Hege Riise's 88th-minute strike Thursday night lifted Carolina past visiting San Jose, 2-1, and into first place in the WUSA standings, three points ahead of Philadelphia. Riise, who beat the CyberRays with a late goal in the teams' previous meeting, in late April, knocked in the rebound of her own blocked shot to carry the Courage (9-2-3, 30 points) before 6,211 at SAS Stadium. ''She's one of the best in the world at what she does,'' San Jose's Brandi Chastain said of Riise. ''What she does is unbalance the defense for just a slight second. How she does that is just being crafty. We were caught off guard.'' German striker Birgit Prinz scored her seventh goal and added an assist for Carolina, extending her point streak to a WUSA-record eight games — the length of her WUSA career. Danielle Fotopoulos, who assisted on Prinz's 42nd-minute goal, also has points in each of her past eight games. Fotopoulos is second in the WUSA scoring race, and Riise moved to third. Prinz is tied for fourth. Carolina has played two more games than Philadelphia (8-1-3, 27 points), which plays host to last-place New York on Sunday. The victory was the Courage's fourth in succession and fifth in six games played over a 20-day span. San Jose (5-5-3, 18 points) fell into fifth place with Washington's victory Wednesday night. The CyberRays, the better team in the first half and in the opening minutes of the second, pulled even in the 48th minute when Tisha Venturini-Hoch finished a Chastain flick. The former University of North Carolina All-American has scored three of her six career goals against the Courage. San Jose managed only three goals on a three-game East Coast trip, two of them by Venturini-Hoch. 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. Carolina 9-2-3, 30 points; 2. Philadelphia 8-1-3, 27; 3. Washington 6-5-3, 21; 4. Atlanta 6-6-1, 19; 5. San Jose 5-5-3, 18; 6. Boston 3-5-5, 14; 7. San Diego 2-7-3, 9; 8. New York 2-10-1, 7. THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES
Saturday, July 6
Boston at San Diego, 4 p.m. Sunday, July 7
New York at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. All times EDT. LEADING SCORERS
(G-A–Pts)
1. Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 8-7–23
2. Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 8-5–21
3. Hege Riise (Carolina) 5-10–20
4. Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 9-1–19
Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 7-5–19
Maren Meinert (Boston) 6-7–19
7. Katia (San Jose) 8-1–17
Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 8-1–17
Abby Wambach (Washington) 6-5–17
10. Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 6-1–13
Kristine Lilly (Boston) 3-7–13