Seahawks fall to Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Junior Nicole Giannino (Bay Shore, N.Y.)recorded her first career hat trick as the Holy Cross women's ice hockey team defeated visiting Salve Regina on Saturday afternoon, 5-0, at the Hart Center in ECAC East action. Giannino scored her first three goals of the 2013-2014 campaign and freshman Rose Rather (Stamford, Conn.) assisted on four of the five scores as the Crusaders improve to 2-0-0 (1-0-0 ECAC East) on the young season. The Seahawks fall to 1-1-0 overall and 0-1-0 in the ECAC East.

Junior Mary Klimasewiski (Cochester, Conn.) put Holy Cross on the board first just 3:44 into the first period for her first goal of the season, with the assist credited to Rather. The game remained 1-0 until the Crusaders posted three goals in just over three minutes late in the second stanza. Giannino beat Salve Regina starting goaltender Mariah Mosher (Auburn, Maine) on the power play with 4:56 remaining and repeated the feat at full strength 2:20 later to put Holy Cross up 3-0. Klimasewiski and Rather added helpers on both goals. Rather then netted her third goal of the season with 1:47 remaining in the second period in unassisted fashion to give the Crusaders a 4-0 advantage after two periods of play.

Giannino's hat trick came with just 2:42 remaining in the game as she beat the third goaltender of the afternoon for the Seahawks, Nicole Grosser (West Harrison, N.H.). Klimasewiski and Rather once again provided the assist for Giannino as the Crusader came away with a convincing 5-0 victory.

Holy Cross was strong on the penalty kill, blanking Salve Regina on five opportunities. The Crusaders went one-for-two with an extra skater of their own. Mosher made 12 saves while allowing four goals, Colleen Marcik (Madison, Conn.) started the third period for the Seahawks and made seven saves in 15:48 of action and Grosser let up one goal in 4:12 of time in the crease. For Holy Cross, junior goaltender Krista Manzanares (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) registered her sixth career shut out after stopping all 16 shots she faced.

Senior Monika Borkowski (Ann Arbor, Mich.) registered four shots for the Seahawks while sophomore Mariah Mosher took the loss for the Seahawks, registering 12 salves in the net. Freshman Colleen Marcik made seven saves in her first collegiate game.