Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC and Forward Madison FC have the first silverware in their respective histories within sight.

The two hosts advanced from the Semifinals of the inaugural USL Jägermeister Cup on Wednesday night as the Flamingos earned a 2-1 victory against the Charlotte Independence before the Hailstorm cruised to a 2-0 result against Union Omaha to set up the Final on Saturday, Sept. 28.

Here’s what we took away from the contests.

1. THE HAILSTORM LOOK AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE

Remember when the Hailstorm went winless in their first five games of the League One season and Jägermeister Cup? It turned some heads for sure, especially after the departure of two of the side’s key players a season ago in Trevor Amann (Sacramento Republic FC) and Arthur Rogers (FC Tulsa).

Now look at Eamon Zayed’s squad. They’ve won eight of their last nine games to surge into contention in the League One standings and have become the dominant side in the Cup, maintaining their undefeated record with a convincing victory against Union Omaha.

Bruno Rendon and Ethan Hoard have made the tournament their personal playground – after each finding the net on Wednesday, they’ve combined for 14 of the club’s 24 goals in the tournament – and that’s going to make NoCo the favorite to lift the trophy in two weeks.

2. MADISON WON THE BIG MOMENTS

One of the keys to advancing in knockout soccer is winning the big moments in games. Forward Madison had accomplished that previously with some notable victories in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, but it had fallen at the first hurdle in both of its forays in the USL League One Playoffs as key moments went the wrong way.

That got flipped on its head against the Independence as the Flamingos came up big when it mattered most. Goalkeeper Bernd Schipmann delivered the first of those moments with a great save in the eighth minute on Charlotte’s Joel Johnson, and that was followed by captain Mitchell Osmond banging home the opening goal. While Charlotte hit back with a potential momentum-changer late in the first half, Christian Chaney’s goal 64 seconds into the second half wrested momentum back.

While Madison was forced to play down to 10 players, Schipmann came up with a seven-save performance to seal the win. It’s going to take a similar effort – and ability to deliver in the big moments – to earn the club its first silverware, but the Flamingos should take confidence from this display.

3. OMAHA’S FLAMEOUT WAS A SHOCK

With the scoring records both the Hailstorm and Union brought into Wednesday’s semifinal, we were anticipating fireworks. Unfortunately for Omaha, they produced one of the few dud performances they’ve had this season.

The visitors were obviously hampered by self-inflicted wounds. Mechack Jerome’s red card in the 26th minute tilted the game NoCo’s way for the rest of the half before Max Schneider’s dismissal was the final nail in the coffin for the visitors. At the same time, the lack of attacking sharpness the side had throughout was a shock. Omaha failed to register a shot on target, had only three shots overall and its Expected Goals mark of 0.17xG was the lowest it has recorded in either the Jägermeister Cup or League One this season.

Omaha has ambitions to become the first two-time winner of League One in November and could still claim the Players’ Shield and homefield advantage in the playoffs for that pursuit. It’s going to have to learn lessons from what went wrong here, however, to achieve that goal.

4. WHAT MIGHT THE FINAL HOLD?

It’s hard to get away from the Hailstorm being the favorite to lift the Jägermeister Cup when they square off with Madison in two weeks. NoCo is undefeated in its last five meetings against the Flamingos, whose last victory in the series came in a 3-1 win in Northern Colorado in August 2022. Since then, the Hailstorm are 4-0-1, including a 1-0 victory in Madison in their lone meeting so far this season.

A closer look at that game, however, says we might be in for a tight contest. Billy King’s goal for the Hailstorm after 64 seconds proved decisive, but the sides battled each other evenly the rest of the way. The Flamingos had a 14-11 advantage in shots and held 64.7 percent of possession, with the fatal flaw the fact they only put one effort on target. With Madison currently on a seven-game undefeated streak of its own to compare to NoCo’s nine-game run, this has the potential to deliver a great ending to the tournament.