Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/261

238 more likely to be missed than swift. The Indians generally win by slow close shots, and curved balls dropped upon the flags. A swift straight throw is easier to stop as a rule, because you can calculate upon its course better than a moderately slow. The effect of swift balls is increased by their liability of breaking the netting of your crosse, and exciting the terror of maiming.

Bunching Game.—It is the highest art of goal- guarding to contest successfully against a bunch of opponents, especially if they be frantic Indians fighting your men for the ball. Stoop down low, and keep your eye on the ball. No opponent has a right to stand waiting for the rubber so as to impede the action of your crosse. The Indians used to do this, until their feet and legs were so unmercifully mauled that they gave the goal-keeper room for action. Do not let Point help you in a bunch: he ought to have enough to do without backing up parallel with you. A ball, tipped or thrown at the flags, should be stopped by only one crosse after it passes the line of the goal-crease; two, or more, only interfere.

Regulating Points.—It would be a wise principle to establish, that goal-keeper, if he has the tact,