One of the hardest achievement in sports is to win a national championship, but in the year after when everyone is gunning to take down the defending champion, it becomes even more difficult to win a second one.

But on Saturday in Louisville, Ky., the Grand Valley State University women’s soccer team made it look easy.

The GVSU women completed their domination of the NCAA Division II tournament field on the campus of Bellarmine University, scoring twice in each half against the University of California-San Diego to clinch a second national championship in as many years.

But it wasn’t the program’s back-to-back titles that made the achievement unique, it was they way the Lakers won. The team set NCAA records for shutouts in a season (21) and goals in the NCAA tournament (17). The team did not surrender a goal in any of its five playoff games.

“We sure were playing well,” said GVSU head coach Dave DiIanni. “At the end of the year, you want to peak. You want to play as best as you can as you go on. Soccer is a game about momentum, and when you get on a run, you get that momentum and you’re feeling good about it, it’s difficult to stop that.”

Erin Mruz kicked off the scoring early in the first half, knocking a Kayla Addison cross out of mid-air and into the left side of the net to give the Lakers the only goal they would really need. Sophomore goalkeeper Chelsea Parise notched her 17th shutout of the year but was not threatened by a single shot on target during the game.

“We’ve had high expectations from last year to this year, and it’s nice to see that we can exceed those expectations and standards,” Parise said. “It’s hard to do back-to-back. It was a harder struggle this season. It feels great to be able to get it done.”

The Lakers finish the season with 93 goals for and 5 goals against, which was tops in the NCAA in both categories.

“It’s all about how hard we worked this year,” said senior Jaleen Dingledine. “We had a very bumpy road here, and in my four years, this was the bumpiest. At the end of practice, we’d come together. At the end of games, we’d come together. And this just validates all that. It validates how competitive we are, how much we care for one another, how much we care for the program, and I couldn’t ask for anything more right now.”

It was Dingledine who hammered the final nail into the coffin after California-San Diego pressured heavily starting the second half when the Tritons trailed 2-0. Dingledine took a bad angle shot from the right side of the box but was able to tuck it by the Triton goalie for a goal in her last game as a Laker.

“It’s definitely a great way to end my career,” she said. “Just a win in general is icing on the cake. It was a great game, and I couldn’t be happier to be a part of Grand Valley and win the way we did.”

The Lakers are the first team to repeat as National Champions since the team they beat, California-San Diego, did it in 2000-2001. It was the second title in program history and the ninth overall for GVSU athletics after women’s cross country captured the eighth just a few hours earlier on Saturday.

“The run we’ve had, especially with the tournament, not giving up a goal has been fantastic,” DiIanni said. “All the other stuff – we’ll look back afterwards and go, ‘Wow, we didn’t give up a goal this whole tournament.’ That’s quite a record, but the trophy is what we really wanted.”

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