When was the last time the Concord High School girls soccer team made the North Coast Section playoffs?

That was the million-dollar question on Monday, when the Minutemen walked into the gym and began scanning the walls looking for the answer.

"We think it was 1990," Concord coach Damian Scott said. "That was the last banner we could find. That's it."

The school's administration wasn't too confident about that. No one really knows for sure.

Yes, that's how long it's been.

"In the beginning of the year just making it was our goal. We would have been satisfied," Scott said. "But as we grew as a team and once we found out the seeding, we knew we had a good chance to make it to the finals."

Every team aspires to make it to the dance, but the Minutemen? A team that hasn't made the postseason in nearly 15 years.

Outsiders looking in may have had their doubts. Of course, Concord never wavered.

Not only did the Minutemen make the playoffs by grabbing the No. 6 seed, they beat No. 3 Piedmont 1-0 in a quarterfinal match Feb. 19 on a golden goal by Alyssa Pereira.

Concord faced Dublin in a semifinal match Wednesday night after the Transcript went to press.

"What we did this year was awesome," Scott said. "Just thinking about where we started off to get to the semifinals..."

It is truly a remarkable turnaround.

Since 2001, Concord hasn't won more than five games in Diablo Foothill Athletic League play. They had eight wins and four ties this season, but with a 12-6-7 overall record the Minutemen were given a first-round bye.

It helped that Concord tied No. 1 seed Bishop O'Dowd and split games with No. 2 seeded Dublin.

So there they were on the Piedmont field with the pre-game activities revolving around them. From the lengthy introduction to the national anthem, all were preparing to play in the biggest game each of them could even imagine.

"It's a brand new experience for these girls," Scott said. "You could tell the nerves were definitely there."

But as the match progressed, the girls began to settle down and Pereira heroic goal ended the tension and sent the strong Concord-following in the stands into a frenzy.

"I was shocked by how many people turned out," Scott said.

Scott hopes the program's new found success doesn't stop here. Despite losing some key senior leadership, Concord has plenty of young talent coming back.

"I don't see a big letdown," Scott said. "It's something that we can definitely keep going."