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HIGH POINT — Southwest Guilford opened this girls soccer season by losing 10 of its first 12 games, and save for four straight critical wins to end its regular season, would be sitting at home tonight with a bowl of popcorn and a date with "American Idol."

Instead, the Cowgirls (10-12) are one of the few Guilford County teams left standing in tonight's third round of the NCHSAA playoffs, traveling to Southwestern Conference champ Matthews Butler (12-5-1) at 7 p.m. for a berth in Saturday's sectional championship against Grimsley or East Forsyth.

"They just sucked it up," Southwest head coach Andres Schroeder said. "I can't describe it, just pure heart and passion. Those girls just said, we're going to do whatever it takes, even if we have to play on one leg."

Seven of the Cowgirls starters had no varsity experience entering the season, so everyone knew a burden of patience would be placed on the shoulders of their two seniors, all-region sweeper Michelle Casserman and all-state midfielder Kate Lamar. The defeats piled up in lopsided fashion, but Schroeder said the team never lost faith.

"We demand the girls play hard, and we're not going to settle for anything less," he said. "We knew if the girls just continued to work hard and improve every game, we just had to be patient, continue to believe in the girls and try to get the girls to believe in themselves."

That happened by mid-April, but by that time the Cowgirls had no room for error in a Piedmont Triad 4-A Conference loaded with three other teams (Ragsdale, East Forsyth, Northwest Guilford) ranked in the top 15 in the state at one point. Southwest would have to win its final three regular-season games to keep alive a shot at the conference's fourth and final playoff spot.

That gauntlet coincided with a rush of injuries, including a serious ankle tendon problem for Casserman that kept her on crutches for three weeks but off the field for only half a game. The Cowgirls won out to force a one-game neutral-site playoff with Glenn, to whom they had lost a month earlier. They fell behind early but rallied to win 3-1.

"These young kids do not want the season to end for those seniors out of respect," Schroeder said. "Those two girls, they really look up to and admire, and they're all just playing with heart and playing hard."

The Cowgirls have gotten big contributions lately from sophomores Michelle Marrara, Morgan Jackson and Samantha Henry, the latter of whom anchors a defense that has yet to allow a playoff goal after upset wins over Central Piedmont champion Mount Tabor and Metro 4-A runner-up Southeast Guilford, which had one loss in its previous 11 matches. Goalkeeper Kayla Kruger earned the shutout in both victories, including an 11-save performance against Southeast that put the Cowgirls as deep in the playoffs as they've been since reaching the 2006 3-A title game.

"All the credit goes to the girls, and the support from the parents and boosters," Schroeder said. "You go to some soccer games, you hear parents hooting and hollering negative things, especially if things aren't going right. ... Our parents could easily have turned their backs on team, but they kept the hope, knew we had a good squad and kept hoping we would turn things around. And now it's happened."

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com