The York University Lions field hockey team fell in Game 2 of the U SPORTS championship series to the UVic Vikes by a score of 2-1, and dropped the series 2-0.
That said, they showed what they were made of. The Lions, with 12 rookies and only four graduates, competed in both games against the now-four-time-defending national champions from Victoria. They conceded just four goals in the two games, and put the Vikes on notice.
A goal from Anna Mollenhauer 15 seconds into the game put the visitors behind the eight ball early. Head coach Zeeshan Minhas said that while it was tough, the team was no stranger to comebacks of that nature.
"When you give up a goal that early, it is kind of deflating," he said. "But we've been in that position before, and came back. And we almost did it today. So, I'm pretty proud of these girls."
The Vikes added a second first-quarter goal off the stick of Cara Butler, which made it 2-0. The Lions, however, kept pressing, and were a lot more aggressive offensively in this game than in Game 1. They were rewarded for their efforts with under five minutes to go in the second quarter when Lexi Hannah buried one off a free hit to halve the Vikes lead.
York was right on par with the Vikes in the second half, and had a number of great chances to equalize, but were unable to find the tying goal as the Victoria locked it down late with some solid ball control.
While this loss is difficult for the Lions to swallow, they can hold their heads high knowing they competed, and were step-for-step, with the top team in the nation. The nucleus of this year's team will be back not only next season, but for two or three more after that, which Minhas says is critical to the development of the program.
"I'm very excited," Minhas said when asked about the future of the Lions program. "Our program is headed in the right direction. It was a re-tooling year, and if re-tooling got us here, I think it's going to be very exciting for the next few years.
"The kids have bought into what we want to do. I think this experience is going to be great for their confidence, and they're starting to believe that if you keep working hard, and keep improving, we are going to be back here."
The Lions head coach was also gracious in defeat, quick to hand credit over to the Vikes, but he did say that his team put the Vikes on notice that they will be around for years to come.
"We showed them that we can compete," he said. "Everybody witnessed – we can compete with this team. We showed it today, we showed it yesterday. So, we just have to keep working hard and try and change the result next year."
