SWHL 2022: Marist and Boyanup through to men’s and women’s grand finals after shock wins

The South West Hockey League’s first two grand finalists have been decided after two major upsets in the first round of finals at the weekend.

In the men’s competition, Marist advanced through to the decider with a 4-1 victory over the undefeated Boyanup, while Boyanup’s women’s team go through with a 1-0 victory over minor-premiers Associates.

Marist shocked the competition on Saturday night when they beat the reigning premiers and undefeated Boyanup 4-1 to book themselves a spot in the grand final.

The men in blue had two losses and a draw against Boyanup throughout the season but were able to score within the opening minutes and hold on to a lead all night to take the win.

Boynaup — who had a record of 12 wins and three draws throughout the regular season — will now face 2021 Wests on Saturday to try and keep their season alive.

The Busselton-based Wests made light work of Exies at the weekend and won 5-0 to advance to the preliminary final after their original opponent Towns Souths was disqualified for the season for tanking their last round match.

There was also a shock result in the major semi of the women’s competition, with Boyanup upsetting the undefeated Associates 1-0 to advance to the grand final.

The reigning premiers went into the match having convincingly lost their two previous matches against Associates but were able to get the job done and become the first team to advance to the decider.

Associates will now be forced to go the long way to getting revenge on Boyanup and are due to play Robins this week — who scraped through to the preliminary final with a 5-4 win over Marist.

Associates will play Robins in Bunbury at 1:45pm on Saturday, while Boyanup will host Wests in the men’s preliminary final at 3:15pm.