Flames Ready for NCAA Corvallis Regional as No. 11 Seed

Liberty's men's golf team finds itself back at an NCAA Regional following the Flames claiming the 2026 CUSA Men's Golf Championship.

After missing NCAA Regionals for the first time in eight seasons last year, Liberty is back in regional play as the No. 11 seed at the NCAA Corvallis Regional, starting on Monday. All three rounds of the NCAA Corvallis Regional will be streamed live by Babygrande Golf (streaming link).

The three-day event is hosted by Oregon State at its home golf course – Trysting Tree Golf Club (par 71, 7,361 yards) in Corvallis, Ore.

The NCAA Corvallis Regional was one of six NCAA Men's Golf Regionals announced last week by the NCAA.

The top five teams (30 teams total) and the low individual not on an advancing team (six individuals total) from each regional site will advance to play in the NCAA Men's Golf National Championship at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

The championship will be held Friday, May 29 to Wednesday, June 3, with GOLF Channel providing live coverage of the final day of individual championship play on June 1, as well as, the team match play on June 2-3.

Liberty has participated in nine of the last 10 NCAA Regionals as a team. In total, Liberty is making the program's 15^th appearance at an NCAA Men's Golf Regional and the 13^th in the last 15 regional events. The Flames have had their team or an individual at an NCAA Regional each season since 2009.

With a top five finish at this year's NCAA Corvallis Regional, the Flames would make their fifth appearance in program history at the NCAA Men's Golf National Championship.

NCAA Corvallis Regional Rankings
Scoreboard Powered by Clippd national as of May 10, 2026
1. Arkansas (No. 6)
2. Texas Tech (No. 7)
3. Oklahoma (No. 17)
4. Charlotte (No. 19)
5. UCLA (No. 30)
6. Notre Dame (No. 31)
7. San Diego (No. 42)
8. Purdue (No. 43)
9. Georgia Southern (No. 56)
10. Oregon State (No. 60)
11. Liberty (No. 80)
12. Xavier (No. 93)
13. Sacramento State (No. 151)

Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Sam Renner, Washington State
2. Avinash Iyer, San Jose State
3. Finn Koelle, Washington
4. Jacob Goode, Washington
5. Emil Borrestuen Herstad, Washington
6. Keshav Mungali, San Jose State
7. Ivan Barahona, San Jose State
8. Alex Lindstrom, Kansas State
9. Dylan Boenning, Washington State
10. Gustav Liljeberg, Oral Roberts

Now on The Tee – Liberty's Starting Five (2025-26 Stroke Average)

Michael Lugiano (70.81)
Josh Ryan (71.53)
Ike Joy (72.06)
Silas Haarer (72.19)
Brett Reid (73.46)
Luke Libbey (73.50)

Tournament Reflections – Liberty's Last Showing at an NCAA Regional:

Liberty's eighth straight NCAA Regional appearance ended with the Flames finishing in 11^th place at the 2024 NCAA Stanford Regional (May 13-15).
The Flames carded a 13-over par 853 (286-286-281) at the Stanford Golf Course (par 70, 6,727 yards) in Stanford, Calif.
Liberty's top finisher in the event was senior Austin Barbin, who signed for a 3-over par 213 (71-72-70) as he finished in a tie for 44^th place.
Ike Joy finished one shot behind Barbin with a 4-over par 214 (72-71-71), which was good for a share of 47^th place.
Isaac Simmons carded a 5-over par 215 (71-76-68), which put him in 51^st place.
Josh Ryan (T52 6-over par 216/72-72-72) and Brett Reid (T56 8-over par 218/72-71-75) rounded out Liberty's finishers at the NCAA Regional event.

From the 18^th Green – Recapping Liberty's Last Time Out:

Liberty claimed its second Conference USA title in three seasons with a pair of dominating match play wins over New Mexico State (4-1) and UTEP (3.5-1.5) on April 30 at the Texarkana Country Club (par 72, 6,969 yards) in Texarkana, Ark.
The Flames needed a back-nine rally during the final round of stroke play to advance to the match play portion of the event.
Entering the third round of stroke play, Liberty was in fifth place, but the Flames carded an 11-under par 277 to move into a share of third place at the end of the round.
Josh Ryan was Liberty's top finisher in the stroke play portion of the championship, finishing in 10^th place with a 5-under par 211 (70-71-70), followed by Silas Haarer, who shared 11^th place with a 4-under par 210 (69-75-68).
During the semifinal match against No. 2 seed New Mexico State, No. 3 seed Liberty won its four matches in convincing fashion.
Ike Joy put the first point on the board with a 5&4 win over Max Chan, followed by a 4&3 win by Silas Haarer over Mateo Payan.
When Michael Lugiano wrapped up his 3&2 win over Javier Delgadillo, Joy Ryan was 3 up with three holes to play.
During the afternoon session, No. 1 seed UTEP, who dominated stroke play with a 31-under par 833 (279-271-283), jumped out to an early lead over No. 3 seed Liberty.
The two teams have become quite familiar with each other in match play, having now met in match play at three-straight championship events.
Liberty defeated UTEP to capture the title in 2024, while the Miners defeated the Flames during the semifinal round in 2025.
The championship match saw a momentum shift during the turn with the Flames leading in three matches and tied in two more following nine holes of play.
Lugiano put the first point on the board for the Flames in the championship match with a convincing 5&4 win over CUSA Golfer of the Year Dylan Teeter on No. 14 (par 4, 441 yards).
Just moments later, Haarer dropped in a lengthy birdie putt on No. 16 (par 5, 560 yards) to secure a 4&2 win over Marc Keller.
On the drivable but uphill No. 17 hole (par 4, 291 yards), Joy was just short of the green off the tee, but he had a nice chipped to within 10 feet to set the stage for the victory.
After his playing partner Alexandre Godin missed a lengthy birdie try from the lower part of the green, Joy sank his third birdie in a row and sixth of the match to claim the title for the Flames with a 2&1 victory.

Birdies and Bogeys – Liberty Team Notes:

Liberty is the top-ranked team in Conference USA and the only team from the league to advance to NCAA Regional play.
The Flames are ranked No. 80, followed by UTEP (No. 84), New Mexico State (No. 103), MTSU (No. 107), Kennesaw State (No. 114), Jax State (No. 145), Sam Houston (No. 150), LA Tech (No. 153), WKU (No. 156), Delaware (No. 180) and Missouri State (No. 287).
Michael Lugiano is Liberty's top-ranked individual golfer as the sophomore is ranked No. 191 in the country.
Lugiano is followed in the rankings by Josh Ryan (No. 325), Ike Joy (397), Silas Haarer (No. 440) and Blake Hogan (No. 587).
Liberty enters the NCAA Corvallis Regional with a 83-63-1 win-loss record (54.8) and with a 285.69 season stroke average.
After missing NCAA Regional play last year for the first time as a team since 2015, Liberty entered the CUSA Men's Golf Championship to return to NCAA postseason play in 2026.
Prior to the 2024-25 season, Liberty had qualified for eight-straight NCAA Regionals as a team and 12 of the last 14 NCAA Regional events (2011-14, 2016-24/no Regionals contested in 2020).
Last year, Liberty's Ike Joy individually qualified for the NCAA Regional play, giving the Flames a representative at NCAA Regional play each year since 2009 (four years with individual appearances and 12 team appearances).

Liberty's Postseason History and Success
Conference Champions (9)

Big South Conference (5) – 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018
ASUN Conference (2) – 2021, 2023
Conference USA (1) – 2024, 2026

NCAA Regional Appearances (14)

At-Large (7) – 2003, 2006, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023
Automatic Bids (8) – 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2024, 2026

NCAA National Championship Appearances (4)

2012 (10^th place), 2019 (20^th place), 2021 (21^st place), 2022 (26^th place)

Conference USA Postseason Honors

Silas Haarer was named the 2026 CUSA Men's Golf Freshman of the Year. Additionally, four members of the championship team were named to various CUSA Men's Golf All-Conference teams.
Sophomore Michael Lugiano highlighted the quartet as he was one of six members on the 2026 CUSA Men's Golf All-Conference first team.
Seniors Ike Joy and Josh Ryan were second-team all-conference honorees, while Haarer was named to the third team and All-Freshman team.
Haarer becomes the eighth player in program history to be named the league's Freshman of the Year and Liberty's first since joining Conference USA three seasons ago. Ryan was the last Flame to receive the honor when he was selected the ASUN Conference Freshman of the Year in 2023.
Haarer is the top ranked freshman golfer in Conference USA as he ranks No. 440 in the latest Scoreboard powered by clippd national rankings.

Liberty's Conference USA Men's Golf All-Conference Honorees

Freshman of the Year: Silas Haarer, Liberty

First Team All-Conference:
Michael Lugiano, Liberty

Second Team All-Conference:
Ike Joy, Liberty
Josh Ryan, Liberty

Third Team All-Conference:
Silas Haarar, Liberty

All-Freshman Team:
Silas Haarer, Liberty

Liberty Team Stat Leaders

Birdies
1. Michael Lugiano – 134
2. Josh Ryan – 120
3. Silas Haarer – 102
4. Ike Joy – 95
5. Luke Libbey – 58
5. Andrew Gregory – 51
7. Evan Barbin – 50
8. Blake Hogan – 46
9. Brett Reid – 34

Pars
1. Ike Joy – 373
2. Silas Haarer – 369
3. Josh Ryan – 340
4. Michael Lugiano – 335
5. Luke Libbey – 247
6. Andrew Gregory – 214
7. Blake Hogan – 195
T8. Evan Barbin – 173
T8. Brett Reid – 173

Eagles
4 – Josh Ryan
3 – Evan Barbin and Luke Libbey
2 – Blake Hogan, Michael Lugiano and Ike Joy
1 – Silas Haarer and Brett Reid
0 – Andrew Gregory

Schedule

Flames Ready for NCAA Corvallis Regional as No. 11 Seed

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Evan Barbin

Andrew Gregory

Silas Haarer

Blake Hogan

Ike Joy

Luke Libbey

Michael Lugiano

Brett Reid

Josh Ryan

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Flames Ready for NCAA Corvallis Regional as No. 11 Seed

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Evan Barbin

Andrew Gregory

Silas Haarer

Blake Hogan

Ike Joy

Luke Libbey

Michael Lugiano

Brett Reid

Josh Ryan

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