The Golden Boot winner at the last edition of the tournament in 2014, Rolston’s four goals left her one clear of her nearest rivals, Papua New Guinea’s Meagen Gunemba and teammate Martine Puketapu.
Incredibly her entire haul came within the space of 58 minutes, as the now 18-year-old striker found the back of the net on four occasions in New Zealand’s 12-0 romp of Vanuatu.
She followed that up by scoring twice at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup later that year, getting her name on the scoresheet against Paraguay in the group stage and eventual runners-up Nigeria in the quarter-finals.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s opening OFC U-20 Women’s Championship clash against host nation Tonga, Rolston says she hasn’t set an exact number of goals she would like to score, but that taking home a second Golden Boot award is firmly in her sights.
“I haven’t exactly set a target, but I want to come out on top again and score plenty of goals for the team,” says Rolston, who plays her club football for Forrest Hill Milford United AFC in Auckland.
“At the same time I want to play football and help set others up.
“It’s a new team with all new players to play with. We are confident as a team that we can play our way through, and we know that being able to score goals is a bonus.
“Everyone in our team can score, so in that way we have the upper hand.”
When New Zealand and Tonga met at the OFC U-20 Women’s Championship last year it was the closest result ever recorded between the two at U-20 level, with New Zealand winning 3-1.
And just as they did on that occasion in Auckland, Tonga are expected to produce a defence-minded formation for their match against the defending champions, with the aim of frustrating New Zealand into making mistakes.
“They get a lot of players behind the ball, so I think we just need to set up, play our game and not fold to how they want us to play,” Rolston adds.
“I think we have a good idea of how we need to play to break them down, and I think we have a good chance.
“That is kind of how all of the teams played against us in the last campaign, and I guess coming in as winners we will be the ones to beat at this stage.
“I find that most teams at this tournament play more defensively against us until there is a turnover, and then it’s a quick counter against us.”
The New Zealand v Tonga match kicks off tomorrow at 13h00.

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