The Tufts Quidditch team, the Tufflepuffs, entered the 2013 season as one of the top programs in North America, and they have only improved their reputation this season. With a program building on its recent success, the Tufflepuffs have turned a mix of young and veteran players into a formidable force that is well on its way to competing in the World Cup come April.
No. 16 Tufts has been battling some of the top teams in the country (and Canada) throughout the fall. Most recently, their results at the Turtle Cup at the University of Maryland on the weekend of Oct. 26 proved that Tufts can compete with the best in the country.
After sweeping the round-robin portion of the weekend, Tufts easily handled the University of Richmond, going on a 40-point run as Richmond dealt with early penalty trouble. By the time senior seeker BJ Mestnik grabbed the snitch to clinch the 120-40 win, the Tufflepuffs were on their way to the semifinals.
The semifinals saw Tufts as underdogs against the No. 7 NYDC Capitalists, an all-star team of former college Quidditch standouts. Once again, Tufts jumped out to an early lead and kept the game close. It was a marathon of a match, yet Mestnik was able to grab the snitch to cap off a 190-170 upset. An ensuing loss to No. 9 Emerson did little to dampen the mark Tufts left on the competition.
Their beater strategy definitely won the game, NYDC keeper Michael Parada said of the semifinals. We couldnt take advantage of our athleticism.
Parada, a former standout at Penn State and one of the top players in the country, left the game impressed with the Tufflepuffs. He praised sophomore Hannah DaBaets as one of the best female chasers in college and called the teams strategy one of the best in the country.
What they lack in athleticism, the Tufflepuffs make up for in depth and tactics. Tufts has taken advantage of a rule stating that, of the teams seven players in the game, at least two must be of different gender than the others. While some teams treat this as a handicap, junior Matthew Cardarelli considers the female players to be the teams biggest strength. This top-down talent allows the Tufflepuffs to rely on their depth, which helped them overcome injuries to players like senior Michael Sanders during the Turtle Cup.
The Tufflepuffs have made changes to adapt to a sport that is still in its relative infancy. Last year, the Tufflepuffs qualified for the World Cup (the Super Bowl of the Quidditch world) but once again failed to match their second-place finish in 2010.
But Tufts took away some key lessons from the experience. The beater strategy that perplexed NYDC was adopted from West coast teams, who tend to use a more aggressive defense than their eastern counterparts. With beaters such as Cardarelli, Sanders and sophomore Arlene Rosenberg playing out front, the Tufflepuffs have pushed back opponents, opening the field for their chasers while relying on junior keeper Steven Mullahoo to protect the net and provide additional offense.
Although juniors and seniors have grabbed the headlines, the underclassmen provide reason for optimism both now and for the future.
Recruiting has really picked up over the last two years, Cardarelli said. The reason we have been improving so quickly is ... the amount of young players that have really picked up the sport.
The Tufflepuffs are now gearing up for Northeast Regionals on Nov. 16-17. While they will have to cope without Mestnik at Regionals, the Tufflepuffs are considered near locks to place in the top 12 and secure another trip to the World Cup in April.
