Despite all their successes this year, the Mimico Mountaineers have not been able to find a way to beat the Burlington Chiefs.

And now, unless the Mountaineers can string together three consecutive victories, they’re going to have a short-lived playoff schedule.

Mimico was downed 14-11 by the host Chiefs in an Ontario Junior Lacrosse League (OJLL) contest staged Friday at Central Arena.

With the victory, Burlington now leads its best-of-five quarterfinal series 2-0. Game 3 in the series is scheduled for Sunday at Mimico Arena. The opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m.

The Mountaineers had finished atop the regular season standings of the 11-squad OJLL with their 16-4 record.

As a result, Mimico is considered the favourite against the eight-seeded Chiefs, who posted a 10-10 mark.

Burlington, however, won both of its regular season matchups against the Mountaineers. And the Chiefs, who also downed host Mimico 12-9 in the series opener on Wednesday, are now enjoying a commanding lead in their playoff battle.

“They’re a well-balanced team,” Mimico head coach Dean George said of the Chiefs. “And they’re a well-coached team. We knew that coming in.”

As their regular season efforts proved, there’s also plenty of superlatives to describe the 2022 edition of the Mountaineers.

And that’s why Mimico captain Justin Sykes said his squad is remaining upbeat.

“Obviously we have to stay positive,” he said. “I think we’re a very talented group this year. And we’re sticking together now.”

Following Friday’s setback, the Mountaineers had a players-only, closed door meeting in their dressing room to discuss their post-season fortunes thus far.

“Everybody is in a positive frame of mind,” George said. “We know we’re a good team because we had a 16-4 record during the regular season. We just have to go on a three-game winning streak now. But we’ll take it game by game and shift by shift.”

Despite the fact they suffered a second straight playoff loss, Sykes said there were some positives in Friday’s outing.

“Our defence was kind of lights out,” he said. “We only gave up one goal 5-on-5. The rest were all in transition or on the powerplay.”

Meanwhile, Finlay Thomson, the OJLL’s scoring leader during the regular season, had a seven-point performance, including five goals for the Mountaineers.

Isiah Moran-Weekes netted a hat trick for Mimico while Justin Lee added a pair. Carson Moyer had the other Mountaineers’ goal.