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Sport Auckland award
Sport Auckland award
2009 Sport Auckland Junior Sportswoman of the Year
Nomination info
ROSIE WHITE turned sixteen in June 2009, by which time she had already achieved footballing feats which most players, male or female, can only dream about.
Indeed, it's not out of order to say she has fired herself into footballing folklore, as she's the only player to date to have scored hat-tricks at both the FIFA U-17 and U-20 Women's World Cup Finals.
In chronological order, her achievements read:
 4 November 2008:In New Zealand's final appearance at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Finals they hosted, Rosie scored all three goals in the Young Ferns' 3-1 triumph over Columbia in Wellington.
23 November 2008:In the second of her three appearances for New Zealand at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals in Chile, Rosie scored a hat-trick as the Junior Ferns defeated the host nation 4-3 in Coquimbo.
10 January 2009:Rosie made the first of seven appearances to date for the Football Ferns, as a substitute against host nation China in the Four Nations Tournament in Guangzhou. Subsequent appearances:
12 Jan v. Korea Republic; 14 Jan v. Finland - both at the Four Nations Tournament in China;
5 March v. Canada, 7 March v. Russia, 10 March v. Holland, 12 March v. France - all at the Cyprus Women's Cup in Cyprus.
29 April 2009:Rosie was named the inaugural winner of the Oceania Football Confederation's Women's Player of the Year award, and winner of the NZ International Women's Young Player of the Year award, both of which were awarded for her achievements in 2008.
It's worth considering that all these achievements came about after Rosie spent the period from January till September 2008 recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
At club level in 2009, Rosie completed her first season at Three Kings United as her club's leading goalscorer, and collected a runners-up medal from the 2009 Northern Premier Women's League Grand Final, her bravura personal display not enough to stave off defeat on this occasion.
A stress fracture in her foot prevented her from representing the Football Ferns in Japan in November, but she is set to make her NZ Secondary Schoolgirls debut against the Young Ferns in a three-match series in December, prior to spearheading the Junior Ferns' quest to qualify for the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals when the qualifying tournament takes place in January.
NB Rosie was named Sport Auckland's Junior Sportswoman of the Year for 2009 at the awards ceremony on December 9. She is pictured with her award.
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