Lille through to two French finals

Lille MHC will contest both the French men’s and women’s championship finals as they defied the regular season rankings to win through their respective semi-finals.

Both had finished in fourth place in the league phase but they went on to defeat the top-ranked side over two legs last weekend, earning their place at the finals in Le Touquet in two weeks time.

For the women, they won the first leg on Saturday 3-2 with Floriana Calleja’s double proving the key difference against Saint Germain.

Saint Ger replied with a 2-1 win over Sunday, sending the tie to a shoot-out where Sixtine Aelion was the star with a series of saves to earn Lille the win.

Lille will now meet Polo Marcq-en-Barouel who edged out Cambrai in their semi-final.

On the men’s side, Yannis Hannoir’s single goal in their second leg was enough to defeat CAM 92 1-0 after the first leg had ended in a 2-2 draw.

In the final, they will come up against Racing Club de France who got the best of Saint Germain 4-3 over their two games over the weekend.