On paper, the Upper St. Clair boys soccer team has had a down year.

But George Williams knows better.

The Seneca Valley coach has seen the effect that tradition can have on a team.

"We've seen it before with North Allegheny," said Williams, whose Raiders just won the first section title in program history. "A few years back, we thought NA was going to have a down year because of inexperience. But they ended up making the playoffs. It came down to the great tradition they've had down there."

Upper St. Clair is the two-time defending PIAA Class AAA champion. Throw in a WPIAL title last season and the Panthers, despite their modest 11-7-2 record, are a force to be reckoned with.

"The tradition that Upper St. Clair has will be working in their favor," said Williams.

The Raiders and Panthers will face off in a WPIAL first-round playoff at SV's Raiders Stadium on either Monday or Tuesday.

The Raiders (13-4) were riding an 11-game winning streak before dropping a 2-1 decision to Thomas Jefferson in the regular season finale on Tuesday.

"We just took it game by game," said Williams of his team's winning streak. "We built up some momentum and were able to fix things in between games."

A big part of the Raiders' success has been the play of goalkeeper Dave Monteleone.

"We're playing with a lot of confidence right now," said Williams. "And a lot of that has to do with the solid goal-keeping we've received from Dave. He's played very well."

The Raiders qualified for the WPIAL playoffs last season and ran into undefeated Baldwin (18-0-2) in the first round.

The Raiders were dealt a tough 1-0 loss, but that experience could come back to help SV this season.

"We play a tough schedule to begin with," said Williams. "That, coupled with the experience at Baldwin last year, hopefully that will serve as motivation for the kids."

Five other upcoming WPIAL playoff games involve area teams. They include:

Raiders' coach Dave Sylvester wasn't planning on playing a preliminary round game again, but that's the hand his team was dealt."We won the section last season and had to play a play-in game," said Sylvester. "I just don't understand it."Nevertheless, Sylvester will have his team ready to go against the Rams. The same teams met in the first-round in 2002, with SV taking a 1-0 victory."I don't know much about (Ringgold)," added Sylvester. "I looked at their schedule, but I'm not familiar with anybody they played as far as getting a scouting report."The Raiders scoring attack is led by Cassie Berlin (nine goals) and Jessica Meurer (eight goals).SV goalkeeper Aly Intihar has surrendered just four goals in the last eight games.

Knoch coach Amy Travis has her team in the playoffs for the second straight season.But the Knights are hoping for a longer stay this time.Knoch was ousted in the opening game last year by Norwin."The girls are playing their best soccer right now," said Travis. "We were struggling a bit on defense at the beginning of the season, but moving Alex Gordon from midfield to sweeper has helped out a lot."Sophomore Amanda Sharbaugh leads the Knights with 27 goals while P.J. Abels has contributed 25 assists.Mt. Pleasant's top scorer is Jill White, who enters the game with 18 goals.

Butler will be making its first postseason appearance since 2000.The Golden Tornado tallied more regular season wins this year than they did from 2002-04 combined."I'm very pleased with what we've been able to accomplish so far this season," said Butler coach Chuck Kelley. "From our freshmen to our seniors, everybody's accomplished a lot."The Golden Tornado have surrendered just 12 goals this season. A big reason for that success has been their defense — namely Steve Armahizer, K.J. Ludlum, Matt Gamble, Ryan Geist and Andrew Schnur.

The Planets are making their fourth straight playoff appearance.And it comes against a team coach Blair Gerlach knows well."I know their coach (Chris Stasicha) very well," said Gerlach. "We've shared a lot of scouting reports with each other."(Belle Vernon) is pretty solid all over," Gerlach added. "They don't get scored on much and they have three different players who can score for them."The top two of that trio are Rob Miele (30 goals) and Chris Sillence (17).But the Leopards' attack will be up against a stalwart goalkeeper in Mars' Drew Siegel."He's been fantastic," Gerlach said of Siegel. "I believe he has nine shutouts this season."

The Knights picked up a big win in their regular season finale, a 3-2 triumph over section rival Mars.The team entered that game having lost two of its previous three games."The guys were really geared up for that game," said Knoch coach Gus Negrette. "Winning it was a big morale booster and hopefully, that can continue into the playoffs."The Knights have three forwards who are adept at putting the ball in the net — Scott Herman, D.J. Thomas and Eric Steighner.Herman leads the team with 23 goals.