This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
By Nancy Carmona ’19
The cool autumn sun shone during the first tournament of the year for the Quidditch team recently. The team, which consists of 16 players, ranging from first-year students to seniors, played against Stockton, Rowan, and West Chester universities.
After an initial loss of 90 to 10 against Stockton, the players quickly rebounded to win 150 to 50 against Rowan. They secured their second-place position after beating West Chester 140 to 110.
Captain Will Pfadenhauer ’20 acknowledged the team had been off to a slow start after the off-season. “We found ourselves in an early hole where we were down 50 or 60,” he says. “I really liked how the whole team stayed with it and worked really hard, and were ultimately able to turn it around and get the win against Rowan and West Chester.”
Quidditch was invented by J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, and now has more than 200 real-life university teams around the world. It’s a contact sport that has elements from rugby and dodgeball. Players run with PVC pipes between their legs (mimicking broomsticks) across a 66-yard playing field as they try to get a ball into the opposing team’s three hooped goal posts to accumulate points.
Quidditch President Jamie Taber ’19 underlines the excitement in participating in a sport only a few years older than some of the students playing it. “It’s nice to play a full-contact, real sport that also has that connection to Harry Potter,” she says. “It’s cool to figure out a sport that is just forming. Our strategy changes even from season to season, and it is great to be able to keep up with that and figure it out.”
The Quidditch team next competed in the Chestnut Hill Tournament, one of the largest tournaments of the year, finishing third of eight. The team’s next competition is the Vassar Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 10.
Photos by Brianna Esker
