Marinette Pichon picked up a hat trick in the final 14 minutes as Philadelphia stepped back in front in the WUSA with a 3-1 victory Sunday over visiting New York before 6,303 at Villanova Stadium. The French striker took the top spot in the scoring race with her 10th, 11th and 12th goals of the season, recording the fourth three-goal performance in league history. She tallied in the 77th, 79th and 91st minutes as the Charge (9-1-3, 30 points) extended its unbeaten streak to eight games. Philadelphia and Carolina (9-2-3, 30 points) are tied on points, but the Charge is in first place based on the tiebreaker. Third-place Washington (6-5-3, 21 points) is nine points back. Philly plays at Washington next Sunday. Krista Davey tallied for last-place New York (2-11-1, 7 points), which has lost a WUSA-record seven successive matches. The Power has surrendered 41 goals in 14 games, breaking the league record (40) set last year by Carolina in 21 matches. Pichon scored from a Heather Mitts chip — the defender's fourth straight match with an assist — to break a scoreless tie, then made it 2-0 just 76 seconds later on a rebound from Mandy Clemens' header off the crossbar. Davey scored on a beautiful half-volley from 26 yards in the 86th minute to halve the deficit, but Pichon finished Lorrie Fair's errant shot in stoppage time to complete her hat trick. SUNDAY'S SUMMARY July 7 at Villanova, Pa. Philadelphia 3 New York 1. Goals: Pichon (Mitts) 77, Pichon (Clemens, Zhao) 79, Pichon (L. Fair) 91+. Philadelphia — Moore; Mitts, Iverson, Tietjen, Benson; McDowell, L. Fair, Monroe (Liu, 56), Connors (Clemens, 60), Zhao; Pichon. New York — Webber; Pearce, Raveia (Tracy, 82), Whelchel, R. Fair; McIntosh (Baumgardt, 38), Ormen (Davey, 69), Lalor, Rapp (Pearman, 61); Janss, Milbrett. Yellow cards — Philadelphia: Benson 39. Referee — Jennifer Bennett. A — 6,303. SATURDAY'S SUMMARY July 6 at San Diego San Diego 5 Boston 4. Goals: Boxx 17, Foudy (Kester) 23, Fawcett (Boxx) 39, Lindsey (MacMillan) 56, Foudy pen. 92+; Lilly 13, Lilly 28, Meinert (Lilly, Wiegmann) 36, Yohe (Hucles, Meinert) 66. San Diego — Pagliarulo (Smolak, 46); Sauer, Fawcett, Fan, Kraus; Boxx (Tanaka, 72), Lindsey, Foudy; Kester (Tietjen, 82), MacMillan (Mascaro, 70), Zhang. Boston — LeBlanc; Kluegel, Sobrero, McCann, Sanchez (Kemp, 84); Hucles, Gonzalez (Aldama, 46); Lilly, Wiegmann; Meinert (Gulbrandsen, 72), Mellgren (Yohe, 46). Yellow cards — Boston: Sobrero 63. Referee — Rachel Woo. A — 6,149. THURSDAY'S SUMMARY July 4 at Cary, N.C. Carolina 2 San Jose 1. Goals: Prinz (Fotopoulos, Fettig) 42, Riise (Prinz) 88; Venturini-Hoch (Chastain, Sissi) 48. Carolina — Luckenbill; Burt, Fettig, Overbeck, Slaton (Baxter, 54); T. Roberts, Riise, Lehn; James (Anderson, 50), Prinz, Fotopoulos. San Jose — Beene; Chastain, Bryan, Lindsey, Borgman (Alagich, 39), French; Sissi, Venturini-Hoch (Wagner, 72), Dorn; Pretinha (Nanez, 67), Katia (Bell, 77). Yellow cards — San Jose: Dorn 61, Bryan 85. Referee — Arnold Baldeaux. A — 6,211. WEDNESDAY'S SUMMARY July 3 at Washington Washington 2 Atlanta 1. Goals: Barr (Makinen) 11, Bai (Barr, Wambach) 19; own goal Jones 49. Washington — Fahey; S. Little, Moore, Grubb, Barr; Jones, Cook (Hamm, 51), Makinen (Gerardo, 24), Pu (Zimny, 83); Bai (J. Little, 68), Wambach. Atlanta — Scurry; J. Augustyniak, Cromwell, Nonen, N. Augustyniak (Sun, 46); Bivens, Serlenga; Wang (Cagle, 46; Miller, 64), Sawa; Parlow, Hooper. Yellow cards — Washington: Wambach 45; Atlanta: Hooper 58, Bivens 60. Ejection — Washington coach Gabarra 53. Referee — Sandra Hunt. A — 6,578. STANDINGS 1. Philadelphia 9-1-3, 30 points; 1. Carolina 9-2-3, 30; 3. Washington 6-5-3, 21; 4. Atlanta 6-6-1, 19; 5. San Jose 5-5-3, 18; 6. Boston 3-6-5, 14; 7. San Diego 3-7-3, 12; 8. New York 2-11-1, 7. NEXT WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Wednesday, July 10
San Diego at Boston, 7 p.m.
Atlanta at San Jose, 10 p.m. Saturday, July 13
Atlanta at New York, 4 p.m.
Boston at Carolina, 7 p.m. Sunday, July 14
Philadelphia at Washington, 4 p.m.
San Jose at San Diego, 8 p.m. All times EDT. LEADING SCORERS
(G-A–Pts)
1. Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 12-1–25
2. Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 8-8–24
3. Maren Meinert (Boston) 7-8–22
4. Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 8-5–21
5. Hege Riise (Carolina) 5-10–20
6. Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 7-5–19
7. Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 8-2–18
Kristine Lilly (Boston) 5-8–18
9. Katia (San Jose) 8-1–17
Abby Wambach (Washington) 6-5–17