Soccer League championship next week when they play in the American Conference semi-final play-offs.

Harrisburg, who won the East Division for the first time thanks largely to Bascome's 38 goals in 31 games, are confident they can make amends for their showing against St. Louis in the 1995 championship final, when they were swept four straight in the best-of-seven series.

"I would say this team is even better than the one that made the championship,'' said Bascome.

Last year the team did not even advance past the first round of the play-offs.

"We have seven guys who haven't played in the play-offs before so the intensity is high,'' said the Bermudian.

Bascome totalled 91 scoring points during the regular season, second in the team behind Mark Pulific (47 goals, 116 points), although Bascome missed nine games beceause of a shoulder injury in February. Since returning to action on March 7, he has been wearing a soft brace to protect the shoulder.

Harrisburg won their division with a 22-18 record from their 40 games and along with the three other division winners automatically advance to the conference semi-finals, beginning April 11. Harrisburg will play the highest remaining seed from the two quarter-final matches between Baltimore and Philadelphia and Tampa and Cincinnati.

Bascome thinks the championship winners will come from one of four teams, Harrisburg, Kansas, St. Louis and Cleveland. The latter, he says, have two of the best players in the league in Canada's Hector Maronira and Zaron Karic of Yugoslavia. Cleveland won the Central Division of the American Conference and could end up meeting Harrisburg in the conference final.

"We started back training today and we'll get stuck into some intense training and hope that can carry us through,'' said Bascome.

"The last time we swept Cleveland 3-0 so if we want to get to the championship, the big dance, we will have to sweep them again. We actually beat St. Louis on March 15 so all the so-called big teams have been losing.

"With us being off so long and the weather being nice up here I'm just hoping the players don't get too laid back. We made it to the championship before and nobody thought we would get that far. We've been beating the top teams and we feel we can go all the way.'' Bascome's injury -- a dislocated shoulder -- came just after he was selected for the All-Star game in Baltimore. He wasn't able to play but he did get an all-expenses paid trip from the club to travel to the match.

"They did acknowledge me but not playing was tough,'' Bascome admitted. "I was excited to be there and to get voted by my peers.'' Things have been going so well for Bascome lately that he recently signed a new two-year contract. He is planning to return home on May 24 for a break and to stage the soccer clinics he has been running for the past few years with England-based pro Shawn Goater.