Semifinal #1: Purdue University NW v. Concordia University WI:
Semifinal #1 will see two teams, Purdue University NW and Concordia University WI, battle for a spot in the Finals that have never met in the postseason before. PNW’s road to the semifinals saw them have to fight until the very end of regulation before they were able to secure the 3-2 victory. CUW on the other hand had the easier road, thanks to their special teams unit, in their 4-1 triumph.

While PNW and CUW have never met in the postseason, they do have a regular season series under their belts. This series took place all the way back in November 2021. The results were a series split with CUW winning the series opener 9-4 and PNW winning the finale 5-1.

Alex Moon starred for PNW in their quarterfinal game, tallying two goals and Jacob Behnke notched an assist. They will both be players CUW will be watching as they look to make their third straight Hap Cup Final.

Scoring a hat trick in CUW’s quarterfinal game, Dominic Murano will surely require the attention of PNW. A second CUW player to watch is Rex Staudacher, who assisted on three CUW quarterfinal goals. 

Semifinal #2: Marian University v. Marquette University:
Closing out Semifinal play will be Marian University and Marquette University. Marian’s route to Semifinal #2 went through Roosevelt University. During their matchup, Marian was too much to manage and easily, thanks to 10 goals, moved on. Marquette squared off with Aurora University and had to battle to make it out of the quarterfinals. It was not until Marquette scored an empty net goal with 90 seconds left in regulation that their victory was assured. 

Marian and Marquette are both members of the Black Division, so they have matched up against one another this season. This series took place at the beginning of the season and Marian swept the October series. While both games were Marian victories, they were one goal affairs with the series finale needing a shootout to determine the winner. 

This will also be the third time they have met in the postseason. The previous two meetings, once in the finals and other in the semifinals, went Marian’s way. Over those two victories, Marian is averaging five goals for and two goals against. 

Two players to watch on Marian are Simon Ellingson and Easton Nick. Ellingson scored a hat trick in the quarterfinals against Roosevelt and during their regular season series with Marquette tallied a goal and an assist. Nick assisted on two goals during the quarterfinals and scored two goals during the regular season matchup. 

If Marquette is to get their first postseason victory over Marian, they will most likely be leaning on Jack Rose. During their regular season matchup, he notched four goals and in this year’s quarterfinal game with Aurora he scored twice. So, he will no doubt have the attention of Marian. On other player to watch for Marquette will be Konrad Humke, who assisted on three goals during the regular season series and contributed to a quarterfinal goal against Aurora.