Hannah Prince had been to the Atlantic 10 championship game before. She had been there just last year when the Massachusetts field hockey team defeated Richmond 5-0 to win the title.

But this year is different. It’s Prince’s senior season, so it wasn’t just “do or die.” It was “do, or it’s the end of your college career.”

“It was an exciting day for us, knowing this could be my last game on Garber (Field),” Prince said.

But Prince’s career isn’t over yet and neither is UMass’ season, as the Minutewomen defeated Richmond again, this time by a score of 2-1 to win the A-10 title for the second year in a row.

For the team, it was the first set of back-to-back championships since the 2007 and 2008 seasons. For UMass coach Carla Tagliente, it was her second championship in just three seasons with UMass.

“Last year was a bit euphoric in a lot of ways,” Tagliente said. “I had never personally experienced it and the team hadn’t in quite a while. But this year, it’s kind of an emotional victory.”

The Minutewomen went up early, scoring first in the sixth minute on a penalty corner shot from Prince with assists coming from Alexa Sikalis and Izzie Delario.

“We’ve been practicing our set pieces and corners,” Prince said. “It was really great to just put the ball away.”

UMass opened up its lead in the 15th minute when Delario deflected a shot by Cliodhna Loughlin into the net to give the Minutewomen a two-goal lead. But the Spiders struck right back less than two minutes later when Amy Cooke scored on a penalty corner shot, assisted by Helen Warner and Christina Amorose.

But the two teams stepped things up defensively in the second half, allowing only six shots between the two of them, only one of which was on-goal.

“I thought (we) were solid in the back,” Tagliente said. “(Richmond’s) shots came early in the game, streaky at times, but I thought the game was mostly held in the midfield and we controlled that and limited their opportunities.”

After the game, junior co-captain Lauren Allymohamed, who scored the game-winning goal in double overtime in the semifinal game against Virginia Commonwealth and was a key part of UMass’ defense, was named Most Outstanding Player for the tournament.

“It feels amazing,” Allymohamed said. “It was such a good team performance today, and we just came out on top.”

Now, the Minutewomen prepare for the NCAA Tournament and the possibility of a play-in game. The ordering of the tournament and which teams have to compete in play-in games will be decided Sunday at 10 p.m.

Allymohamed said it’s important for the team to keep playing the way they have been.

“We can beat any team if we put our minds to it,” she said.

Jesse Mayfield-Sheehan can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter @jgms88.