ALBION, Mich. -- Ron Rainey never wants the moment to be about himself.

The head coach of the Albion women's soccer program guided his team to a 4-1 victory over Heidelberg on a humid, overcast day at Alumni Field.

It may seem like a routine, non-conference win for a man who has been a high-level head coach for 28 years, spanning stops at Wisconsin-Parkside (1994), Towson (1996), Ball State (1999-05), Iowa (2006-13), Dartmouth (2014-22) and now Albion (2023-present) where victories at times seemed to never cease.

However, as his players drenched him in a Gatorade bath following the match, it was the 250th career win for the highly respected and lovable coach that was celebrated in the time at hand.

"I'm not kidding, it just means you're getting old," Rainey said with a laugh about the accomplishment. 

His humble and kind demeanor has permeated throughout the culture of the program. It has also been a shining light on the team's 5-1 start to their campaign, including three consecutive wins.

"When you have wins with all different programs and all different groups, you think about all the kids who have put in so much work into their game to get better and compete," Rainey said. "If Albion competes every day like we did today, I'd be so proud no matter what the results are in any of the games coming up.

"We competed, we showed up, and we represented Albion well."

After losing to the Student Princes 4-0 last season, the Britons sought revenge as Chloe Salo was more than happy to continue the offensive spark they have gotten all year long.

The freshman notched her sixth goal of the season 15 minutes into the match on a pass from Kelsi Green to give Albion a 1-0 advantage.

Twenty-five minutes later, Lilyana Molby struck on a cross from Ceci Irwin for a 2-0 lead and complete the first half scoring.

Claire Gorno buried a penalty kick goal after a foul in the box by Heidelberg's goalie. Then, just 44 seconds later, Mia Czarnowski scored on a cross that was bobbled by the goalie and went in for Albion's final goal.

"One thing we've been talking about as coaches is having good energy going into all the games, and I felt that was excellent today," Rainey said. "I also thought we had our best game in possession, and it created a lot of chances for us. I'm really proud, and I thought this was our most complete game of the year so far."

The Britons outshot the Student Princes, 20-9, and registered 12 shots on net. Fourteen players also saw time for Albion.

After just scoring 18 goals all of last season, the Britons have tallied 22 in just five matches.

"I think the offensive production is just people willing to play their role in games, people willing to share balls and then people taking their moments when they had good scoring chances to finish," Rainey said. "Some of those goals are opportunistic. Some are great shots, and so if you can score a few different ways, then that's awesome."

So many moments encapsulate Rainey's storied coaching career, like being on the staff for three first-year programs, including Ball State that went from one win in 1999 to 15 in 2005, or leading Iowa to its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth in 2013.

However, he remains present to the program that he has so positively influenced in his three-year stint with the team, just like he has with all the others.

"I'm glad to share this milestone with Albion," Rainey said. I don't know if I have 250 more [wins] in me, but I told the team, my favorite one was today.

"My favorite win of the 250 was today."