The York University Lions field hockey team hung around throughout Game 1 of the U SPORTS championship series against the powerhouse Victoria Vikes, but fell 2-0.

Goals from Chloe Langkammer in the second quarter and Anni Kleinschmid in the fourth solidified the victory for UVic, who is now just one win away from their fourth consecutive U SPORTS banner.

Despite the result, Lions head coach Zeeshan Minhas was impressed with his team's defensive showing. From an offensive standpoint, there's still some things to improve upon.

"I think it was a good, competitive game – really fast-paced," he said. "We did a good job defensively, but offensively, I don't think we moved as much as we would have liked to off the ball, so that's something we need to work on."

The Lions looked far from overmatched in this one, and Minhas says he hopes some small adjustments will pay off in Game 2.

"We just have to play our game and stick to our plan," he said. "The tweaks we have to make are just small things, nothing major. They're a good team, but I feel like if we change some they are beatable."

The head coach says his team has earned the right to be in this position, and has to play the way that got them here moving forward.

"We just have to run harder – on the ball and off the ball – and just show a little more self-belief," he said. "That was something I felt was lacking at times. Of course, we have a young team; for some of the rookies this is their first time being in a position like this…so the nerves have settled now and I'm sure they'll be ready to bounce back tomorrow (Saturday)."

Game two of the best-of-three series takes place Saturday at 6:00pm ET/3:00 pm PT at the UVic Field Hockey Turf in Victoria.