The students looked hungry from the opening whistle and set the tone early through a goal to Kieran O'Connor two minutes in.
University's pace and ball control gave the students an advantage over the defending champion and the side made the most of its opportunities through the early stages of the match.
Albany showed it was not about to give up without a fight, however, and created opportunities to get itself back into the match, but could not find the crucial connection to turn these opportunities into points.
The students continued to hammer away at Albany's defence and strung their passes together as they continued to control the match.
Two penalty corners went astray for University, but when Albany goalkeeper Jack Waddell took out a player, the students were awarded a stroke which player-coach Richard Storey easily converted to give his side a 2-0 lead at halftime.
Albany looked desperate when it returned to the turf and player-coach Nick Elder led the charge with a strong attack, but it was still unable to find the crucial connection.
University kept calm during this period and turned its strong defence into controlled attack which led to the students' third goal when O'Connor added his second.
Albany continued to fight and hammered away at the University defence, but still could not find a way through.
It was not until Josh Smith found the back of the net three minutes from fulltime that Albany finally found its missing connection, but by then it was too late. The students took the spoils 3-1.
University player-coach Storey said winning the challenge shield was the reward for the hard work his team had put in throughout the season and was pleased his side was finally playing to its potential.
''I think we played a pretty exciting brand and put pressure on their defence. Defensively we played pretty well. We soaked up most of what they threw at us. I think we showed we could play hockey,'' he said.
Albany midfielder Dave Ross was disappointed with his side's performance and put the loss down to ''terrible placings'' and several turnovers.
University booked its place in the final with this win and will face the winner of the match between Albany and Kings United A on August 16.
In the other premier 1 match, Kings United beat University Black 3-0. In premier 2, Taieri Tuataras thumped Taieri B 17-2 and KETOB A beat University Seals 2-1.
These results confirmed Taieri Tuataras and KETOB will stay in the premier men's grade next year.
