Defending champion Carolina and preseason favorite Philadelphia on Saturday halted losing streaks and picked up their first victories of the WUSA season on the road.

Danielle Fotopoulos scored two first-half goals and added three assists as the Courage romped past first-place Washington, 5-2, at RFK Stadium, giving rookie coach Jay Entlich his first WUSA triumph.

Marinette Pichon netted a pair of goals as Philadelphia toppled New York, 2-1, at Mitchel Athletic Complex.

Carolina and Philadelphia had opened the season with four losses, falling at least eight points behind each of the other six clubs.

A look at Saturday's action:

Philadelphia 2 New York 1: Pichon scored twice and the visiting Charge avenged the 5-4 defeat two weeks earlier to claim its first victory of the season before 3,156 in Uniondale, N.Y.

The French forward, WUSA MVP last season, half-volleyed a Stacey Tullock cross in the 60th minute and outmanuevered goalkeeper Carly Smolak and defender Margaret Tietjen to turn a bouncing ball into an empty-net goal in the 81st.

Pichon revealed a T-shirt with Kelly Smith's name and uniform number after her first goal. Smith is out after surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

Pichon's first goal came as forward Deliah Arrington lay prone in the New York box. She went down without contact clutching her knee after challenging Smolak to a ball.

Philadelphia (1-4-0, 3 points) snapped a five-game losing streak — six games including last season's semifinal — despite a strong performance by New York (3-4-0, 9 points), which enjoyed greater possession and was the better team in the first half. The Power's three-game win streak was halted.

Hope Solo made her first start in goal for the Charge and held the shutout until stoppage time, when Joanne Peters converted a rebound after successive shots by Krista Davey and Lindsey Jones hit the left post.

Carolina 5 Washington 2: Fotopoulos played a role in all five Courage goals as the Freedom (4-1-1, 13 points) absorbed their first loss before 21,859 in a WUSA/MLS doubleheader at RFK Stadium.

Birgit Prinz, Nel Fettig and Danielle Borgman also tallied for the Courage (1-4-0, 3 points), who got its first goal — from Fotopoulos — in the fourth minute and opened a 4-1 lead by halftime.

Atlanta 1 San Jose 0: Conny Pohlers scored her first WUSA goal and the Beat (3-1-2, 11 points) overcame a first-half red card to Kylie Bivens to beat the CyberRays (3-3-0, 9 points) before 5,630 at Herndon Stadium.

The victory moved Atlanta into second place, two points behind first-place Washington.

Pohlers, who won the scoring title in Germany last season, beat an onrushing LaKeysia Beene from 19 yards in the 17th minute after Charmaine Hooper flicked a 50-yard Briana Scurry free kick onto her path.

Bivens exited after picking up her second yellow card for reckless play in the 36th minute.

SATURDAY'S SUMMARIES

May 17 at Uniondale, N.Y.

New York 1 Philadelphia 2. Goals: Peters 91+; Pichon (Tullock) 60, Pichon 81.

New York — Smolak; Raveia, Salisbury (Orlandos, 64), M. Tietjen; Boxx, Rapp (Beem, 80); Jones, Baumgardt (Janss, 73), Peters; Pearman (Davey, 61), Welsh.

Philadelphia — Solo; Fair, McVeigh, Tietjen-Prozzo, Benson; Makinen, Misaki, Hoffmann, Tullock; Arrington (Kruze, 62), Pichon.

Yellow cards — Philadelphia: Pichon 93+.

Referee — Sandra Hunt.

A — 3,165.

May 17 at Washington

Washington 2 Carolina 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.

Washington — Regan; S. Little, Moore, Grubb, Barr; Stoecker, Zimny (Beard, 61), Lindsey (Schott, 70), Golebiowski; Jones, J. Little.

Carolina — Luckenbill; Burt, Boyd, Fettig, Baxter; James (Borgman, 75), O'Hanley (McCullough, 66), Lehn, Overbeck; Fotopoulos, Prinz.

Yellow cards — Washington: Barr 61, Stoecker 89.

Referee — Faith Rossi.

A — 21,859.

May 17 at Atlanta

Atlanta 1 San Jose 0. Goal: Pohlers (Hooper, Scurry) 7.

Atlanta — Scurry; Bivens, Nonen, N. Augustyniak, Gaston; Miller, Crumpton (Warren, 87); Dominguez (Parlow, 58), Sawa; Pohlers (Dieke, 44), Hooper.

San Jose — Beene; Alagich (Barnes, 78), Bryan, Cromwell, Chastain; Sanchez (Cook, 78), Barr, Venturini-Hoch (Sissi, 46), French; Katia, Pretinha.

Yellow cards — Atlanta: Bivens 26, 36; San Jose: Katia 25, Chastain 35, Barr 43.

Red card — Atlanta: Bivens 36.

Referee — Todd Perry.

A — 5,630.

WUSA STANDINGS

Pl W-L-T Pts (GF-GA)
1. Washington 6 4-1-1 13 points (14-9)
2. Atlanta 6 3-1-2 11 (14-3)
3. Boston 6 3-2-1 10 (11-13)
4. San Jose 6 3-3-0 9 (6-7)
5. New York 7 3-4-0 9 (13-18)
6. San Diego 5 2-1-2 8 (7-5)
7. Carolina 5 1-4-0 3 (9-13)
8. Philadelphia 5 1-4-0 3 (8-14)

THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Saturday, May 17
New York 1 Philadelphia 2
Washington 2 Carolina 5
Atlanta 1 San Jose 0

Sunday, May 18
Boston at San Diego, 8 p.m.

NEXT WEEK'S GAMES
Saturday, May 24
San Diego at Carolina, 4 p.m. (PAX TV)
Washington at New York, 7 p.m.
San Jose at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.

Sunday, May 25
Atlanta at Boston, 7 p.m.

All times Eastern

LEADING SCORERS

1. Maribel Dominguez (Atlanta) 6-2–14
2. Maren Meinert (Boston) 6-1–13
3. Mia Hamm (Washington) 4-3–11
Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 3-5–11
5. Julie Fleeting (San Diego) 4-0–8
Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 3-2–8
Abby Wambach (Washington) 4-0–8
Christie Welsh (New York) 4-0–8
9. Jacqui Little (Washington) 2-3–7
Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 3-1–7
Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 3-1–7
Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 3-1–7
13. Abby Crumpton (Atlanta) 2-2–6
Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 1-4–6
15. Kelly Golebiowski (Washington) 2-1–5
Shannon MacMillan (San Diego) 1-3–5
Joanne Peters (New York) 2-1–5
Homare Sawa (Atlanta) 2-1–5
Sissi (San Jose) 1-3–5
20. Shannon Boxx (New York) 0-4–4
Krista Davey (New York) 2-0–4
Monica Gonzalez (Boston) 1-2–4
Melanie Hoffmann (Philadelphia) 1-2–4
Katia (San Jose) 1-2–4
Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 2-0–4
Stacey Tullock (Philadelphia) 1-2–4