Despite winning its first Big Sky Conference regular season title, the Lumberjack women's soccer team isn't about to start patting itself on the back.

Winning is still on their mind. This crop of Jacks led NAU to its first appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2008 and made a repeat appearance there last year as well. They want to get back there before they start celebrating in earnest.

Now, a week before hosting the conference tournament for the first time -- with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAAs -- the Jacks are focused on what's in front of them. It's what they've done all season.

"We need to continue setting the tone and letting people know we're serious," senior defender Kristi Andreassen said. "We want to win. True champions want to win."

As happy as the Jacks are about the upcoming home tournament, NAU (10-3-3, 5-0-1 Big Sky) closes its regular season on Friday against Northern Colorado and, at the moment, that's where their attention is.

NAU coach Andre Luciano said it's the mindset his team adopted throughout the season. It's a matter of setting goals every week as he compared the team's march to ascending the San Francisco Peaks. Each step is important and the players can't be looking too far ahead.

"Sometimes the climb is a bit harder, sometimes it's a bit easier," Luciano said. "The biggest part is focusing on what's in front of you so you don't fall down and miss a step."

Although, they might be taking a quick peek at what's to come.

"Winning the conference championship is the ultimate goal -- at the top of the peak -- and we can see it," Luciano said.

Friday's game will also be Senior Day for eight Jacks: Andreassen, Brenna Boies, Tori Howe, Anna Clark, Brandy Carr, Corie McGuire, Carolyn Savage and Rebekah Schmidt were part of the 2007 recruiting class that's helped NAU reach its most successful period of the sport.

Along with goalie Tori Rocke and midfielder Sam Monahan, the 2007 recruiting class was nicknamed The Foundation. Their success over the past few years will help pave the way for future NAU soccer teams.

"This last year is an accumulation of everything we had in terms of our vision for our program," Luciano said. "I had to sell a blind vision for our big class in 2007 and 2008 and they bought into it. It's been great since then."

The 2010 regular season, in particular, couldn't have gone much better. The Jacks set Big Sky records with a six-game shutout streak that lasted 569 minutes and 2 seconds and are still in the midst of a school record 10-game unbeaten streak.

"It just shows that the program has come a long way," Rocke said.

Before The Foundation stepped on campus, the program went 65-112-8 in 10 seasons but have gone 39-26-13 since the 2007 season. Group members have collected 15 All-Big Sky selections and 10 Big Sky Player of the Week honors throughout their careers.

The Jacks' success this season has been the culmination of four years playing together.

"I think we keep building off of each year," Rocke said. "It's propelling us forward and getting us better every year."

And while there's been plenty of individual accolades collected in 2010: Boies became the all-time NAU assist leader, Rocke is the program's leader in shutouts and winning percentage, while Andreassen, Boies and Monahan among the school's leaders in career points, goals and assists, they're each quick to attribute the success to their teammates.

"I think my success is based on everyone around me," Andreassen said. "It's 11 players who are in charge of that shutout."

They've also accomplished everything this season under the backdrop of a construction scene at Lumberjack Stadium. While the facility undergoes renovation, the soccer team is still out there, nearly every day.

"We've dealt with jackhammers and wrecking balls -- dust, asbestos, we just deal with it," Luciano said. "That's the unique thing about this team. You can throw any kind of adversity and we don't make any excuses."

In time, the Jacks learned to tune it out, which came in handy when dealing with hostile crowds.

"It adds to the game situations where we have fans yelling at us," Boies said. "It's just about shutting out distractions."

It's something The Foundation and the rest of the Jacks seem to do well. They're too focused on winning to be worried about much else.

"We haven't had a losing record in the last four years," Luciano said. "I think a lot of it has to do with the players we've brought in over the years."

Jacob May can be reached at jmay@azdailysun.com or 556-2257.