Box Score By Corey Wheeler, '18
ALBION, Mich. – Albion College scored the first seven goals of the game and led by as many as nine before hanging on for a 12-9 victory over Hope College in a semifinal contest in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Women's Lacrosse Tournament.
Shannon Kahl scored the game's first goal 36 seconds into the game to begin the Britons run. Julie Wood and Kadie Koolwick combined to score the Britons' next five goals. By the time Ashley Glenn scored her 44th goal of the season, Albion led 7-0 with 16 minutes left in the first half.
"We wanted to start fast by causing some turnovers early and by coming out hard," Head Coach Shanta Loecker said after Albion improved to 14-2. "A big part of it was just being confident, we wanted to start fast to give ourselves confidence throughout the game."
Being defeated in the last two years in the MIAA Tournament semifinal round, Albion proved that a third time would be the charm. Albion will meet Calvin College at 5 p.m. Saturday in Grand Rapids with the MIAA Tournament title and the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championship hanging in the balance.
"These 17 young women have been working their tails off for months now and I think if anybody deserves it these guys," Loecker said. "I think they started to realize what it meant to work hard to be a team that can be in the championship game a month ago. I give all the credit to them, they have worked so hard to get to this point."
Beating Hope proved to be no easy task. Hope scored the last six goals of the contest, with three scores coming from Dana Kym. From there Albion would just hold possession to end the game. Albion was able to hold off Hope in large part to lessons they learned earlier in the season.
"The No. 1 lesson was to not count anyone out, and the second is being composed is better than having hyper energy," Loecker said. "I think we did a better job at being confident and composed to execute our game plan."
