Marin FC qualified two of its boys soccer teams for this week’s national playoffs — one that has made a habit of making deep postseason runs, the other making its first appearance on the big stage.

The Marin FC Blue 2005/06s, a team mostly composed of recently graduated high school seniors, is making its third consecutive trip to the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) playoffs after winning league with a 13-3-2 record. The team has actually qualified four consecutive times — it didn’t make the trip in 2021 — and made it all the way to the national semifinals last season.

“We played nationals in North Carolina last year, qualified, came home for a week then we went back down to (Southern California) and got to the semis,” said Marin FC technical director of operations Josh Kalkstein, who coaches both teams. “The year before we got to the first knockout round and lost in the first knockout round — which would be the round of 16.”

The Marin FC Blue 2010s, mostly composed of rising freshmen along with a few rising eighth graders, qualified after posting a 15-5-5 record in league play.

The ECNL playoffs are set to begin on Tuesday in San Diego and will conclude on July 1.

“I started with this group [the 2010s] last year,” Kalkstein said. “They’ve had a meteoric rise — super coachable kids, super talented. They work exceptionally hard.”

The two teams have formed a bond, despite their difference in age, in part because Kalkstein coaches them both and their training sessions run back to back. The younger players have benefited from being around their older, more decorated counterparts.

“It’s a super well-balanced group,” Kalkstein said of the 2010s. “They’ve got kids who are great in (one-on-one) situations, several goal scorers, and an extremely strong defensive core. The back line is very good, the keeper is exceptional, and everything in between.

“There’s depth to the group. The insight and understanding of the game is not normal for this age group — very high IQs.”

The 2010s are one of 64 teams in their age group to make the playoffs. They begin group stage play on Wednesday against FC Dallas. They also have games against Pipeline SC of Maryland and Beach FC of Southern California.

Only the group winners advance into the national round of 16, which is held on July 1 with the quarterfinalists moving on to the National Finals to be held July 15-18 in Richmond, VA.

The 2005/06s are one of 32 teams in that age group tournament and open play against Virginia Development Academy on Tuesday. The 2005/06s tournament doesn’t have a group stage but all teams are guaranteed to play at least three games. The eight remaining teams will reconvene for the National Finals July 15-18 in Richmond, VA.

The hallmark of the 2005/06 team has been its consistency, according to Kalkstein — not just in terms its streak of consecutive playoff appearances but also the game-to-game consistency needed to win the league.

“It’s all about consistency,” Kalkstein said. “ECNL NorCal on the boys side for this particular age group, there’s fantastic parity. There’s only maybe two out of the 12 teams that aren’t as strong as the other 10 and any of the other 10 can take points off each other.”

While the 2010 team is getting its first crack at the national playoffs, this will mark the last postseason run for the 2005/06s before most of them go off to college.

“We talked quite a bit, particularly after we came back from the high school break about having respect for ourselves and wanting to go out on top,” Kalkstein said. “I’m just super proud of these kids.”