St. Mary's freshman Kendal Yazzolino, right, celebrates with Emma Wheelock after her second score of the game against Cascade Christian earlier this season.

Freshman Kendal Yazzolino is out to prove that good things can come in small packages for the St. Mary’s girls soccer team.

Standing a generous 5-foot-4 and 108 pounds, the 14-year-old Yazzolino is a pixie on the pitch for the Crusaders — and a humongous thorn in the side of any Class 3A/2A/1A team hoping to slow down St. Mary’s (10-2-1, 9-2-1 Dist. 4).

Entering Saturday’s regular-season finale at Lakeview, Yazzolino stands as one of the state leaders for all classifications with 33 goals scored to complement seven assists.

“It’s definitely been a lot of fun my first high school season and it’s been going pretty well,” she said. “I didn’t expect it to go like this.”

The ability to finish at the net at such a pace is something St. Mary’s hasn’t seen in a while, but had been a staple of a program that finished as state runner-up in 2010 and made it a habit of reaching the state semifinal round in 12 seasons under then-coach Dave Potter.

“Especially coming out of a freshman, it’s amazing,” St. Mary’s head coach Martin Nelson said of the impact Yazzolino has had in her first high school campaign. “Usually you see the intensity and the hunger for that out of older players — and I said this at the start of the year — but it’s so nice to have a freshman where you don’t have to say, ‘Let’s pick it up.’ She just steps on the field and goes, and it’s really nice.”

Dive deep into the St. Mary’s program archives and you’ll find a host of notable scorers, from Ryker Rothfus in Nelson’s time, to the likes of Meghan Michels, Maddie Wheelock, Anna Thorndike and Mackenzie Krieser, among others, during Potter’s regime.

Of that list, none eclipsed the 30-goal mark in a season, according to Potter.

Michels and Wheelock battled each other for goal supremacy in a balanced attack so it was difficult for one to outshine the other, while Nelson said Rothfus’ single-season high was 19 goals and Thorndike was dynamic but could not reach 30 goals.

The closest counterpart in the bunch to what Yazzolino is accomplishing this season is Krieser, who finished with 29 goals in that breakthrough 2010 season and managed a school-record 96 goals and 30-plus assists during her four-year run.

Despite the background checks between the coaches and their recollections, Yazzolino still isn’t sure she’s had the most prolific scoring season in Crusader history but, if so, that sure would be fantastic.

“I think that would be so nice, that would feel amazing,” she said of holding a piece of St. Mary’s history. “Most definitely that would just make me feel like I’ve worked so hard for that and it would just complete it and show that the work has paid off.”

Yazzolino’s name dropped in among the statewide leaders only within the last two weeks after Nelson began tallying up his totals and sending them out.

“That felt amazing to see that,” said the shy wing turned midfielder. “I didn’t want to tell anyone because I didn’t want to feel like I was bragging, but it felt so nice to feel appreciated about it. It was just really cool and to have that title as one of the top scorers in the state is just amazing.”

Yazzolino is quick to point out that often the glory in those situations isn’t always directed where it needs to be. She feels thankful for the teammates she has at St. Mary’s who have put her in the position to earn such accolades.

“A lot of the times the girls that have gotten assists I think should score because they worked a lot,” Yazzolino said of her generous teammates. “A lot of the time, the people that score aren’t always the people that do the most work.”

St. Mary’s junior Ketsia Carvalhaes has 16 goals and six assists this season to provide a definite complement up front, while junior Bella Mussio has seven goals and eight assists.

To help spur the Crusaders’ youth movement, a pair of freshmen — Emma Wheelock (three goals, 12 assists) and Elsa Lee (one goal, nine assists) — have provided a consistent boost and freshman Carys Chamberland is starting to put her skills on display as well.

“This team is amazing and it’s definitely what I expected when I came here,” said Yazzolino. “It’s a great school, the team is amazing and the whole atmosphere is awesome. Our team together is just so awesome. We’re all so happy and we all communicate well and we all hang out. It’s really nice.”

“I think the way we’ve played together as a team has just been great,” she added. “I hope that throughout the years we can get more people to come out and get more people on the team so we can have more of a team and get everyone out there so everyone can experience soccer.”

Using herself as an example, Yazzolino pointed to how far a player can come if they just put in the extra effort.

“Honestly, in the past I wasn’t the best player,” she said. “I kind of got tired of being on the bench and I worked more and I started going out to the field in my own time. I can do that more often now, and I think the confidence in me working harder definitely has just helped me get to my goal.”

As someone who has played primarily in the wing as part of the Rogue Valley Timbers club program here locally, Yazzolino is in a new role as a midfielder this year and certainly has taken well to it — although being a little selfish and looking for goals took some prodding from Nelson.

“I usually am a wing and I just cross it in,” she said, “but I started playing midfield this year and it’s a lot of fun, I really like it.”

“I think I make more runs in the middle, which kind of opens up to the goal,” added Yazzolino, “and I think I’ve been more confident with this season and I’ve actually tried to go for the goal. In the past I’ve been more scared to go at goal instead of just shooting. I was afraid that I’d miss it and that I’d probably get in trouble for it but, in reality, I probably wouldn’t have, I was just too scared to do it.”

Even with that self-reflection, if Yazzolino has been scared at any point this fall, she certainly has hidden it well.

She carries an attacking spirit on the pitch despite her small frame, understands situations and where the ball needs to go and spent an entire offseason working on corner kicks to help shore those up but also develop a power you might not expect coming from her right foot.

“I think she’s one of the few players that really watches the game as well, which you can see in the way she plays,” said Nelson. “Her positioning as well as her communication is great. She knows where it needs to go. As with all young players, sometimes they get in the run of the moment and they don’t make that simple pass that they should, and that’s one of those things where she has that intensity and I think once she realizes how to really control it, it’ll be lights out and next level and I don’t see many people stopping her.”

Those thinking Yazzolino might be shy about delving into the fray would be wrong.

“She’s been playing since she was little and you can tell the mechanics are there,” Nelson said of the freshman’s ability to compete despite being outmatched in size during most matches. “Yeah, there might be someone with more muscle, but if they’re not trained to use it, it becomes a moot point. She’s going to win with the tackle because she knows how to go in and lock everything up. She goes in with everything. It’s actually why she has a couple yellow cards this season.”

That tenacity can be a rare commodity, regardless of age, according to Nelson.

“People always ask me the difference between coaching girls and boys,” said Nelson. “With girls, it’s about helping them learn confidence, and with boys, you help them learn humility because every boy is like, ‘I can make that play,’ and it’s like, ‘No, you can’t.’ With Kendal, she has that almost masculine mentality of, ‘No, I’m going to make this,’ which we’ve been practicing with a lot of the other players and they’re starting to get more of it.”

That means the green light is on if space and the situation arises to fire on goal.

“The top teams like Catlin Gabel and North Valley and the others are not going to give you great opportunities,” he said, “so you’ve got to take what you can get. There’s nothing more frustrating for a coach than seeing that opportunity and they think one more touch and pass. The thing I’ve told them over and over, whether it’s soccer or it’s in life, you’re the one that has to go out and get it and no one’s going to save you.”

And, in this case, no one’s going to save a shot by Yazzolino if she’s really dialed in and on her game.

And as quiet and humble as she is, it sure has been a joy to see those goal figures pile up.

“It does not get old at all,” said Yazzolino, who also runs track and plays basketball. “Honestly, it feels so nice. It definitely helps my confidence and helps me go home with just a smile on my face because I’m just happy about it and happy that I’m contributing to our team.”