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History of the A's |
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"The Athletics of '98 Are All Right" |
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LACROSSE The
Daily Standard Monday
May 30, 1898 The
championship season of the Canadian Lacrosse Association commences this
week and the Tecumseh–Elms play the Athletics here on Saturday afternoon
next. This game will undoubtedly be one of the best-contested lacrosse
matches ever seen in the city. The visitors’ team will comprise a number
of last year’s Elms and Tecumseh players who are now known at the
Tecumseh–Elms lacrosse club. The Athletics will not underestimate the
strength of the Toronto team and as a consequence plan a week’s very
hard practice work to prepare for Saturday’s game. The
executive of the Athletics lacrosse club will meet at the Grand Central
Hotel to-night at 8:30 o’clock. WON
THE FIRST LEAGUE GAME THE
ATHLETICS HAVE
NO DIFFICULTY
IN DEFEATING
THE TORONTO
PLAYERS Monday
June 6, 1898 The
Athletics of ’98 are all right This
was demonstrated to a nicety on Saturday afternoon when they met and
defeated the Tecumseh–Elms of Toronto by a score of eight straight. The
score would seem to indicate that the home team had it all their own way,
or that the other fellows couldn’t play the game, yet neither assertions
is correct. The Tecumseh–Elms form a splendid team, are good stick
handlers and play fast; only the Athletics are a little better. The
Athletics of ’98 will compare very favorably with any of their
predecessors. There are many new players on the team and the new blood
gave a very satisfactory exhibition on Saturday. A couple of changes are
all that is required to perfect the team. The
game on Saturday started out with a rush, and the first two goals were
scored after as fast play as has been seen on the field. The wise ones
said, “the boys can’t stand it, the pace is too fast, they’ll soon
tire,” but the wise ones were wrong and the conclusion of the match saw
the Athletics comparatively fresh. The
first goal was scored after five minutes of hot play. McIlwain had the
honor of making the first shot on goal, a scrimmage resulted and the ball
landed in the net. The
second game was marked by a hot shot on goal by Gourlay, which was
brilliantly side-tracked by Angus. Then Tod Downey put a swift one on, but
this too was stopped. In fact, the Toronto goal keeper proved himself a
good one. Finally Frankie McIlwain secured the rubber and with a swift
shot scored. Time, 23 minutes. The
third and fourth games came easily. Tod Downey captured No. 3 inside of
three minutes and just 30 seconds after play was resumed, Gourlay
duplicated the trick. The
fifth game was well contested. The Toronto boys deserve credit for putting
up so strong a game, for it took 13 minutes of brilliant play for the home
team to score. In this game, McIlwain went to the fence for giving one of
the visitors the “drop.” The
last three goals were scored by the Athletics in very short order. The
combination play of the team this year is exceptionally good and it is
difficult to point out wherein it could be improved upon. The Tecumsehs
play very good “com” too. For
the visitors, Hartley, Kelly, Patterson and their goal tender, Angus, put
up good lacrosse, while the Athletics honors went to Pringle, McIlwain,
Richardson, Tod Downey and Gourlay. There
were paid admissions to the amount of $125. The
teams lined up for the game as follows:
Field
captains – John Cameron, Athletics; Dan Rose, Tecumseh–Elms. Lionel
King of Peterboro gave satisfaction as referee, as did Jas. Chaplin and H.
Rodgers as umpires. |