WHAT is better than winning a national gold medal? How about scoring six goals in a semi-final which you win in a shoot-out against a rival who had written you off?
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That's exactly what Bathurst talent Sarah Watterson did at the Hockey Australia Open Women's Indoor Championships.
Watterson could hardly have dreamt of a more perfect finish as she and her NSW Blue team-mates beat the highly fancied NSW side 5-4 in a tense semi-final shoot-out then backed up later that day to upset Western Australia 4-3 in the decider.
The Wollongong hosted titles not only marked Watterson's return to national level indoor hockey after a two-year absence, but the first time NSW had entered a Blue side.
That outfit was not really rated a chance to beat the first choice NSW side, a team which included Bathurst's Australian indoor representative Tamsin Bunt.
And when NSW Blue found itself trailing by four goals at half-time, they looked even less likely to win. Watterson admitted she certainly had her doubts.
"The other New South Wales team were saying 'Good luck in the bronze medal match' the day before [the semi-final]. Then we were 5-1 down at half-time," Watterson said.
"We thought the floodgates had opened, we thought we were going to flogged. They just get on a roll and they just score."
But Watterson, who had scored the sole NSW Blue goal in the first half, helped her side fight its way back into the contest. She struck two minutes into the second second stanza then again two minutes before full-time to lock it up at 5-all.
With no extra-time provision, the game went into a best of three shoot-out scenario in which attackers had six seconds to try and beat their rival goalkeeper.
Watterson was first up to shoot for NSW Blue and found the mark - scoring her fourth goal of the contest - but that was not where the role of the St Pat's Hockey Club talent ended.
"I was the one who had to go first and I scored, thank God. Then we all did our thing, but it was a tie so we had to have another round," Watterson explained.
"I scored my second one and it ended the same, another draw, so we had to have another round of shoot-outs. I scored mine then our goalkeeper Jemma saved theirs, so we won the game.
"To be honest it was probably the best moment of my life.
"I think they got complacent and the way we were describing ourselves was it's not the bark in the dog, it's the bite. We just wanted it more in the end."
Bunt's side went on to beat Victoria 4-1 in the bronze medal match, while Watterson prepared to play for gold against hot favourites Western Australia.
Though Western Australia had beaten NSW Blue 5-2 earlier in the tournament, in the decider Watterson's side sprung a 4-3 upset.
"They were undefeated for two years, so it was a sweet moment, really sweet. We were absolutely the underdogs for that," Watterson said. "It was so good, because we were a Blue side I think everyone underestimated us. It was a true underdog story."
Watterson did not nominate for Australian selection, saying "I play for fun". It was fun she certainly got.
