By Scott French, Senior Editor WORST TO …: Carolina has made its worst-to-(almost)-first run complete, picking up six points last week in WUSA wins over bottom-feeders New York and San Diego to pull even with Philadelphia at 27 points. Much has been made of Coach Marcia McDermott's rebuilding effort after last year's failure, and only Philadelphia has been able to beat the Courage in 2001, handing it both its defeats. Since Birgit Prinz's arrival at the end of May, Carolina has been something else. The German striker and Norwegian playmaker Hege Riise are among a small group of MVP candidates to surface by midseason. Prinz scored two goals in the first 22 minutes and added an assist on Riise's 79th-minute gamewinner in Wednesday's 3-2 victory at New York, and she added a goal — her sixth in seven WUSA appearances — and an assist in the 3-0 romp over visiting San Diego on Saturday. Prinz already has risen to eighth among WUSA scoring leaders with 16 points, just seven behind leading scorer Tiffeny Milbrett. She and teammate Danielle Fotopoulos have notched points in each of Prinz's seven games. Carolina is 5-1-1 in that span; the only blemishes are a 2-2 tie at Boston on June 8 and a 3-1 loss at home against Philly on June 19. ''Birgit is so critical for us,'' McDermott said after the win over San Diego. ''She draws so much attention [from opponents], and she creates so many opportunities for our team. And she is so deadly with the chances she gets.'' Riise assisted on three of Carolina's six goals last week, giving her 10 for the season — tying the record set last year by Boston's Kristine Lilly and San Jose's Sissi. STILL ON TOP: French striker Marinette Pichon is the third top candidate, in addition to Prinz and Riise, for the MVP award a little more than halfway through the campaign. She scored twice in Philly's 3-1 victory over Atlanta, her third two-goal performance. The Charge, technically, are alone atop the WUSA standings. Its two wins in Carolina assure victory in the season series between the clubs, the first standings tiebreaker the league uses. Philadelphia also has a superior goal differential (plus-13 to plus-11) and has earned its 27 points in one fewer game than the Courage. STARTING OVER: New York has played better, except on defense, than its 2-10-1 record indicates. After losses at home to Carolina on Wednesday and Washington on Saturday, the Power has surrendered 38 goals in 13 matches. New York has given up 16 goals in its past four games. If Philadelphia manages to score three on Sunday — very likely — the Power will break Carolina's record for defensive ineptitude with a third of the season remaining. It's what cost Coach Patrick Farmer his job last week, the second WUSA coach to be dismissed within a month. His assistant, Charlie Duccilli, has taken charge on an interim basis. The most he can hope to do is plug the dike. While New York is far from mathematically eliminated from the postseason race, the playoffs — let's be honest — are well out of reach. BEST GOAL: We like Mia Hamm's stoppage-time finish to Washington's 4-1 romp over New York, her second goal of the match and fourth in four games (152 minutes) she's played since returning from a knee injury. The shot, a looping left-footer from the left wing, just outside the box, cleared Power goalkeeper Gao Hong en route to the upper-right corner. ''Scoring goals does something for my confidence,'' said Hamm, who came on as a halftime substitute for Washington, ''but I don't want to be a player that comes off the bench. I want to play a full 90 minutes.'' FINALLY, GULBRANDSEN: Norwegian forward Ragnhild Gulbrandsen, one of the big names the WUSA lured over for the second season, finally made her debut on Saturday, playing the final 11 minutes — plus stoppage — in Boston's 1-1 tie with visiting San Jose. Gulbrandsen demonstrated her forte — winning balls in the air to set up chances for teammates — to great effect if not great impact, and she showed off some nifty foot skills, too. There seems little doubt that she possesses the WUSA's best aerial game, all apologies to Cindy Parlow. Gulbrandsen should have been on the field earlier for the Breakers, but Norwegian champ Trondheims-Orn, her former club, used her for 90 minutes of a UEFA Women's Cup quarterfinal match in March while she was recovering from foot surgery performed late last year. It was an insane decision that set Gulbrandsen back a couple months in her recovery. It has been costly, too, for Boston, which sits sixth in the standings with a 3-5-5 mark. Adding Gulbrandsen to an attack that already features Lilly, Maren Meinert, Dagny Mellgren and Bettina Wiegmann could (should?) be enough to push the Breakers into the top four. She's that good, but success may depend on how quickly she's ready to go 90 minutes. YELLOW FEVER: Not this week. In five games, referees saw need to caution only four players. WUSA SUMMARIES WEEK 12: Carolina picks up 6 points June 26 at Uniondale, N.Y.
NEW YORK (2-9-1, 7 pts.) 2 CAROLINA (7-2-3, 24 pts.) 3. Goals: McIntosh (Whelchel) 34, Janss (Milbrett) 66; Prinz (Riise, Fotopoulos) 14, Prinz (James, Riise) 22, Riise (Prinz) 79.
Att.: 5,022. June 29 at Boston
BOSTON (3-5-5, 14 pts.) 1 SAN JOSE (5-4-3, 18 pts.) 1. Goals: Lilly (Meinert, Mellgren) 26; Katia (Sissi) 23.
Att.: 7,014. June 29 at Uniondale, N.Y.
NEW YORK (2-10-1, 7 pts.) 1 WASHINGTON (5-5-3, 18 pts.) 4.
Goals: Pearman (Milbrett) 66; S. Little (Bai, Jones) 30, Makinen 38, Hamm 62, Hamm (Milburn, J. Little) 91+.
Att.: 8,052. June 29 at Villanova, Pa.
PHILADELPHIA (8-1-3, 27 pts.) 3 ATLANTA (6-5-1, 19 pts.) 1. Goals: Pichon (Zhao, Benson) 34, Iverson (Mitts, J. Tietjen) 47, Pichon (Liu, Monroe) 73; Sun (Bivens) 80.
Att.: 6,844. June 29 at Cary, N.C.
CAROLINA (8-2-3, 27 pts.) 3 SAN DIEGO (2-7-3, 9 pts.) 0. Goals: Slaton (Riise) 19, Prinz (T. Roberts, Barnes) 29, Fotopoulos (Prinz) 68.
Att.: 5,340.