Debii $ Women's Challenge
December 1-3, 2000

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By DIANE HENSLEY

INDIO - Thermal's Kate Weber played down her key role in Indian Palms' 11-10 victory Sunday over BTA. She discounted a modest, but match-determining penalty shot that gave Indian Palms the edge and the tournament in the A-flight three-goal championship at Eldorado Polo Club.

Her team struggled the entire second match of the two-match total point series, steadily pulling out of an early three-goal deficit to a fourth-chukker dead heat when Julie Roenisch put two back-to-back goals on the boards to go into overtime.

BTA struggled in sudden death, and got into foul trouble they couldn't reverse. Weber punched in a deadeye shot from the spot 35 yards out.

"Well, you have to be a pretty big loser if you can't hit it from there," Weber said.

Weber first capitalized on a foul five minutes into sudden death after BTA fouled on a line offense. She hit a free shot on goal 60 yards from the posts, but BTA's Roxy Keyfauver backed the ball and turned the play. Weber went in for the steal and passed the ball up to teammate Susan Stovall. Stovall made the break toward goal ridden hard by Leigh Ann Hall, when Hall's horse inadvertently blocked the line. The final whistle blew.

Stovall chalked it up to momentum. Indian Palms went into Sunday's match with a 5-4 advantage over BTA.

"We came out ready to go. We had nothing to lose and we had the momentum. It came down to their last foul, when a horse crossed over the line," Stovall said.

BTA's captain and the highest-rated female player in the United States, Caroline Anier of Indio, said her team played too aggressively in the final moments to seal the win. BTA held Indian Palms scoreless in the first half, and had a comfortable 9-7 lead going into the final chukker. But BTA's defense fell apart in sudden death and left Roenish open to pick up well-placed passes and tie it up.

"The teams were well-balanced and it just came down to the one break after the melee, the crashing and the bashing," Roenisch said.

"We changed our strategy a bit and tried something new. It obvious took us too long to realize what we did wasn't working. We had some bad luck, and that's part of the game. That would have made the difference in this game," Anier said.