Seven more WUSA veterans, including U.S. national team pool players LaKeysia Beene and Lorrie Fair and Mexican national-teamer Monica Gonzalez, have signed contracts to play this year with the California Storm of the Women's Premier Soccer League.
Their additions give the Sacramento-based team 10 players who competed last season in the WUSA.
Four of the new signings — Beene, Betsy Barr, Christina Bell and Kim Patrick — join the Storm from the San Jose CyberRays. Their teammates Brandi Chastain, Sissi and Keri Sanchez previously signed with the Storm.
Also added to the Storm roster is Washington Freedom striker Laura Schott, who went to school at California.
Fair, a midfielder/defender from the Philadelphia Charge, grew up in the Bay Area. Gonzalez, a defender who played for the Boston Breakers, is from Texas. Beene, a goalkeeper, and Barr, a defensive midfielder, grew up near Sacramento.
Patrick, a forward, played for the Storm most of last season before her contract was purchased by the CyberRays.
The WUSA suspended operations in mid-September but is working toward a planned 2005 relaunch. The league plans to stage ''up to'' three ''festivals'' in June, each a doubleheader featuring top WUSA players.
Sources report that one of the doubleheaders will be played in Cary, N.C. The league, in a release distributed Wednesday, announced that Atlanta, Boston; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Fort Lauderdale; Hampton Roads, Va.; Minneapolis/St. Paul; New York/Long Island; Philadelphia; Rochester; San Diego; San Jose; and Washington had expressed interest in staging a ''festival.''
One of the ''festivals'' may be staged in an ''all-star format.''
Philadelphia Charge midfielder Alexa Borisjuk and Boston Breakers forward Erin O'Grady signed last month with the WPSL's New England Mutiny.
The California-based WPSL is one of two national Division II women's leagues in North America. The Storm, two-time WPSL champions, lost to the Utah Spiders in last year's WPSL final.
Clubs with the W-League, which is affiliated with the Florida-based United Soccer Leagues, also are expected to add WUSA players to their rosters.