Cañada College’s Kyla Orthbandt is lighting up JC soccer

Orthbandt scored twice Friday in the Lady Colts’ 6-0 home victory over Foothill. This comes on the heels of the freshman’s seven-goal explosion in Tuesday’s 11-0 win at Ohlone. Orthbandt now owns a state-best 25 goals on the season in 12 games.

“I almost expect it of her now,” Cañada head coach Katie Osborne said. “Even I remain impressed with how many goals she’s scored based on the games that we’ve had. And we’re not even winning them, and she’s scoring them.”

The focal point of Cañada’s triangle attack, Orthbandt has long been a prolific scorer. A 2020 graduate of Carlmont, the fleet-footed 5-8 marksman earned Most Valuable Forward honors in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division for the 2019-20 season.

And she has certainly shown no signs of slowing down at the collegiate level.

“I think that we are really good at finding through balls,” Orthbandt said. “And I think we take advantage that I do have some speed on me, so I like to make the runs in behind. And we have people that really have a good vision for the ball, so they can really pass me the ball through. And that’s honestly how I’ve scored all my goals, is literally running in through and placing it.”

The current two-game winning streak is a season best for the Colts, who prior to this week had lost three straight. This includes suffering two straight shutouts, 2-0 at Cabrillo Tuesday, Oct. 5 followed by a 5-0 home loss to Hartnell Friday, Oct. 8. Cañada now holds a record of 5-6-1 overall, including a 3-3 mark in Coast Conference North play.

Orthbandt’s mighty output this week saw her leapfrog three players on the CCCAA scoring leaderboard. Rio Honda’s Alexis Macias now ranks second with 20 goals for a team boasting a 9-1 overall record.

“We’ve only won [five] games and she’s scored that many goals,” Osborne said. “So, it really speaks volumes. And, additionally, she probably could have had more just based on the number of opportunities.”

Frontline firepower is a common theme through Osborne’s years at Cañada. In 2019, Cañada’s Sulna Plancarte ranked seventh in the state with 26 goals; in 2018, Alex Augulis ranked seventh with 25; in 2017, Augulis ranked 11th with 21; and in 2015, Brady Candaele ranked eighth with 21.

None of these scoring threats ever came close to doing what Orthbandt did Tuesday, however, in recording seven goals. And the freshman scored the last of those seven in approximately the 70th minute, leaving who knows how many more goals on the pitch over the final 20 minutes of regulation.

One thing is for sure, though. Cañada was not on Orthbandt’s radar when she was being recruited out of Carlmont. She had an offer on the table from the Division I program Appalachian State in North Carolina. During her senior season of high school she took an official visit to the campus and was weighing her options, which included some interest from other East Coast schools.

Then COVID hit and her college plans got grounded.

“I thought it was going to be the smartest decision to stay home, save money,” Orthbandt said. “Because at the time nobody knew how long this was going to keep going on. And I am very happy I chose to stay here at community (college).”

Prior to the pandemic, Orthbandt didn’t consider the community college route an option, she said.

“That did not become an option until, literally, the last plan,” Orthbandt said. “Because when I was playing high school soccer at Carlmont, my (club) coach was saying that [Osborne] was reaching out to my high school coach. And I knew that there was always that option in the back of my head. But I never really thought I was going to stay home, play community, because my biggest dream was to go off and play for a big Division I school, or DII. … So, I knew when I decided to stay home and do community, it was just easy to reach out to her. And she was very, very welcoming.”

Osborne said the goal is for Orthbandt to transfer to a Division I program in the future. In the meantime, though, the East Coast’s loss is Cañada’s gain.

“She was very good at Carlmont and I was lucky to get her,” Osborne said. “She had some opportunities on the East Coast … she decided to stay home. But I think she’s a missed opportunity on the other end. She should have been somewhere else. She is very good, and she’s got a nose (for the goal). She’s developed quite a bit with us, because I had her in the spring as well, and I hope to get her going somewhere else.”