Day one of finals weekend pitted East Grinstead against Hampstead and Westminster and Surbiton against Wimbledon in the two semi-finals with a place in Sunday’s showpiece final on the line. Here’s what happened in two action-packed semi-finals.

East Grinstead 2-2 Hampstead and Westminster. (Hampstead win 3-2 on shootout.)

Miriam Pritchard became the toast of Hampstead and Westminster after her heroics in the shootout propelled her side into tomorrow’s final.

It had looked like East Grinstead were on course to defend the title they won last year – leading as they did 2-0 through goals from Anna Faulstich and Sophie Bray. However Hampstead pulled one back in the third quarter via Holly Hunt’s tidy finish and then with seconds left, Joie Leigh held her nerve to slot home a penalty stroke to send it to a shootout.

As they did in normal time, East Grinstead held a lead in the shootout after misses from Leigh and Holly Hunt, but Pritchard came to the fore with a stunning double save, another save and then an impeccable stick save on her backhand to deny Chloe Brown and win it for her team.

The Hampstead goalkeeper was almost lost for words in her post match interview, managing to say:

“I’m buzzing. What a team to be part of!”

“We stick to the processes. Stick to the game plan. We have quite a good mindset when we go 2-0 down. Definitely. Definitely grows the fire in the belly.”

The tale of the game was one of Hampstead and Westminster enjoying long spells of territory and possession, only to be undone by East Grinstead’s efficiency in the circle.

David Cooper’s side had had the majority of the ball early on, but found themselves behind when Bray’s industry drew a good save from Pritchard, but the rebound was swept home by Anna Faulstich

Four minutes later it was 2-0. Bray finished neatly after latching onto an aerial pass in the circle.

With 15 minutes to go and things looking bleak for the side from Paddington Rec, Holly Hunt produced a lovely finish into the corner to give them a glimmer of hope. 

They kept on knocking at the door and with seconds left on the clock, from a penalty corner they were awarded a stroke after Robertson’s deflection was stopped by Lily Walker’s foot on the line. Leigh kept her nerve and slotted home from the spot taking us to shootout, where Pritchard’s exploits got the job done.

Surbiton 2-0 Wimbledon

Surbiton joined Hampstead and Westminster in the final after seeing off Wimbledon with a professional display at Sugden Road.

David Beckett’s side raced into a 2-0 lead after 21 minutes and then thanks to an exemplary defensive display kept Wimbledon at bay to secure their spot in the final.

A penalty corner from Martha Taylor and an open play goal from Alice Sharp proved to be enough to get the job done.

“We’re really pleased with that performance.” defender Amy Costello told me afterwards.

“I think we went 2-0 up quite early on in the game and then it was a very professional display. They sort of picked up a bit of momentum throughout the third quarter in particular, we held our own and got through that momentum shift and brought it back towards the end.”

As Costello said, Wimbledon enjoyed some bright moments, with Becky Manton’s trickery and willingness to shoot proving to be a constant source of danger. However going the other way, there was always a threat Surbiton would put the game to bed with Sophie Hamilton in particular going through her full array of tricks to set up chances for the Surbiton forwards.

“I think we’ve got a bit of a history of going down early on in games, so we made it a point before we came in to start really focusing, really professionally. And yeah, it showed in the end the result early on.

“I think any game you play, the opposition is entitled to their moments and I think we held them out pretty well. Not conceding anything was solid, So we’re feeling pretty confident after that defensive performance.”

East Grinstead and Wimbledon will play in tomorrow’s third/fourth-place play-off at 10am.

The final between Surbiton and Hampstead and Westminster is at 14:30.