York striker Christina Ordonez is dangerous enough when she has to work hard for her scoring chances.

Just giving her room to operate is suicidal. That’s what Hinsdale South did Saturday in the Class 3A Argo Regional championship game and the results were predictable.

Ordonez scored the first three goals of the game, the first coming just 2:13 into the contest, to lead the Dukes to a convincing 5-0 victory and a spot in Tuesday’s York Sectional semifinals, where they will take on Oak Park and River Forest. The junior, who tallied 34 goals last season, now has four goals in two playoff games and 24 for the season.

“I think that Christina is on fire right now in the sense that she is making herself dangerous every single minute she’s on the field,” York coach Krzysztof Halupka said. “She’s such a threat, whether it’s taking a player on, holding the ball for us. She’s putting the ball in the net.

“She’s a major asset for our team and I think that she’s done well in the sense that even when she’s not scoring she’s setting up people for goals and that’s another huge thing we’re trying to do with our team, is that everybody’s involved and everybody has a chance to go forward and get goals.”

Ordonez put the Dukes (19-4-1) ahead at the 37:47 mark of the opening half when she slipped through an opening on the left side of the box and scored on a 12-yard shot. That seemed to set the tone for what York, which beat Hinsdale South only 2-1 on April 27, had feared would be a close game.

“Yeah, I think so because our coach had told us that we really need to come out fast, that (Hinsdale South) is a team that’s not always at their best at the beginning of the game and we needed to take advantage of that,” Ordonez said. “I saw the opportunity and I shot it between the goalie and the left post.”

An early hole was the last thing the Hornets (12-9) needed against a team that now has won 8 straight matches and is 16-1-1 in its last 18.

“It’s hard when three minutes into the game you give one away,” Hinsdale South coach Pat Wolf said. “I’m not taking their goals away but I said at halftime their first two goals weren’t anything special. It’s just that they take advantage of their opportunities.

"They’re a good team. We knew that from when we played them before. They transition well, they’ve got quickness, some great touch. The ball would come down and they’d have it and they would get going.”

It took Ordonez literally two seconds to get her second goal. It came with 15:21 left in the half when she intercepted a clearing attempt by Hornets goalie Vanessa Niestrom at the top of the box and immediately fired home a 15-yard shot.

“I didn’t expect that at all,” Ordonez said. “I guess I was just kind of in the right place at the right time.”

Wolf said that Niestrom, a sophomore who made four saves, had more time than she realized to clear the ball.

“I think ‘Nessie’ feels bad,” Wolf said. “I said to her there were 10 other girls out there on the field who could have said you had time to take a touch, and she didn’t take a touch. She could have taken a touch and then had an opportunity to clear it, but it’s a learning process and she’s getting better every game and every year, so for a sophomore she does a good job.”

Wolf still felt his team had life early in the second half, but Ordonez squelched those thoughts when she completed her hat trick with 25:58 to go. A long free kick by Angela Guerino bounced twice in the Hornets box and Ordonez nodded it over Niestrom’s head for what turned out to be the back-breaker.

"When you’re going back out there and you’re only down 2-0 at half, there’s a chance and then that next goal is important,” Wolf said. “They got the next one and then it’s hard.”

That’s not all the Dukes got. Senior Mary Kate Cicinelli and junior Sarah Sassanelli scored within 58 seconds of each other midway through the second half to boost the lead to 5-0.

Abbey Wilkins triggered the fourth goal when her long throw-in found Shari Lund on the right side of the box. Lund’s shot got hung up in the wind but Cicinelli was open on the left post to cherry pick it.

Sassanelli’s goal was a 25-yard blast into the upper right corner that completed the scoring for a high-powered squad that has scored 84 goals, including 13 in its first two playoff games.

"It feels awesome,” Ordonez said. “I think this team definitely can go all the way and I think we all know that and we’re trying to do our best all the time. Especially since we started off the season rough, I think we just picked ourselves up and ever since then we’ve been awesome.”

What’s the reason for that?

“I think the girls have a positive attitude,” Halupka said. “That’s one of the most important things for our team. We’re working hard for each other. I think that for the past several weeks we’ve been playing good soccer.”

The Hornets had been playing well lately and came into the game on a four-game winning streak, which included a 5-0 regional semifinal victory over Argo in which senior Jackie Belmonte had a goal and four assists, Meagan McPherson scored twice and senior Brittney Noble and freshman Maggie Nicosia both had one goal.

That enabled Hinsdale South to accomplish two things it did not do last season – finish with a winning record and win a playoff game.

“It is always good when you have a winning record,” said McPherson, who had two tough shots saved by York goalie Anna Bell Lansdowne. “So I think that’s one good thing that came out of the season, that and I feel that everyone had fun working our butts off trying to come out with a winning record.”

Wolf will say goodbye to seven graduating seniors, including five starters:  Belmonte, McPherson, Noble and defenders Staci Ruzicka and Melissa Camarena. Defender Nicole Maslow and midfielder Melissa Van Hoegarden also ended their prep careers.

Belmonte (St. Francis), McPherson (Bethel) and Noble (Linwood) will play college soccer.

"I’m proud of the players that they played hard,” Wolf said. “We’re going to miss some fabulous seniors who have been here for quite some time just giving everything they have to the program.”