Los Amigos girls’ soccer bounced by South Pasadena in CIF semifinal

South Pasadena High junior Uma Hornish nearly scored in the very first minute Tuesday night.

Off the opening kickoff, Hornish sprinted down the right side of the field. Her shot was wide left, but the opportunity might have shown the Los Amigos High girls’ soccer team what it was up against in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs.

Hornish and the No. 2-seeded Tigers were too strong. She scored twice as South Pasadena blanked the host Lobos 4-0 at Garden Grove High, most likely ending Los Amigos’ season. The Lobos find out Sunday if they qualify for the CIF Southern California Regional tournament.

South Pasadena (19-3-3) will play Westminster (20-3-3), a 4-1 winner over Fontana Jurupa Hills, in the Division 5 title match on Friday or Saturday.

Senior Emily Dunn and junior Rainey Tilley also scored Tuesday for South Pasadena, which has allowed just six goals this season. The Rio Hondo League champion Tigers advanced to their fourth section final, their first since the 2002-03 season.

Los Amigos coach Cassidy Abad said she was still proud of her Lobos (14-6-5), who also made history in advancing to the semifinals for the first time.

“They set a new standard for future teams that follow,” Abad said. “I know it’s hard in the moment to realize what they accomplished this year, but they’re definitely a team that future teams are going to have to meet in their skill level. We did it in the highest [CIF] division that we’ve ever been in.”

South Pasadena coach Victoria Lathrop knew her team would have to try to slow Los Amigos junior forward Vidalia Abarca, a converted defender who scored 54 goals this season.

The Tigers marked Abarca all game with junior defender Alyssa Bonk, but Abarca had more space in the first half. Her give-and-go with sophomore midfielder Jennifer Rincon in the eighth minute resulted in a hard, low shot that Tigers goalkeeper Noemi Howland was able to grab.

“In the first half, we gave [Abarca] a little bit too much time to turn and put things together,” Lathrop said. “It was obvious they were trying to feed her the ball. At halftime, we just said, ‘Hey, look, we’ve got to shut her down even more’ … our midfield really stepped up and really didn’t allow them to thread that ball through the middle.”

Hornish scored in the 22nd minute on a breakaway down the middle of the field. The visitors doubled their lead in the 50th minute, when Dunn sent a left-footed shot from 30 yards out into the upper-left corner, before Tilley and Hornish added goals late.

Los Amigos had a couple of good chances in the second half. Alexandra Santiago’s cross in from the right in the 46th minute was grabbed by Howland just before it got to Abarca. Nine minutes later, senior midfielder Kimberly Gil’s corner kick from the left got headed just wide by Lobos junior Mya Rodriguez.

There were tears after the game, but Abad said her team battled to overcome adversity during the season. The Lobos finished second in the Garden Grove League, losing twice to league champion Garden Grove.

“I think that they faced obstacles during their season, but they grew from them, and they actually peaked during playoffs,” Abad said. “I think that built character, knowing that there was always something that they could work on. Last year, we were ranked pretty high [as the No. 3 seed in Division 6] and we got knocked out in the first round, because I think they didn’t think they had to work on anything.”

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo