By Scott French, Senior Editor

OUT FOR THE SEASON: U.S. national team forward Shannon MacMillan suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee early in San Diego's 1-1 tie Sunday against visiting Boston. She will miss the remainder of the WUSA season and, most likely, next fall's Women's World Cup.

An magnetic imaging resonance test Monday morning confirmed the ACL tear, which MacMillan sustained in the eighth minute while stretching to corral a ball just moments after Dagny Mellgren gave Boston the lead.

MacMillan said she heard the tell-tale pop and immediately felt ''immense pain.''

''My cleat got stuck [in the turf], and as I went to cut, my knee went one way and my body went the other …,'' she said. ''It was weird. It kind of sounded like when you crack your knuckles.''

The injury will sideline her at least 4-6 months, most likely keeping her out of the World Cup, which is tentatively scheduled to start in mid-to-late September.

Philadelphia rookie Deliah Arrington also suffered a torn ACL tear, ending her season, during the Charge's 2-1 win Saturday at New York. Arrington also collapsed while stretching for a ball; as with MacMillan's injury (and Carolina playmaker Hege Riise's ACL tear last month), there was no contact with an opposing player.

MacMillan is expected to undergo surgery Tuesday. No date has been scheduled for Arrington's operation.

FIRST WINS: Arrington's injury marred preseason favorite Philadelphia's first win of the season, notched on a pair of goals by Marinette Pichon and a fine debut by rookie goalkeeper Hope Solo.

Defending champion Carolina also captured its first win after four losses as Danielle Fotopoulos played a role in every goal of a 5-2 romp at listless Washington.

Pichon, last year's WUSA MVP, scored her first goal — a 60th-minute half-volley from Stacey Tullock's cross — while Arrington lay prone in New York's box. She celebrated by displaying a T-shirt under her jersey bearing injured midfielder Kelly Smith's name and uniform number.

BEST GOAL: Pichon's second goal, in the 81st minute, was art. Rachel Kruze, breaking down the left wing, sent a cross into the box that Power defender Margaret Tietjen and goalkeeper Carly Smolak appeared to have covered.

Pichon, somehow, sneaked between them, and pulled the ball down on one bounce with her right foot. In a fluid motion, she touched it again in midair to maneuver past a leaping Smolak and then nudged the ball with the outside of her left foot to turn Tietjen around and provide herself an open net.

FOTOP GOES OFF: Fotopoulos scored two goals and assisted the other three as Carolina handed Washington its first loss of the season.

She knocked home Breanna Boyd's cross in the fourth minute, made the first pass on Birgit Prinz's 18th-minute goal, set up Nel Fettig in the 29th, made it 4-1 with her second goal in the 39th, then set up Danielle Borgman in the 88th.

Freedom coach Jim Gabarra said he was ''embarrassed'' by his team's performance.

''We never came out of the locker room to start the game,'' he told the Washington Post. ''You can say the train went off the tracks, but the train never got out of the station. We had a team come in desperate for a win, and within four minutes we gave them all the confidence they needed. … You can't call it effort. It was a whole team stepping out on the field and stinking it up.''

DOUBLE DUTY, PT. 2: Atlanta's Cindy Parlow and San Jose's LaKeysia Beene and Brandi Chastain played in two games Saturday, seeing action in the U.S. women's national team's 6-0 romp over England in the afternoon and — after a quick trek from Birmingham, Ala., to Atlanta — in the Beat's 1-0 WUSA triumph that evening.

Parlow scored four goals for the Americans but we held scoreless after coming on in the second half of the nightcap. Beene and Chastain played 90 minutes for the CyberRays after getting in a half against England.

MacMillan and San Diego teammates Aly Wagner, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett, and Boston's Kristine Lilly and Kate Sobrero followed up U.S. appearances with action in Sunday's Spirit-Breakers clash.

RED CARD, NO. 1: Atlanta's Kylie Bivens was the first player sent off this season, picking up yellow cards for reckless play in the 26th and 36th minutes of the Beat's victory over San Jose.

WUSA SUMMARIES WEEK 7: Road wins for Charge, Courage

May 17 at Uniondale, N.Y.
NEW YORK (3-4-0, 9 points) 1 PHILADELPHIA (1-4-0, 3 points) 2.
Goals: Peters 91+; Pichon (Tullock) 60, Pichon 81.
Att.: 3,165.

May 17 at Washington
WASHINGTON (4-1-1, 13 points) 2 CAROLINA (1-4-0, 3 points) 5.
Goals: Stoecker (J. Little, Lindsey) 25, Golebiowski 77; Fotopoulos (Boyd, Prinz) 4, Prinz (Lehn, Fotopoulos) 18, Fettig (Fotopoulos, O'Hanley) 29, Fotopoulos (Lehn) 39, Borgman (Fotopoulos) 88.
Att.: 21,859.

May 17 at Atlanta
ATLANTA (3-1-2, 11 points) 1 SAN JOSE (3-3-0, 9 points) 0.
Goal: Pohlers (Hooper, Scurry) 7.
Red card: Atlanta — Bivens 36.
Att.: 5,630.

May 18 at San Diego
SAN DIEGO (2-1-3, 9 points) 1 BOSTON (3-2-2, 11 points) 1.
Goals: Sullivan 50; Mellgren (Meinert) 8.
Att.: 5,128.