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More than half of Prince George's County's public school girls' soccer teams will take the field Friday to begin the playoffs, hoping to win their respective regional tournaments. For some, the goal is more realistic than others.

Since the 4A South Region is comprised entirely of county squads, one of them is guaranteed a berth in the state semifinals. Defending 4A South champion Bowie High (11-1) will head into the tournament as the top seed, while Roosevelt (10-1) will be waiting on the other end of the bracket.

Bowie opened the season with a 4-1 setback at Arundel High, but since then the Bulldogs have won 11 in a row, including a 2-1 victory at Roosevelt on Oct. 13 when senior midfielder Kristi Hepner (13 goals, 13 assists) converted a penalty kick with less a minute remaining. Hepner had an assist on a goal by fellow senior Mary Randolph (16 goals, 12 assists) during a second half played without junior Maddie Simms (23 goals, 13 assists), who was hit with a red card in the first half.

First-year Bowie coach Aaron Hankey and his team will begin their playoff run with a quarterfinal game at 3 p.m. Tuesday against the winner of Friday's Oxon Hill-High Point game.

"They've been working real hard on conditioning all season," Hankey said of his players. "The last few weeks we've been working on set plays. We had a lot of corner kicks this season, but we didn't get a lot of goals off corners. We're working on making sure the girls get a head or a foot or a leg on the ball and redirect it into the net."

Roosevelt's loss to Bowie was the Raiders' only defeat in County 4A League play. Senior Janice Johnson, a Potomac High transfer and accomplished club soccer player, and sophomore Becky Sowers have powered the Raiders' offense, and sweeper Kelsey Kanyuck has protected the trio of keepers that Roosevelt coach Marty Pfister has used this fall. The Raiders get the playoffs started Tuesday against the winner of Friday's Northwestern-DuVal contest, but are looking forward to a potential rematch against Bowie.

"We have a few things we've been working on, so we hope we can put a bit more pressure on them this time around," Pfister said.

Charles H. Flowers (9-2) emerged as one of the Cinderella teams this fall, despite losses to Bowie and Roosevelt. The Jaguars will play Tuesday against the winner of Friday's Parkdale-Laurel game. Parkdale went overtime last month to beat Laurel. Panthers' senior midfielder Zulia Menjivar is one of the county's premier players, evidenced by her hat trick against Laurel and five-goal explosion against Suitland two weeks later.

Henry A. Wise (8-3) earned a first-round bye and will play Tuesday against the winner of Friday's Suitland-Bladensburg game. The Pumas have speed and scoring punch from Christen Blair and Tracee Morgan.

High Point (6-6) will host Oxon Hill (7-4) in undoubtedly the best opening-round contest on Friday. The Eagles are led by sophomore Kayla Cyr, and the Clippers have one of the league's more dynamic players in senior Cameron Mitchell. The winner, however, will travel to top-seeded Bowie on Tuesday.

E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.