CICERO, N.Y. - Nina Kumar knew it was coming, so she prepared herself to be snowed under, Saturday.
The Mamaroneck goalie was engulfed and tackled after an outstanding performance in the Tigers 3-0 win over Liverpool (3-0) in a New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A field hockey semifinal at Cicero-North Syracuse High School. Kumar made seven saves, including four on Liverpool penalty corners, for her 16th shutout of the season.
I went up to Nina so many times during the game and told her she was the brick wall, Jessica Gardiner said. Nina was phenomenal. We really could not have won this game without her.
In Mamaronecks regional final win over Kingston last week, Kumar said she saw her teammates coming at her and ran away. Jessica got mad at me about it, said Kumar, laughing. Today, it was such a great feeling.
Kumar, who was not tested that much during the regular season or the postseason because her defense is so good, benefits from working against her teammates in practice. Theyre all so great that playing against them in practice has made me much better, Kumar said.
Mamaroneck led 1-0 in the first half when Kumar made a diving stop of a centering pass. After the Tigers increased their lead to 2-0, Liverpool answered with a flurry of penalty corners. On its first corner, Emma Lamison ripped a drive from the top of the circle, but Kumar kicked out the shot.
Liverpool finished with nine penalty corners, but Kumar and the penalty-corner unit of Molly Cohen, Jessica Corbin, Scarlett Fugazy and Gardiner, were unyielding. Initially, we came out in a high triangle because they were setting up the shot from the top of the circle, Kumar said. We also wanted to stop the flat passes, which we did. Once we did this, they changed it up, but we were able to get the ball out.
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