NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Katelyn Catanese (Huntington, N.Y./St. Anthony's) tallied four goals and an assist to lead Mount St. Mary's past Central Connecticut State 12-6 in Northeast Conference (NEC) women's lacrosse action on Saturday.

Catanese tied a career-high with five points after scoring twice in the first half and tallying two goals and an assist in the second stanza. The sophomore has posted 29 goals and three assists for 32 points on the year.

Casey Paris (Longwood, Fla./Lake Brantley) also found the twine four times for the Mount (5-6, 5-0 NEC) while Jenna Duffy (Bel Air, Md./Catholic) posted two markers and an assist in the winning effort.

Julia Steier paced the Blue Devils (2-8, 1-4 NEC) with a hat trick while Lauren Paolillo, Abby Hayes and Eve Belardinelli also scored in the loss.

Mount St. Mary's scored five of the first seven goals and held off a Central Connecticut State charge midway through the final period to improve to 5-0 in league play for the third time in program history.

After the Blue Devils grabbed its only edge at 2-1 in the first six minutes of the match, the Mountaineers scored four-straight goals to take the lead for good.

Katie Falatach (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's) converted a free-position shot at 7:18 to tie the game at 2 before Catanese scored consecutive goals. The sophomore notched her first marker of the afternoon at 7:41 off a Duffy helper before finding the back of the net unassisted 13 seconds later. Paris ended the first half with a marker off a Kathleen Rossetti (Havre de Grace, Md./Perry Hall) assist with 4:15 left until halftime for a 5-2 margin at the break.

Steier started the scoring in the second half on an 8-meter goal at 34:15 to complete the hat trick.

Mount St. Mary's then rolled off three unanswered goals to grab an 8-3 advantage. After Catanese returned the favor to Duffy by setting up the senior's first goal of the day at 36:51, Paris and Catanese each converted free-position attempts at 37:40 and 42:05.

Central Connecticut State answered right back with a string of three-straight scores. Belardinelli took a pass from Courtney Mooney at 43:47 before Paolillo scored unassisted with 14:26 on the clock and Hayes buried her free-position attempt at the 48 minute mark to cut the deficit to 8-6.

The Mount then put the game away by scoring the final four markers of the match. Paris and Duffy each found the twine unassisted in a span of 19 seconds in the 54th minute. Paris then notched her four goal of the game at 57:37 and Catanese capped her five-point day by finding the back of the net in the final seconds of regulation.

Mount St. Mary's scored to open the game when the juniors Falatach set up Rebecca Douglass (Towson, Md./Towson Catholic) at 3:20. Steier answered for the Blue Devils with consecutive goals at 4:37 and 5:50 for their own edge of the game.

Jane Karger (Pittsburgh, Pa./Hampton) had nine saves for the Mount and Alice Lee turned away 13 shots for Central Connecticut State.

Paris moved ahead of former teammate Nicole Di'Angelo (156, 2002-05) for third place on the program's all-time points list with 158. Duffy needs seven assists to tie Di'Angelo's all-time assist mark of 65.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Friday for a first-place showdown against Monmouth at the Waldron Family Stadium. The game will be televised and shown on tape delay by Adelphia 10. Game time is 3:30 p.m.

2007-04-07