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 FC Milwaukee's strike partnership of UW-Milwaukee's Sarah Hagen (Appleton North) and the University of Wisconsin's Laurie Nosbusch (Mequon Homestead) couldn't be in much better form heading into the Women's Premier Soccer League Midwest Conference playoffs.
Hagen had her second hat trick in three games and Nosbusch added two goals and two assists as the Nationals closed out the regular season with a 5-0 victory over the Madison 56ers in a North Division finale Wednesday night in Germantown.
"It was a nice final tuneup before heading all the way to Ohio for the first round of the playoffs," said FC Milwaukee assistant Monica White, who is in charge of the team with coach Christian Lavers out of state attending to other job obligations and coaching duties.
The Nationals (7-2-1) will play host and South Division champion Ohio Premier (7-0-1) in a Midwest semifinal at 3 p.m. Saturday in Dublin, Ohio, with the North champion Chicago Red Stars (8-1-0) facing South runner-up FC Indiana (5-2-1) in the second semifinal at 5 p.m.
The final is set for 11 a.m. Sunday, and the winner advances to play at Sunshine Conference champion Tampa Bay Hellenic (9-1-2) on July 23 or 24 for a berth in the WPSL Final Four. The league announced Thursday that the Red Stars will play host to the Final Four on July 30 and 31 at Benedictine University Sports Complex in Lisle, Ill.
There should be plenty of motivation at work during the Midwest playoffs.
FC Milwaukee ousted Ohio Premier 5-4 on penalty kicks following a 2-2 draw in the conference final last summer in Germantown and went on to play in the WPSL Final Four.
The Nationals, meanwhile, would love to get another shot at the Red Stars, who handed them both of their losses – 2-0 on June 16 and 4-2 two weeks later.
"I think that will really help us bring it on Saturday against Ohio Premier, knowing that most likely we would play Red Stars again on Sunday, give us one more chance," said White, whose team allowed six goals to the Red Stars and only three over its other eight matches.
"It will be interesting to see how it ends up. Ohio Premier gave us an amazing game last year ... I'm sure that's not far back in their memories. And with that Red Star team and FC Indiana, anything could happen there. It is a strong four-team matchup. It won't be easy, that's for sure."
If the Nationals are going to do well, one would imagine Hagen and Nosbusch will play big roles. The duo has accounted for FC Milwaukee's past 15 goals – Hagen has nine of those and Nosbusch six – including 13 over the past three matches.
"They're really starting to put it together," said White, who saw both forwards record hat tricks in a 6-2 win over Chicago Eclipse Select last Thursday and watched them each score in Sunday's 2-0 victory over the 56ers (2-6-2) at Breese Stevens Field in Madison.
The Nationals will make the trip east with just 12 players, as the club made the decision not to take any players from its Under-18 team – they are preparing for the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, which are July 27 to 31 in Phoenix. At least eight Under-18 players have played for the WPSL team this season.
"Without our youth players, that's basically what we have left," White said of the dozen players headed to Dublin, where temperatures are supposed to be in the 90s this weekend. "The 12 we're going with is the group that has won these last three games. ... I think they're getting their grooves together with those 12, and have a system going. I think they'll be fine."
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