Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Saturday, October 17
Charlottesville, VA
8:00 AM-5:00 PM
Liberty University Club Sports
at
Cavalier Cup
Flames players and Head Coach Kevin Habermas (left) and Assistant Coach Andy Lewis (bottom right) sport hand-painted T-shirts for their season-opening appearance in the Cavalier Cup, played Saturday and Sunday in Charlottesville, Va.
Men’s ultimate opens season with runner-up showing at Cavalier Cup hosted by UVA
10/19/2026 6:00:00 PM | Men's Ultimate
The Flames finished 4-1 with wins over Pittsburgh, George Mason, Virginia, and JMU.
Playing in the Cavalier Cup, an unsanctioned season-opening tournament hosted by the University of Virginia, Liberty University's men's ultimate team was seeded eighth and finished second out of 15 teams on Saturday and Sunday in Charlottesville, Va.
The Flames won all four of their games against collegiate opponents before falling in the championship final to the Townies, made up mostly of high-level club players from the Richmond area.
"It was a great tournament to get reps for everybody," Liberty Head Coach Kevin Habermas said. "In fall tournaments, teams typically play a lot of their rookies, and with it being our Fall Break, we were missing some key players and we got a lot of our newcomers in."
He said it was good for the Flames to face players from other programs for a change after holding intrasquad practices and scrimmages through the fall semester so far.
"It's not easy to go to practice every week and guard the same guy, and have the same guy guard you," Habermas said. "It's fun to have team competition and to see how you measure up. I'm really proud of the guys and how they played and worked together over the weekend."
Playing with spraypainted jerseys to help establish its team culture in the non-sanctioned event, Liberty opened the tournament with an 11-8 victory over the University of Pittsburgh's B team before concluding Saturday's play with a 12-10 triumph over a George Mason University team that had knocked the Flames out of the East Coast Regional Championships last spring in Axton, Va.
On Sunday, the Flames edged the host Cavaliers, 10-7, and pulled away from JMU, 11-6, to advance to the final match undefeated.
"UVA won the (Virginia) Conference tournament last year, and JMU beat us at conference, too, so those were great wins," Habermas said.
The Townies' roster proved too deep for Liberty, which only had 13 players available, leading Habermas and Assistant Coach Andy Lewis to sub in for support at times.
"Andy and I were able to fill the gaps in and play with the team for a handful of points on Sunday," Habermas said. "The Townies were good. Their closest game all weekend was against us in the championship."
With eight returners and 12 newcomers on their 20-man roster, the Flames have meshed quickly to form a cohesive unit with plenty of potential for the 2026-27 season.
"A lot of the incoming freshmen have played before, which is a huge step up for the program when you have players coming to college with that kind of experience in high school," Habermas said. "Instead of going over the absolute basics in the preseason," the Flames have been able to hit the ground running this fall.
"Usually, we've been coaching against teams with those types of players, so it's nice to even the playing field," he added. "It's still so early, and we haven't been able to establish a whole lot of sets (offensive plays), and we obviously have things to work and improve on, but we are ahead of schedule."
Seniors Rupert Armentrout and Emerson Sites-Byers and sophomore Avery Levandoski, who was unavailable for the tournament, are the team's captains this year, with junior Micah Moore and senior Caedmon Eng serving as spiritual Disciple Makers.
"Micah Moore was designated by his teammates as the tournament MVP, and he crushed it this weekend," Habermas said. "He led the team on and off the field. Everybody played really well. We have a bunch of guys that are hungry to get better and are working hard. It's been fun to see the guys grow."
Ollie Edwards, a freshman, excelled in his first collegiate tournament.
"His effort was through the roof, playing great defense," Habermas said. "Josiah Joseph, another of our freshmen, also played great, and (sophomore) Luke Billingsley had a great weekend. With Avery (Levandoski) out, he had to step up and be a field general for the defensive line, and when there was a (turnover), he had to play offense. He was out there with a lead role and did really well at organizing on the field and anchoring the offense for the D line."
Liberty is next considering competing in the Patriot Games, George Mason's fall tournament set for Nov. 14-15.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
The Flames won all four of their games against collegiate opponents before falling in the championship final to the Townies, made up mostly of high-level club players from the Richmond area.
"It was a great tournament to get reps for everybody," Liberty Head Coach Kevin Habermas said. "In fall tournaments, teams typically play a lot of their rookies, and with it being our Fall Break, we were missing some key players and we got a lot of our newcomers in."
He said it was good for the Flames to face players from other programs for a change after holding intrasquad practices and scrimmages through the fall semester so far.
"It's not easy to go to practice every week and guard the same guy, and have the same guy guard you," Habermas said. "It's fun to have team competition and to see how you measure up. I'm really proud of the guys and how they played and worked together over the weekend."
Playing with spraypainted jerseys to help establish its team culture in the non-sanctioned event, Liberty opened the tournament with an 11-8 victory over the University of Pittsburgh's B team before concluding Saturday's play with a 12-10 triumph over a George Mason University team that had knocked the Flames out of the East Coast Regional Championships last spring in Axton, Va.
On Sunday, the Flames edged the host Cavaliers, 10-7, and pulled away from JMU, 11-6, to advance to the final match undefeated.
"UVA won the (Virginia) Conference tournament last year, and JMU beat us at conference, too, so those were great wins," Habermas said.
The Townies' roster proved too deep for Liberty, which only had 13 players available, leading Habermas and Assistant Coach Andy Lewis to sub in for support at times.
"Andy and I were able to fill the gaps in and play with the team for a handful of points on Sunday," Habermas said. "The Townies were good. Their closest game all weekend was against us in the championship."
With eight returners and 12 newcomers on their 20-man roster, the Flames have meshed quickly to form a cohesive unit with plenty of potential for the 2026-27 season.
"A lot of the incoming freshmen have played before, which is a huge step up for the program when you have players coming to college with that kind of experience in high school," Habermas said. "Instead of going over the absolute basics in the preseason," the Flames have been able to hit the ground running this fall.
"Usually, we've been coaching against teams with those types of players, so it's nice to even the playing field," he added. "It's still so early, and we haven't been able to establish a whole lot of sets (offensive plays), and we obviously have things to work and improve on, but we are ahead of schedule."
Seniors Rupert Armentrout and Emerson Sites-Byers and sophomore Avery Levandoski, who was unavailable for the tournament, are the team's captains this year, with junior Micah Moore and senior Caedmon Eng serving as spiritual Disciple Makers.
"Micah Moore was designated by his teammates as the tournament MVP, and he crushed it this weekend," Habermas said. "He led the team on and off the field. Everybody played really well. We have a bunch of guys that are hungry to get better and are working hard. It's been fun to see the guys grow."
Ollie Edwards, a freshman, excelled in his first collegiate tournament.
"His effort was through the roof, playing great defense," Habermas said. "Josiah Joseph, another of our freshmen, also played great, and (sophomore) Luke Billingsley had a great weekend. With Avery (Levandoski) out, he had to step up and be a field general for the defensive line, and when there was a (turnover), he had to play offense. He was out there with a lead role and did really well at organizing on the field and anchoring the offense for the D line."
Liberty is next considering competing in the Patriot Games, George Mason's fall tournament set for Nov. 14-15.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
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