Prospects for the Women's United Soccer Association, the new women's professional league set to begin play next spring, are gathering at the City of Largo Soccer Complex this weekend with the hopes of impressing representatives of WUSA clubs and getting invitations to future tryouts.

The W-League Showcase will feature 74 of the league's top players this weekend between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

The showcase will feature former U.S. Women's National Team players and NCAA All-Americans, including Raleigh's Thori Bryan and Tammy Pearman of the Maryland Pride.

Also attending will be Goalkeeper of the Year Danielle Dion, who led the Chicago Cobras to the 2000 W-1 National Championship, and teammates Marci Miller, Staci Burt and Lisa Krzykowski. Kim Yankowski, the three-time assist leader for the Raleigh Wings, also will attend with Nel Fettig, the three-time Defender of the Year and 2000 Rookie of the Year Lisa Boggs.

United Soccer Leagues is working on an affiliation agreement between WUSA and the W-League.

MORE SOCCER: The office of fired Bayer Leverkusen coach Christoph Daum was searched and he was dropped as Germany's national coach as part of a drug investigation. Leverkusen officials, who say Daum is in Naples, Fla., said the coach insisted he was innocent despite testing positive in a hair analysis following weeks of rumors of heavy cocaine use. ... Juventus star Zinedine Zidane was suspended for five games for head-butting an opponent during a Champions League game.

BASKETBALL: The Indianapolis Star is suing Indiana University to force it to release records related to the firing of coach Bob Knight.

COLLEGES: Led by Olivier Levant, the Florida men's tennis team won eight of 11 matches against visiting Miami in the first day of the Gator Invitational. UF and Miami split doubles matches. Matt Behrmann and Nathan Overholser won 8-5, and Levant and Jeremy Wurtzman beat Miami's Michael Lang and Jose Lieberman. South Florida won four of seven singles matches and two of three doubles contests against Auburn. The Bulls' Paco Antelo beat Mark Kovacs 6-5, 6-2.

... Florida's Annika Bengtsson and Julia Scaringe advanced to the semifinals of the Hurricane Fall Classic tennis tournament. The Gator doubles team of Stephanie Hazlett and Scaringe also reached the semifinals. ... The defending champion Connecticut women's basketball team received 13 of 14 votes as the top Big East team. Rutgers, which along with UConn advanced to the Final Four last April, had the other first-place vote and finished second. Notre Dame was third, Boston College fourth. ... Temple, which had an open date after Cincinnati canceled a Jan. 20 game because of a scheduling error, filled a gap in its men's basketball schedule with a game against DePaul. ... Enda Johnson of Brown won the Heptagonal Games Association men's 5-mile cross-country championship at New York's Van Cortlandt Park in 24 minutes, 56.3 seconds. That was 25 yards in front of Tom McArdle of Dartmouth, followed by Eddie Baker of Harvard. Sara Tindall of Brown repeated as champion in the women's 3.1-mile race, in 17:32.8. Kim Thalmann of Brown was second in 17:36.55, and Melissa Foon of Navy third in 17:39.26. ... The Florida women's swimming and diving team finished with a 4-1 record while the men's team finished 2-3 in the SEC Eastern Division Dual Meet Extravaganza.Led by Erica Bunch's 23 kills, the FSU volleyball team defeated visiting Virginia 3-2. Visiting Clemson beat the Florida women's soccer team 4-3. Abby Wambach scored twice for UF.

CYCLING: Former Olympic and world champion Chris Boardman set a world one-hour cycling record in the final race of his career. The 32-year-old Englishman covered 30.722 miles, eclipsing the record of 30.716 set by Eddy Merckx in 1972.

FIGURE SKATING: Michelle Kwan finished first in the women's short program at Skate America 2000 with a new routine that included a near-flawless triple flip. Sarah Hughes was second. China's Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao scored highest in the pairs short program. Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were second, followed by Russia's Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, and Americans Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn.

HORSES: Overview beat Mc Henry Co. Kid by a neck in the $81,775 Hopemont Stakes for 2-year-olds at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky. ... Saint Joseph won by 31/4 lengths in Aqueduct's $48,000 allowance feature for 3-year-olds and up.

SAILING: Ed Baird, Chris Dickson, James Spithill and Russell Coutts advanced to the semifinals of the Colorcraft Gold Cup in near perfect conditions on Hamilton Harbour in Bermuda.

TENNIS: U.S. Open champion Marat Safin downed Vladimir Voltchkov 7-6, 6-1 to reach the semifinals of the $2-million Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Yevgeny Kafelnikov beat Lars Burgsmuller 6-3, 6-2, and Marc Rosset overcame leg pain to beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-7, 6-4, 7-6. In women's play, Nathalie Tauziat will meet Anna Kournikova in a semifinal, with Amelie Mauresmo another semifinalist. ... Top-seeded Anne-Gaelle Sidot was beaten in the quarterfinals of the Eurotel Slovak Indoor tournament in Bratislava, Slovakia, losing to Miriam Oremans 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. Third-seeded Justine Henin was beaten by Daniela Bedanova 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Denisa Chladkova eliminated Sylvia Plischke 7-6, 6-3. ... Lleyton Hewitt defeated Greg Rusedski 7-6, 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the Swiss Indoors. Thomas Enqvist beat Dominik Hrbaty 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Enqvist will face Tim Henman, with Hewitt facing Roger Federer.

OBITUARY: Longtime Southern California track and field coach Vern Wolfe, who coached the Trojans to seven men's NCAA championships from 1964-84, died Wednesday in Fallbrook, Calif. He was 78. Wolfe had Parkinson's disease.

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