein completed a 4-0 run with an unassisted marker at 47:34.

Mount St. Mary's rallied to register the final four goals of the game, but Monmouth came away with a 13-10 decision. Price started the 4-0 spurt by converting a free-position opportunity at 52:56. Rufolo then rolled off the next two markers off a feed from Lindsay Diaz (Timonium, Md./Dulaney) at 52:56 before finding the twine unassisted for her career-best sixth goal of the night at 59:12. Jost capped the run with her first goal of the year.

Rufolo became the first Mount player to score six times in a game since Ashley Johnson found the twine seven times against George Washington on Mar. 10, 2010. Jost notched her second career goal and first since scoring against the Colonials on Mar. 11, 2009. The senior added three draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover.

Gabe Little (Hampstead, Md./North Carroll) paced the defense with three ground balls and two caused turnovers while Diaz added three ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action at Robert Morris on Apr. 15. Game time is 1 p.m.