Men’s, women’s ultimate teams advance to Atlantic Coast Regionals with fifth-place showings in conference playoffs
4/26/2024 12:00:00 PM | Men's Ultimate, Women's Ultimate
The Flames won their last two games in Sunday's playoffs against George Mason and VCU to secure the bid while the Lady Flames qualified despite going 0-4 in the five-team field.
Liberty University's men's and women's ultimate teams both qualified for the Atlantic Coast Regional Championships with top-five showings at the Virginia Conference Championships this past Saturday and Sunday at Glover Park in Glen Allen, a suburb of Richmond.
The Flames lost their opening game to top-seeded William & Mary, 13-10, before falling to fourth-seeded, eventual tournament champion JMU, 11-9 to finish 0-2 in pool play.
"We introduced a new offense, an adjustment to the way we ran our offense a month and a half ago, and the first time we got a chance to run it, we lost against the team that won it all and had every chance to beat them," Liberty Head Coach Kevin Habermas said. "For such a young team, we built some confidence that we can hang with the upper teams."
On Sunday, Liberty lost to second-seeded Virginia Tech, 13-4, before finishing strongly with a 12-9 victory over seventh-seeded George Mason and a 10-5 triumph over sixth-seeded VCU in the fifth-place final.
Complete results are available online.
Senior handler Ian Rankin led the Flames with a plus-17 total, with assists, scores, or defensive breakups earning positive points and throwaways or drops detracting from the total. He and graduate captain Joshua Duke both had nine scores, with Duke and freshman Rupert Armentrout both playing well defensively.
Duke made what was later deemed by his teammates the most athletic play of the tournament in the final game against VCU, laying out to catch a pass in the end zone on a break point that extend the Flames' lead to 6-3 after erasing an early 2-0 deficit to the Rams.
Rankin had seven of his team-high 21 assists and two of his nine scores in that game.
Sophomore Samuel Stow led the team with 11 scores.
Senior co-captain Jonathan Caruvana missed the tournament and won't be available for regional play after undergoing surgery on his broken wrist.
Micah Maxwell, a graduate from Niger in his first season with the team, was named by his teammates as the breakout player for the tournament. Senior Josiah Dunlap was nominated for the team's spirit award.
In the women's tournament, held simultaneously at Glover Park, Liberty also finished fifth with losses to No. 4-seeded Virginia Tech (14-8), top-seeded Virginia (14-4), No. 2-seeded William & Mary (13-5), and No. 3-seeded JMU (14-5).
The Atlantic Coast Regionals will take place May 4-5 at the Smith River Sports Complex in Axton, Va., where the Flames and Lady Flames have competed multiple times already this season.
Liberty's men are seeded 14th and will face No. 3-seeded North Carolina State in the first round of the 16-team, double-elimination tournament. With only two national bids available, the Flames must win a total of four games to advance to the May 24-27 Division I College Championships in Madison, Wisc.
"We played NC State last year at regionals, when they were the No. 2 seed and went to nationals," Habermas said, noting that Liberty lost by an 11-8 final. "We hung with them the entire time until they scored a break point near the end."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
The Flames lost their opening game to top-seeded William & Mary, 13-10, before falling to fourth-seeded, eventual tournament champion JMU, 11-9 to finish 0-2 in pool play.
"We introduced a new offense, an adjustment to the way we ran our offense a month and a half ago, and the first time we got a chance to run it, we lost against the team that won it all and had every chance to beat them," Liberty Head Coach Kevin Habermas said. "For such a young team, we built some confidence that we can hang with the upper teams."
On Sunday, Liberty lost to second-seeded Virginia Tech, 13-4, before finishing strongly with a 12-9 victory over seventh-seeded George Mason and a 10-5 triumph over sixth-seeded VCU in the fifth-place final.
Complete results are available online.
Senior handler Ian Rankin led the Flames with a plus-17 total, with assists, scores, or defensive breakups earning positive points and throwaways or drops detracting from the total. He and graduate captain Joshua Duke both had nine scores, with Duke and freshman Rupert Armentrout both playing well defensively.
Duke made what was later deemed by his teammates the most athletic play of the tournament in the final game against VCU, laying out to catch a pass in the end zone on a break point that extend the Flames' lead to 6-3 after erasing an early 2-0 deficit to the Rams.
Rankin had seven of his team-high 21 assists and two of his nine scores in that game.
Sophomore Samuel Stow led the team with 11 scores.
Senior co-captain Jonathan Caruvana missed the tournament and won't be available for regional play after undergoing surgery on his broken wrist.
Micah Maxwell, a graduate from Niger in his first season with the team, was named by his teammates as the breakout player for the tournament. Senior Josiah Dunlap was nominated for the team's spirit award.
In the women's tournament, held simultaneously at Glover Park, Liberty also finished fifth with losses to No. 4-seeded Virginia Tech (14-8), top-seeded Virginia (14-4), No. 2-seeded William & Mary (13-5), and No. 3-seeded JMU (14-5).
The Atlantic Coast Regionals will take place May 4-5 at the Smith River Sports Complex in Axton, Va., where the Flames and Lady Flames have competed multiple times already this season.
Liberty's men are seeded 14th and will face No. 3-seeded North Carolina State in the first round of the 16-team, double-elimination tournament. With only two national bids available, the Flames must win a total of four games to advance to the May 24-27 Division I College Championships in Madison, Wisc.
"We played NC State last year at regionals, when they were the No. 2 seed and went to nationals," Habermas said, noting that Liberty lost by an 11-8 final. "We hung with them the entire time until they scored a break point near the end."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
Players Mentioned
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