Flames senior captain Luke Carlsen looks to pass around senior Ian Rankin during a recent practice in preparation for this past weekend's Commonwealth Cup.
Men’s ultimate goes 3-2 in Commonwealth Cup played on Liberty Lacrosse Fields
2/19/2025 5:40:00 PM | Men's Ultimate
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Liberty dominated teams from NC State, West Virginia, and South Carolina in the rain before falling to No. 3-seeded Oberlin and No. 1 Davenporft in high winds.
Liberty' University's men's ultimate team, seeded second out of 12 teams in this past weekend's Commonwealth Cup, won its first three matches before dropping its final two to the No. 3 and No. 1 seeds to finish third out of six teams in its half of the bracket.
The Flames played their round-robin tournament games at the Liberty Lacrosse Fields while the other six teams competed in the Smith River Sports Complex in Axton, Va., where Liberty could play as many as three times in the next two months with the regular-season-ending Atlantic Coast Open (March 22-23), the Virginia Conference Championships (April 12-13) and Atlantic Coast Regional Championships (April 26-27) scheduled there, should the Flames qualify with a top-four finish at their conference tournament.
Liberty defeated No. 15 North Carolina State's B team 10-6 before topping No. 10 West Virginia 9-4 and shutting out No. 16 South Carolina's B team 11-0 on Saturday, with games played in a steady downpour. Then on Sunday, playing through a persistent wind, the Flames lost to No. 3 Oberlin (Ohio) College on a universal point, 7-6, before dropping their consolation final match against No. 1 Davenport (Mich.) University, 11-4.
"It was terrible weather, pouring rain and 34 degrees on Saturday, and Sunday there were 40-mph wind gusts out there," Liberty Head Coach Kevin Habermas said. "Those conditions aren't really conducive to playing ultimate Frisbee."
"Davenport's a tough team," he added of the top-seeded Panthers, who offer athletic scholarships to their top players. "I would love to play them in different conditions, to get a shot at them without 40 mph winds, but they played well. They're a solid team."
On a squad with eight returning players and 15 newcomers, Liberty has shown tremendous growth since the fall semester.
"This past weekend wasn't really a good indicator of where we're at," Habermas said. "We're a pretty deep team, and have developed quicker than anticipated."
In late January, the Flames and Lady Flames hosted an Alumni tournament in the Liberty Multipurpose Center with 7-on-7 men's and women's games followed by a 5-on-5 mixed tournament. The Flames, led by senior captain Luke Carlsen and sophomore captain Rupert Armentrout, won the men's contest against the alumni squad for only the third time in program history, 13-10.
"For the Alumni game, we put together a really strong lineup," Habermas said. "It was a fun event. It came down to our patience on offense and intensity on defense. We put a lot of pressure on them and showed more patience in that game than we've seen maybe in my entire coaching career. We didn't rush anything, and it paid off in the end. (Senior) Ian Rankin played really well along with (junior) Sterling Payne, (senior) Harrison Ohmsieder, and a bunch of other guys. Our whole team contributed."
Liberty will next travel to Frederick, Md., to compete against a stronger field in the Oak Creek Challenge, with Buffalo (N.Y.), Cornell (N.Y.), Lehigh (Pa.), Rutgers (N.J.), Johns Hopkins (Md.), RIT (N.Y.), Towson (Md.), Case Western Reserve (Ohio), West Chester (Pa.), SUNY Albany, and SUNY Cortland confirmed.
"We are looking forward to traveling and getting plenty of reps for these guys leading up to our (Virginia) Conference Championships in April," Habermas said. "Our top lines are playing really well, but we have to get more reps for those players who have never played before, to put them in situations where they can learn and grow and bond as a team."
By Ted Allen/Staff WriterCaleb Shirk leaps to try to make a catch under pressure from fellow sophomore Isaiah Riddle in the Liberty Indoor Football Practice Center.
