Briefs | Soccer: Wizards run MLS unbeaten streak to three

Soccer

Conrad kicks Wizards past New York: Jimmy Conrad matched a career high with his fourth goal of the season, leading the Kansas City Wizards to a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer action Thursday.

Davy Arnaud added a second-half goal for the Wizards, who recorded their first multigoal game since a 3-2 home win over Colorado on April 5. Kansas City is unbeaten in its last three matches, with two wins and a tie, after going winless in the previous seven.

In Thursday's other MLS game, Chivas USA and the Galaxy battled to a 1-1 draw in Los Angeles.

Beckham, Donovan headline All-Star roster: Galaxy stars David Beckham and Landon Donovan headlined the roster for the MLS All-Star Game, which will be played July 24 in Toronto against West Ham United of the English Premier League.

League-leading New England claimed three of the 11 early roster spots for the game — defender Michael Parkhurst, midfielder Shalrie Joseph and goalkeeper Matt Reis.

The first 11 players were chosen based on voting by fans, players, media and coaches/general managers. Donovan led in aggregate votes, while Beckham had the edge in fan voting.

MLS suspends coach: Real Salt Lake's Jason Kreis was suspended for the second time this season by the league for publicly criticizing officials. Kreis, who was also fined $2,000, will miss Saturday's game against Columbus and one the following Saturday at Chicago.

Tennis

Santoro advances to quarters: Defending champion Fabrice Santoro pulled out a first-set tiebreaker and then cruised into the quarterfinals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 victory over Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in Newport, R.I.

In another second-round match, Vince Spadea, making his seventh appearance in Newport, upset third-seeded Nicolas Mahut, 6-2, 6-3.

Ferrer, Robredo win in straight sets: Top-seeded David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo won in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals of the Swedish Open. Ferrer, the defending champion, defeated Boris Pashanski of Serbia 7-5, 6-1. Robredo defeated Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-3.

Hockey

Canucks sign Demitra: Vancouver signed forward Pavol Demitra to an $8 million, two-year contract to bolster its offense. After losing captain Markus Naslund and second-line center Brendan Morrison to free agency, the goal-challenged Canucks need Demitra to find the form that produced at least 35 goals three times over eight seasons with St. Louis. He had a career-high 93 points in 2002-03.

NHL, Russian league reach deal: The NHL reached an agreement with a new Russian hockey league that temporarily ends the threat of players being lured away by big-money offers.

The pact to respect player contracts across all borders followed offers made last month by teams in Russia's Continental Hockey League — which begins play in September — to entice Evgeni Malkin out of the final year of his deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Olympics

Afghan runner missing: The only female athlete on Afghanistan's team for the Beijing Olympics has gone missing from a training camp in Italy and apparently is seeking political asylum in Norway.

Mehboba Ahdyar, a 19-year-old who competes in the 800 meters and 1,500 meters, hasn't been heard from since leaving the training center in Formia last week. Her luggage and passport also were gone. There had been fears that Ahdyar's disappearance could be linked to death threats from Muslim extremists in Afghanistan opposed to women running in the Olympics.

College basketball

Ex-Florida player charged with rape: Teddy Dupay, who played on Florida's runner-up team in the 2000 NCAA tournament, was charged with beating and raping a woman last month at a Utah ski resort.

Dupay, 29, acknowledged in court documents that he and the woman got "a little rough" but denied rape. Investigators say the woman had two fractured ribs, bruises on her arm, shoulder and thigh, a swollen left eye and scratches on her back.

NCAA

Great West expanding: Houston Baptist and Texas-Pan American are among six schools joining the Great West Conference in an expansion from a football-only league.

The former independents will be part of a two-year process of phasing in other sports in the Great West. Additional all-sports newcomers are Utah Valley, North Dakota, South Dakota and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Seattle Times news services