MIDDLETOWN, R.I. - Junior Nicola Garat (Princeton, N.J.) and sophomore Caroline English (Dorchester, Mass.) scored 3:02 apart in the third period as the College of the Holy Cross women's ice hockey team rallied from a 2-1 third-period deficit to defeat Salve Regina University, 3-2, in Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Women's East action Friday afternoon at St. George's Rink.

Freshman Alex Campione (Townsend, Mass.) potted her first collegiate goal for the Crusaders (1-0-0, 1-0-0 ECAC), who improved to 19-0-1 all-time against the Seahawks. Sophomore Ali Muehlbronner (Glenside, Pa.) (right) turned aside 41 shots for Salve Regina (0-1-0, 0-1-0 ECAC), who dropped their first season-opener since the 2007-08 campaign.

Trailing 2-1 midway through the third, Garat banged home a loose puck in front of Muehlbronner to tie the game at two at 11:53. Just over three minutes later, English took a pass from junior Stacey Hochkins (New Boston, Mich.) and beat Muehlbronner to give HC the lead for good.

"We'll see some teams perhaps as good as Holy Cross, but certainly not better," said Seahawks head coach Michael Cox. "This is a good starting point for us. We competed very hard and lost on an NHL-style play. They were one play better than us tonight. Ali played terrific for us. Not many of her 41 saves were of the easy variety. We feel we're going to have one of the best goaltending tandems in the league."

Sophomore Samantha Zitzer (River Forest, Ill.) (right) opened the scoring 2:08 into the first period when she collected a rebound from junior Kristen Aiello (Braintree, Mass.) and roofed the puck over Holy Cross senior netminder Monique Gallant (Antigonish, Nova Scotia). The Seahawks pushed the lead to 2-0 at 9:32 on freshman Jessica Merritt's (Niles, Ill.) first collegiate goal. She broke down the right wing and fired off a shot that was stopped by Gallant, but the rebound caromed off a defenseman's skate and into the net. Holy Cross cut its deficit in half with a power-play marker at 16:38 of the opening stanza. Freshman Alex Campione (Townsend, Mass.) chopped her own rebound between the post and the right pad of Muehlbronner.

After outshooting the Seahawks 12-6 in the first period, the Crusaders amped up their offense in the second period and fired 15 shots on goal, compared to eight for the Seahawks, but still trailed 2-1 at the end of two. Holy Cross had several solid scoring chances, including a partial breakaway by senior Jocelyn Kratchmer (Watrous, Sask.) that Muehlbronner turned aside. Later in the period, Hochkins came closer but saw her shot ring off the right post from in close with under three left on the clock that allowed SRU to take the lead to the locker room after 40 minutes of action. The contest ended with the Crusaders holding a 44-17 edge in shots, including a 17-3 edge in the third.

The Seahawks went 1-for-3 on the power play while Holy Cross converted one of its four opportunities with the man advantage. Gallant finished with 15 saves for the Crusaders.

The Seahawks return to action on Saturday, Nov. 6 when they travel to New York to face SUNY Plattsburgh at 3 p.m. The Crusaders host Sacred Heart on Wednesday at 7 p.m.