ANGOLA, Ind. – Before putting the frosting on the program's first Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship with a 21-0 victory over Trine University, Albion College women's lacrosse coach Shanta Loecker reminded the team about the journey.

"I'm going to steal from (legendary UCLA men's basketball coach) John Wooden because that's what we talked about before the game," Loecker said. "The cornerstones of his pyramid of success are industriousness and enthusiasm. Those are the two things we feel confident in all the time. From preseason we have always felt confident about our work ethic and ability to have fun. I think that has translated into consistency. Our four seniors have been the heart of that. They have had faith in what we're doing.

"Ultimately the skills are starting to catch up," Loecker said. "That was initially the concern, but they learned so fast. We have people like Alex Radzville and Mikaela Ray who are playing a lot of minutes and making a big impact on the game. So much of that is them being students of the game, wanting to learn, absorbing the things around them, but it's because they have seniors Kadie Koolwick, Julie Wood, Isabel Fontana and Victoria Della Pia who are like four assistant coaches."

Albion approaches each game as a championship, and the victory over Trine became the exclamation point as the Britons completed an undefeated season against its MIAA rivals. Shannon Kahl scored a minute and a half into the game and the rout was on. Ariella Ruiz scored the second of her four goals with 9:24 left in the first half as Albion built a 10-0 lead to keep the clock running for the remainder of the game.

Koolwick collected a career-high eight points with six goals and two assists. Wood matched her season high of seven points with five goals and two assists. Shannon Kahl produced five points on three goals and two assists.

Della Pia, the Briton goalkeeper, was tested just once in gaining her second career shutout (the other was a 14-0 home victory over Loras, Iowa, College back in 2013). The defense was able to push up as Trine only completed one clearing attempt and the Thunder had possession in the offensive zone three times.

As the No. 1 seed, Albion will have home field advantage for the MIAA Tournament which begins next Thursday with a 5 p.m. contest against the No. 4 seed.

"We will keep working on getting better," Loecker said. "We come out every day seeking to have our best practice. As a result, we treat each game as the most important one. If we can keep doing that, hopefully it will translate into playing another strong game Thursday."