The blue and whites found themselves in a dog fight for the majority of the match as they struggled to gain ascendancy against a ready and willing home side but some resilience from the team - and some excellence from keeper Lilli-Rai Campbell - allowed the 2018 title holders to have the last laugh as they netted two goals in the final term.

Pat's coach Ben Weal was expectedly proud of his girls but even more chuffed at the nature of the victory.

"Feds probably played over the top of us for most of the game to be honest," Weal said.

"We spoke about possessing the ball more and transferring it more and things started to open up for us.

"Once we scored that first goal they [Feds] seemed to get a bit panicky and that opened things up for us to score that second goal."

Earlier in the season, Weal touted Campbell as one of the best keepers in region and that claim is ageing like a fine wine - especially after her last performance.

"She had a cracking game," he said.

Pat's will use the weekend to celebrate the grand final-qualifying win but as of Monday, it's business as usual for Weal as he prepares for an extremely tough Panthers side.

The two teams met in the regular season as the premiers prevailed over Pat's 2-1 in a game that finished in devastating fashion for the Bathurst-based girls.

"We led for most of that match and they they scored with about a minute to go so that was pretty shattering," he said.

"We thought we had it up until that point.

"I know the grand final is going to be a really tough game and either team could win it but if we put our best foot forward and play four good quarters of hockey, we've got a good shot."

As for the Feds' side of the story, it was a similar recap that Milne's given after losses so far in 2020 - 'we didn't capitalise, they did'.

"We were ready for what they threw at us but they took the opportunities they had," Mine said. "We knew how they would play and we had our game plan set for that.

"The girls played to the game plan I set out for them and did that for the whole game... Pat's scored their first against the run of play.

"Our girls didn't drop their heads which is what I asked of them. They played the whole 60 minutes."

This season was Milne's first at the helm of Confederates and couldn't speak more highly of the experiences he's had in 2020. "I couldn't be happier on how the girls went this year," Milne said.

"I came in as coach to help along the younger player and share some of my experience with them to make the become better hockey players and every single one off them improved out of their skin.

"It makes me so proud to see them all grow as players."