The Portland daily press., 1897-12-31
MCKAY IN ALL RIGHT.
Portland's New Player Strengthens
the Team Greatly.
BATH WAS EASILY DEFEATED
LAST NIGHT.

Rushers-The Goal Tending Last
Night Was Maenlficent-Port1and will
Now Climb the Ladder Rapid.
The new man did it. Mckay is all
right.
Portland defeated Bath last night at
polo In City hall in a strictly scientific
game. Mckay appeared here for the first
time, and by his GOODNESS and steady play
ing ADDED great strength to the Portland
team and completely demorallzed Bath.
Inc visitors put up a strong gamc and
were particularly good on the defensive,
but they could accomplish nothing in
aggressive playing. McGilvray and j.
Mooney, two of the best rushers in the
state, found themselves outclassed and
impotent when they rushed against any
of the Portland men on the defense. The
real score was, Portland, 4; Bath, /, and
the contest was as interesting as any
| which has been seen here this season. A
special feature of last nights game was
the goal tending on both teams. 1t was
without exception the finest ever seen in
Portland and both goal tenders were ap-
plauded again and again.
| The crowd last night was anxious to
sen the new man signed by Manager
Burnham, of whom SO much has been
said. When he appeared on the floor they
saw q tall, athletic young man with the
cool and self possessed manner Of veter-
an polo player. The Bath players went
| into the game with their customary dash,
but though the new man did not seem to
touch the ball very often it was at once
apparent that something was going
wrong with the Bath rushers Neither
OF them could get close enough to the
Portland goal to get shot at 1t, and
whenever they tried to do any passing at
Portland's end of the floor they accom-
plished nothing and lust the ball. Turn
bull devoted himself assiduously to block
ing off one of the rushers and spelling ali
of his plays, while the new man, Mckay,
cared for the other rusher with ease
When Mckay did get the ball into his
hands in the first period he did not seem
to do much with it, and TO tell the truth,
the crowd was little disappointed in
l
first rush and Curtis was in the second
position. Whipple was new to the work
and Baths defense proved too strong for
him at first. They gave Burgess some
thing to look after, but did not make 1t
nearly as lively for him at first as they
did later on.
The first period wore away slowly with
out either team scoring. In fact it began
to look as il the Baths never would be
able to score, so effective was the Port
land defense. Turnbull was steadily at
tending to business and playing with all
of his accustomed snap and vigor. Nc
Kay's fine work began to show up before
the period was over. and he became a
favorite with the crowd and his work was
frequently applauded. Before the crowd
ireelized it the first period was over and
Bath began to see that they had run ur
against very firm defense ami stronger
team than they met here on Christmas
afternoon.
But the team from the ship building
city is composed of polo players, and they
did not reckon themselves beaten because
they had not met with their accustomed
success at first. They began the second
period more carefully and relied upor
their team work to overcome the Portland
defense. 1t soon appeared that they wers
not in the race, and while they gradually
became demoralized the Portland team
steadied down a trifle and began to give
tho visitors all they could attend to il
protecting their own territory. For 6
long time the ball was kept down al
Baths end OF the hall and Whipple ant
Curtis constantly volleyed it towards
Burgess, whose stops were remarkable
Finally Turnbull stole the ball from Nc,
calvary at the centre of the floor ant
passed it to Whipple, who Gagged it in fine
style, winning Portlands' first goal. The
crowd was wide awake now and yelled
its approval A little later and Mooney
had good shot at Portland's cage. He
raised his stick and struck the ball. Nc
Kay caught the shot on the end of his
stick and by a clever piece of worl
passed it back to Baths end of the flool
on the fly. Whipple struck the ball in thu
air and batted it into Baths goal. Thi,
turning of sure thing for Bath into
goal for Portland set the crowd yelling
with delight again, and McKay's popu
larity, if it was at first in doubt, wa
now an assured thing. Just before tn,
period ended Turnbull had McGilvar,
cornered with the ball when j. Moone,
stole it from him and by a fine shot cage;
ii, thus winning Baths first and onl,
goal The score at the end of the seoont
period was Portland, q Bath, 1 and TIN
visitors were by this time utterly demon
allied and their team work was forgotten
Whipple did not capture hardly any O
the rushes last night, but he did some
thing which was far better for Portland
Mooney uncovered the spot almost over,
time, but Whipple blocked the ball an,
carried it with him toward Baths goa
and Burgess was credited with q sto,
each time rush was made. Whippl
and Curtis got down in to the harness il
the last period and began to work vel