So you wonder what I do with all y time I put towards Quidditch. Well, I either go to events or I write articles for the IQA website almost every week. And other admin/ convention stuff. This is one of my favourite events to go to every year, so enjoy!

(via the International Quidditch Association, and this is my recap)

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday, April 14th, as the IV Annual Butterbeer Classic got underway at Vassar College (Poughkepsie, NY). Six teams battled each other for victory, with this year’s tournament seeing teams like Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY), Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY), Chestnut Hill College (Philadelphia, PA), and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY), face-off with returning team University of Massachusetts Amherst (Amherst, MA) and host Vassar College.

Photo Credit: Caitlin Ghegan

Pool Play

Gameplay consisted of 2 pools: #1 with Vassar, UMass and Skidmore; and #2 with Ithaca, RPI and Chestnut Hill. Vassar came out of pool play 2-0 with a score differential of 130+ and RPI dominated 2-0 with 140+. UMass went 1-1 in their pool with a score differential of 60+, while Ithaca (1-1 as well) had a differential of 30+. Skidmore (0-2) was down by 70 and Chestnut Hill (0-2) was was down by 170.

Single Elimination

Vassar beat Ithaca in the first single elimination game, while UMass won a hard-fought game against RPI for the second bracket-play victory. Skidmore and Chestnut Hill played a close game, though Skidmore eventually triumphed, earning 5th place while Chestnut Hill finished 6th.

Consolation match

RPI, who had managed to tire out Ithaca in their round robin game win, found they had to work hard to keep up with Ithaca for the second matchup between the two strong teams. After watching other teams play and having some time to gather up strength, Ithaca was able to snatch 3rd place, giving RPI 4th.

Finals match

Finals saw Vassar facing off with UMass in a very intense championship match. After a big defeat in the round robin matchup between the two teams, UMass stepped it up for the finals and gave everything they could. However, though UMass played with much more energy and better defense this time, Vassar was able to hold them off to claim 1st place. UMass was still honored to receive a well-earned 2nd.

Final Tournament results:

1^st—Vassar

2^nd—UMass

3^rd—Ithaca

4^th—RPI

5^th—Skidmore

6^th—Chestnut Hill

The tournament ended with an awards ceremony, followed by lots of hugs, a game of dodgeball with Slytherclaw vs. Gryffinpuff and a few rounds of Ninja. Check out this nice recap video of this event (created by Ben Meisel), and a great article from Vassar’s newspaper that sums up the matches.

SCORES ARE UPDATED BELOW!

Round Robin:

• Vassar vs UMass Amherst 120-20 Vassar/snitch caught by Vassar
• Ithaca vs RPI 60-70 RPI/snitch catch by RPI
• Vassar vs Skidmore 70-40 Vassar/snitch caught by Skidmore
• Ithaca vs Chestnut Hill 50-10 Ithaca/Snitch caught by Ithaca
• UMass Amherst vs Skidmore 70-30 UMass Amherst/snitch catch by UMass
• RPI vs Chestnut Hill 140-10 RPI/Snitch catch by RPI

Eliminations:

• Vassar vs Ithaca 120-0 Vassar/snitch catch by Vassar
• UMass Amherst vs RPI 80-30 Umass/Snitch catch by UMass
• SKidmore vs Chestnut Hill 90-20 Skidmore/sntich catch by Skidmore
• Ithaca vs RPI 150-70 Ithaca/snitch catch by Ithaca
• Vassar vs UMass –80-50 Vassar/ snitch caught by UMass

Photo Highlights (also thanks to Ben Meisel):