Marinette Pichon started the first official WUSA All-Star Game with a brilliant piece of work to fire the North All-Stars ahead, but the South All-Stars answered with a half-dozen for a 6-1 triumph Sunday before 14,208 at PGE Park in Portand, Ore.

All-Star MVP Abby Wambach, the WUSA's Rookie of the Year in 2002, scored twice and fed Charmaine Hooper for a third to lead the South romp in an 80-minute match that featured free substitution.

Hege Riise, Kylie Bivens and Shannon MacMillan also scored for the South. MacMillan, Hooper and Mia Hamm were each credited with two assists.

The North also won February's informal All-Star Game held in conjunction with the WUSA draft in Fort Lauderdale. MacMillan and Hooper were among the scorers in the 4-3 victory.

The match was a homecoming for MacMillan and Portland native Tiffeny Milbrett, who played for Clive Charles at the University of Portland. Charles, who is again guiding the Pilots' men's and women's programs after battling prostate cancer, was honored with a WUSA Life Achievement award. So was Michelle Akers, a WUSA founding player forced to retire without competing in the league.

Pichon, the WUSA's MVP after leading Philadelphia to the semifinals, gave the South a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute. Near the penalty spot and with two defenders on her, Pichon nodded a pass from Tisha Venturini-Hoch away from the goal, creating space for herself. She quickly turned a volleyed a wicked shot past South goalkeeper Kristin Luckenbill and inside the right post.

It was all South the rest of the way. Riise evened things in the 21st minute, burying a feed from Hamm into the upper-left corner. Wambach fired through North goalkeeper Melissa Moore's save attempt to make it 2-1 three minutes later. And Bivens expertly headed a Hamm cross into the near-post netting for a three-goal advantage before halftime.

Wambach, Hooper and MacMillan added second-half goals.

Boston's Kristine Lilly, voted in as a starter for the North, bowed out of the game after her grandmother died. Carolina's Birgit Prinz, on loan to FFC Frankfurt in Germany, missed the match because of club commitments in Europe.

WUSA ALL-STAR GAME
Sept. 21 at PGE Park, Portland, Ore.

South 6 North 1. Goals: Riise (Hamm) 21, Wambach (MacMillan) 24, Bivens (Hamm) 39, Wambach (Hooper, MacMillan) 60, Hooper (Wambach) 66, MacMillan (Hooper) 80; Pichon (Venturini-Hoch) 12.

South — Luckenbill (Carolina); T. Roberts (Carolina), Fawcett (San Diego), Grubb (Washington), Slaton (Carolina); Foudy (San Diego), MacMillan (San Diego), Riise (Carolina), Sawa (Atlanta); Wambach (Washington), Hamm (Washington). Substitutes: Scurry (Atlanta), Fettig (Carolina), C. Moore (Washington), Bivens (Atlanta), Hooper (Atlanta).

North — M. Moore (Philadelphia); Chastain (San Jose), Sobrero (Boston), J. Tietjen (Philadelphia), Benson (Philadelphia); L. Fair (Philadelphia), Venturini-Hoch (San Jose), Sissi (San Jose); Katia (San Jose), Pichon (Philadelphia), Milbrett (New York). Substitutes: Beene (San Jose), Iverson (Philadelphia), Hucles (Boston), Meinert (Boston).

Yellow cards — None.

Referee — Kari Seitz. A — 14,208.

MVP — Abby Wambach (Washington).

Note: 40-minute halves; free substitutions.