Despite a move into the Monticello Empire League, both the Pioneer High School boys and girls varsity soccer teams still managed to qualify for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D3 playoffs.

Girls >> After years of dominating the Golden Empire League, the girls team seemed to take a step back once they entered the more competitive MEL. Althought they found the games to be a bit harder, the end-of-the-year result was still the same as they qualified for the postseason.

The Patriots (8-7, 4-6 MEL) finished fourth in the MEL, behind league winners Vacaville, Rodriguez and River City. Key wins this year included a pair of 3-1 wins over Vanden, a 3-1 win over Rodriguez and a 2-1 win over Wood.

That fourth-place finish was enough to reward the Patriots with the No. 7 seed in D3 and an opening-round home playoff game. They will host the No. 10 seeded Beyer on Tuesday, Feb. 18, at 6 p.m. at the Woodland Community and Senior Center.

If they advance past Beyer, they’d be in line to play either No. 2 seed Roseville or host No. 15 seed Burbank if they happen to pull of the upset.

Boys >> The boy’s team (5-6-5, 2-4-4 MEL) had a rougher go of things, only collecting two wins, but managed to stay in enough games to tie four contests and end up in fifth place in the league.

Key wins included back-to-back victories over Rodriguez and Vanden on Feb. 5 and Feb. 7 that cliched the Patriots a play-in berth and the No. 17 seed.

During the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section play-in game against No. 16 seed Del Campo this past Thursday, the Patriots blitzed four goals to advance to the opening round of the playoffs. Isaac Gonzalez scored a brace while Rafael Lopez and Omar Ramos had a goal each.

The Patriots will look to make it two upsets in a row when they travel to No. 1 seed Patterson on Wednesday, Feb. 19. If they managed to pull the win out, they’d travel to either No. 8 seed Pacheco or No. 9 seed Christian Brothers.