Uma Corniea is elite at keeping the puck out of the net
EDINA, Minn. (BVM) — Uma Corniea has never liked to see the puck go into the back of the net.
It started back when she first fell in love with the game of hockey as a kid. Playing with her friends, she couldn’t stand having the other team score and since goaltenders were not allowed, she took it upon herself to fix the problem.
“I would stand in the net and prevent people from scoring,” Corniea said.
Once she was actually able to play the position, it did not take her long to become elite at it.
As a seventh grader at Breck, she made varsity and shared the net with junior Ally Frantzick. Corniea went 7-5-1 on the season and helped the Mustangs to a 14-10-1 record. Then in the state tournament, she went 3-0 as the Mustangs won the state championship against Warroad.
The next year as an eighth grader, she went 7-3 in the regular season and then once again went 3-0 in the state tournament as Breck repeated as state champions.
Over her two years at Breck, Corniea went 20-8-1 with 774 saves, a save percentage of .924 and four shutouts, three of which came in the state tournament.
By then, people were taking notice and so were colleges including Corniea’s dream school, Princeton.
“When they reached out to me I was ecstatic,” Corniea said. “It was just amazing because it had always been my dream school so it was a pretty easy decision.”
One of her close friend’s sisters played for Princeton, so the Ivy League school had always been on her mind. When they began to recruit her it did not take long for Corniea to commit to the Tigers.
Corniea also began going to Edina High School last year, moving up from MSHSL A to AA.
“It was definitely an adjustment going from single A to double A,” Corniea said.
But she adjusted quickly. As a freshman for the Hornets, she went 20-1 with nine shutouts and a .970 save average as the Hornets entered the Section 6AA playoffs as the No. 1 seed. The Hornets made it all the way to the state finals before losing to Andover, 5-3.
It was a tough loss for Edina, but according to Corniea, it was also a bit of a wake-up call for the team.
“I feel like most of the team has improved greatly,” Corniea said. “It’s going to be a great year.”
As they entered this season, the Hornets were ready to once again get back to the state championship, but the road to Minneapolis and the Xcel Energy Center would start without Corniea in goal.
She had broken her foot back in 2020 and had to sit out the first four games of the season. However, Corniea took advantage of the opportunity to see the game from a different perspective.
“I think it helped me see where I can work with our defense on communicating on certain plays,” Corniea said. “It’s definitely helped me be a better player and student of the game.”
She has fully recovered from the broken foot and is back in goal ready to once again make sure the puck does not get to the back of the net. However, it hasn’t just been her disdain of seeing opponents score that has made her such a talented goaltender as a sophomore.
If you ask her if she is a bit of a perfectionist, she’ll slightly laugh as she says, “A little bit I would say,” while remembering times when she was a kid doing homework.
“Ever since I was little my parents would say, ‘Uma you can relax it’s OK,’ and I would be like, ‘No I have to do this,’” Corniea said.
It wasn’t just her school work, either, as having a perfectionist as a goaltender is a bit of a match made in heaven.
“As one of my coaches who is now the Holy Family coach Randy Koeppl says, ‘If you don’t let in any goals, you can’t lose,’ and I continue to think about that every day,” Corniea said.
But more than anything else, it’s her passion for the game.
“I just like to have fun out there and it comes naturally,” Corniea said. “I really just enjoy playing the game of hockey.”
Based on the last three years and her promising future at Princeton, she’ll be having fun shutting teams out for years to come.
