On Nov. 9, the Massachusetts field hockey team was in a familiar place – the Atlantic 10 championship. But unlike the last six years, it was the underdog.

Playing for their seventh consecutive A-10 title, the 5-17 Minutewomen entered the tourney seeded second due to their 4-2 mark in the conference.

After defeating West Chester (9-10, 4-3 A-10) 2-1 in the semifinals, UMass fell to Richmond 4-1 in the A-10 finals. After their worst season in history, many people did not expect the team to make it this far.

“We kind of proved everyone wrong by making it to the A-10 tournament, then to the championship. We gained respect there,” senior captain Erika Whiston said.

Before the Maroon and White played for the championship, it needed to get by West Chester on Friday in Richmond, Va. Tied up 1-1 after the half, sophomore Danielle Carrier scored the game-winning goal at the 53:12 mark for the 2-1 win. Carrier was assisted by senior Sarah Bohonowicz.

UMass was on the scoreboard first when freshman Jamie Bawden scored at the 19:05 mark in the opening period. After sorting through the mess in front of the West Chester’s net, Bawden was able to sneak one past Golden Rams netminder Carrie Hanshue. Bawden’s score was her last goal of the season, finishing with a team-leading six goals.

The lead didn’t last for long, as two minutes later the Golden Rams tied the game at one off a penalty corner. West Chester’s Kendra Wood recorded her third goal of the season with assists credited to Stacey Tomes and Liz Morrow.

In a battle of the goaltenders, Hanshue and UMass’ cageminder Ashley Egland finished almost even in the contest. Hanshue came up with five saves, but allowed two goals, while Egland had four saves, giving up only a single goal.

The victory extended the Minutewomen’s A-10 tournament winning streak to 13 games.

The championship was set for the best team to challenge the six-time defending champs for the A-10 title. Richmond was 16-6 overall with a perfect record within the A-10. The Spiders proved too strong for the Minutewomen to overthrow for the right to the A-10 throne. This was the first time in seven years a team other than UMass was the champion of the A-10.

“It felt good to go to the championship, but it would have been better to win,” Whiston said. “Our goal was to make to the tournament all season long. I’m glad we made it there instead of not being in the tournament at all, but it still would have been better to win.”

Richmond showed its dominance early as it jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Under seven minutes after the opening whistle, sophomore Laura Huff scored off a feed from classmate Kristin Gavin. The Maroon and White’s young defense held off a penalty corner, but couldn’t collect the rebound as A-10 Defensive Player of the Year Lindsey Decembrino put it away for the 2-0 advantage after 14 minutes of action. Decembrino was also named the Championship’s Most Outstanding Player.

Richmond’s attack kept the pressure on as it collected another goal 21 minutes into the game. Sandeep Kaur scored the goal to give the Spiders a commanding 3-0 lead.

With under five minutes to go until halftime, Bohonowicz got UMass on the board to make the score 3-1 at the half. The play was nicely set up off dishes from senior co-captains Whiston and Stacey Blue. These three seniors have provided steady offensive production through the late run through part of their schedule.

In the second half, Richmond’s defense, led by Decembrino, was able to keep the Minutewomen scoreless for the final period. Gavin finished a nice championship performance with the back-breaking goal. She finished with three points on the day (1 goal, 1 assist). The Spiders ran away with the 4-1 win and the A-10 Championship.

Freshman Patricia Borneo, sophomore Heather Kenney and sophomore Adrianne Monaco from UMass were recognized with All-Tournament Team honors.

Three other UMass players were given honors this week. Bohonowicz, Bawden and Monaco were all named to the A-10 All-Conference team. Bohonowicz was a main part of the offensive attack this season, especially through her playmaking ability. Bawden lead the team in scoring as a freshman. Monaco was one of the most clutch performers within the conference this season.