Larson and Zotter Invited to WUSA

Harvard Athletics already has a diverse representation in professional sports to be proud of, with active alumni in the NHL, NFL, and WNBA. By this Sunday, the Crimson may well be adding the fledgling Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) to that distinguished list.

Two former Harvard captains--fullback Jess Larson '00 and forward Beth Zotter '00--have been invited to try out for the WUSA at the first-ever League Combine, which began on Monday in Boca Raton, FL.

"It's unbelievable," Harvard co-captain Lauren Corkery said of her former teammates' opportunity to play in the WUSA. "They deserve it. If playing pro soccer is what they want to do, more power to them."

Larson and Zotter were among approximately 170 players invited to the WUSA Combine out of over 500 applicants. Through the course of this week, the two will play through five full days of games and workouts.

The first-ever WUSA Draft will be held on Saturday and Sunday. The draft results will be posted on wusaleague.com very shortly after they are announced.

Each of the eight WUSA franchises gets 15 picks in the draft. Although some draft picks will be allocated to last-second foreign signees and collegiate players, approximately 100 athletes will be selected to play in the WUSA from the combine.

Larson and Zotter have the potential to be drafted, although nothing is certain.

"It's really difficult to tell," Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton said. "Both have the ability to play at that level, but much of it depends on the coaches' choice. Once you get past the top eight or ten players on any roster, it all depends on what each individual coach wants."

Larson and Zotter compiled a remarkable Ivy record of 26-2 during their tenure at Harvard. In 1999--their final season--the Crimson went 14-1-1 in the regular season and was ranked as high as seventh in the country.

Larson earned 1999 Ivy Player of the Year honors for efforts as Harvard's sweeper. She was the anchor of a Crimson defense that gave up just eight goals during the regular season--the lowest total in the nation.

Zotter earned second team All-Ivy honors in 1999. She may not have tallied the most points on the team, but no one scored bigger goals. She delivered the golden goal that propelled Harvard over league runner-up Penn. Her header in the 81st minute at UConn was the difference in Harvard's first win over the Huskies since 1981.

"I would not be surprised if both of them get drafted," Corkery said. "I think they'll both be in the top 100. I think so highly of them. They did so much for us while they were playing at Harvard."

Larson and Zotter both played soccer throughout the summer and continued in the fall in such faraway locations as Australia.

All of the players at the WUSA Combine have had to play some form of post-collegiate soccer in order to stay competitive. Many athletes have kept their careers going below the international level by playing in club soccer or the W-League.

"[The combine] is going to be very competitive this year," Wheaton said. "It's not just the top people from last year but people who have been out of action for five years. This is a dream come true for them."

For many former collegiate players, leaving their established careers to attempt to play at the $25,000 WUSA League-minimum is far too risky. Although there are a plethora of talented Harvard alumni from the late 90's, none of them chose to attend the combine.

Coming Soon, Two T Stops Away

The WUSA will begin play in April in its inaugural season in eight major markets: Atlanta, the Bay Area, Carolina, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego and Washington D.C.

Although it may sound hard to believe, Harvard was actually contacted when the WUSA Boston franchise began looking for a host site. Harvard facilities were briefly considered as a possibility--but only very briefly.

"We were just wrong in both directions," Wheaton said. "Ohiri Field is too small, and the Football Stadium is too big. The WUSA is aiming for a target crowd of 6,000 to 8,000. When you're at the stadium with that size crowd, it just doesn't feel that intimate."

Instead, the WUSA Boston franchise--now nicknamed the Breakers--has focused its attention on making Tufts its new home for the time being--just a few blocks away from Davis Square. As recently as Monday, the town of Somerville was still holding public hearings on the matter, as local residents are concerned about the lack of parking space.

A vote is expected on the issue within the next few days. If the Tufts host site falls through, the team will rely on its fallback option--Foxboro Stadium, and possibly play doubleheaders with the New England Revolution of the MLS. The concrete slabs of Foxboro, however, are not the intimate setting that WUSA organizers had in mind.

League on the Rise?

The WUSA is still in its nascent stages. At the present moment all teams have five players on their rosters--three resulting from U.S. National Team player allocations and two players from the WUSA Foreign Draft.

Four of the league's eight coaches have yet to be announced, because teams have chosen to wait until the end of the collegiate soccer season and recruit coaches from the NCAA ranks.

Other markets besides Boston have yet to fully resolve their stadium issues. The WUSA has already had to relocate one franchise from Orlando to North Carolina. Such chaos leaves some uncertainty about whether the league will be started on time, but the WUSA staff is working hard to make the league a success.

"They'll be on time," Wheaton said. "They'll get going. They have the ability to meet objectives. They can succeed because they're very popular. They're media darlings right now."

The WUSA's signing of nearly every notable player from the 2000 Olympics and 1999 Women's World Cup has provided a great boost to the league's probability of financial success.

"Women's soccer has come so far, especially in the United States," Corkery said. "The U. S. has gotten so much support from the national team, and I think they'll get continual support. I definitely think the league will do well."

The game of women's soccer has earned great support from the networks as of late. ESPN and ABC both broadcast games of the National Team throughout the summer as it played out its pre-Olympic schedule.

"I'm finding that a lot of people are liking the style of play because the women's game uses more tactics, and it's not entirely athletics," Wheaton said.

The consensus among the league's founding players is that the league will succeed because it is unquestionably the elite league of the world, unlike the MLS which pales in talent-level relative to the top European and Latin leagues. Americans like to watch the best.

Collegiate Changes

It remains uncertain exactly how the existence of a successful professional league would change the attitude of the NCAA student-athletes in women's soccer.

"I don't know if that will have a noticeable effect, that now suddenly players might have the goal of becoming a professional athlete," Wheaton said. "That's a long way down the road, until the league grows very strong. Women's soccer is from the socioeconomic background where it's hard to convince people to come out of school."

It would be impossible for the WUSA not to have any effect on the collegiate game. In late November, Hartford coach Mark Krikorian--that's the same Hartford that the Crimson upset 3-0 in the NCAA Tournament this year--became the first coach to leave the NCAA ranks for the professional game.

"The beginning is most dramatic," Wheaton said. "Three or four NCAA coaches are going to leave to be head coaches, and a few more will probably follow to be assistants. After that it will probably be only or two changes per year."

Krikorian's decision to leave at this juncture means that when he recalls his final career game at Hartford, he'll flash back to senior Ashley Mattison's self-sacrificing goal, senior Meredith Stewart's clutch free kick, or perhaps sophomore Joey Yenne's breakaway goal.

It wouldn't be unrealistic that Krikorian, out of respect for the thrashing he was dealt that day, might pick up a Harvard player or two within a few years.

"Our current team, they've played well enough," Wheaton. "There are some interested, but there are a few more steps in the process."

Everyone will have to wait and see. The WUSA has a long way to go.