"I'd say I got a reasonable amount of time on the field and I scored, which I'm quite happy about," Polovnikoff said.
"It (Educare Talent Tub) was helpful because it allowed me to prepare for things like this. I now have sponsorship because it helped me to make a sponsorship proposal, which helped me to get to where I am now."
If the Kerikeri Girl's High School star can continue to score goals under pressure, the wait won't be too long before she's playing for New Zealand's Black Sticks women.
Her teammates, Nicola McDonnell and Arnica Palmer, who also hail from Northland, have been good at mentoring Polovnikoff, who is several years their junior.
"They've given me really good advice. I have been asking them because it's starting to come close to having to make a decision."
Looking ahead to the next few matches, Polovnikoff has identified several key areas of improvement, including "working on my trapping and my forward flow.
"Because the games are quite intense, it's always a fast rotation and you have to look at your own rotation and manage yourself."
The Alan Lints-trained hockey hopeful will continue to acknowledge her Northland roots but the draw of different universities could pull her away from the region.
"I haven't exactly made a choice for next year but one option could be going into sports and exercise science, with a side of management, or even architecture. They're completely different so it'll be hard to choose," she laughed.
Although her academic future may be unclear, one certainty is that Polovnikoff will be chasing the Black Sticks women's singlet.
The Future Black Sticks' series against Japan runs until March 6, with the next match at 7pm tomorrow at the Auckland Grammar hockey turf.
