Two outstanding races — for the WUSA regular-season title and for the final two semifinal berths — got tighter on Sunday as Washington held visiting Philadelphia to a 1-1 draw and defending champion San Jose tied host San Diego, 2-2. The results left Carolina (10-2-3, 33 points) on top in the league, two points ahead of Philly (9-1-4, 31 points). The Charge, which has played one fewer game than Carolina, will be home for next week's showdown. Carolina's magic number for a postseason berth is eight. The Charge's magic number is 10. San Jose and Washington (both 6-5-4, 22 points) pulled even with third-place Atlanta (7-7-1, 22 points) in what has become a three-team race for the third and fourth playoff spots. Atlanta, based on head-to-head(-to-head) results, is third, followed by San Jose and Washington. The CyberRays and Freedom meet in San Jose next Sunday. Washington is home against Atlanta on Aug. 4. In Sunday's WUSA action: Washington 1 Philadelphia 1: Zhao Lihong's 25-yard free kick in the 85th minute extended the visiting Charge's unbeaten streak to nine games before 5,968 at RFK Stadium. Mia Hamm played 90 minutes for the first time this season and created several chances, but she fired wide on a penalty kick in the 11th minute. Abby Wambach's seventh goal of the season, a loose ball after a Steffi Jones shot was deflected, gave the Freedom a 75th-minute lead. Washington was guided by assistant coach David Vanole in place of Jim Gabarra, who was suspended after being ejected in the Freedom's previous match. San Diego 2 San Jose 2: Shannon MacMillan answered an early deficit with a sensational free kick and Scottish forward Julie Fleeting tallied in her first WUSA start, but the Spirit (3-7-4, 13 points) settled for a draw before 6,102 at Torero Stadium. Katia's penalty kick in the 69th minute, after Shannon Boxx used her right hand to halt Sissi's blast on the goal line, gave the CyberRays a point. Boxx was red-carded. Pretinha gave San Jose a third-minute lead from a fine Kim Clark feed, but MacMillan's free kick from the right flank evened things two minutes later. Fleeting scored off the crossbar from 17 yards in the 59th minute. SUNDAY'S SUMMARIES July 14 at Washington Washington 1 Philadelphia 1. Goals: Wambach (Jones) 75; Zhao 85. Washington — Fahey; S. Little, Moore, Grubb, Barr; Cook, Jones, Pu (Zimny, 82), Bai (Gerardo, 58); Hamm, Wambach. Philadelphia — Moore; Benson (Martin, 81), Iverson, Tietjen, Mitts; Tullock (Liu, 58), McDowell, Fair, Connors (Clemens, 68), Zhao, Pichon. Yellow cards — Washington: Cook 37, S. Little 80. Referee — Misail Tsapos. A — 5,968. July 14 at San Diego San Diego 2 San Jose 2. Goals: MacMillan 7, Fleeting (Foudy, MacMillan) 59; Pretinha (Clark) 5, Katia pen. 69. San Diego — Smolak; Sauer (Tietjen, 46), Fawcett, Kraus, Tanaka; Boxx, Foudy, L. Lindsey (Kester, 46); MacMillan, Fleeting (Akide, 80), Zhang (Pickup, 89). San Jose — Beene; Bryan, Alagich (Hendershot-Brown, 89), K. Lindsey (Nanez, 66), Chastain; Dorn (Wagner, 70); Venturini-Hoch, Sissi, Pretinha; Katia, Clark (French, 60). Yellow cards — San Diego: Zhang 42, Foudy 69. Red card — San Diego: Boxx 68. Referee — Mark Arblaster. A — 6,102. SATURDAY'S SUMMARIES July 13 at Uniondale, N.Y. New York 1 Atlanta 4. Goals: Pearman (Baumgardt-Yamada) 78; Sun 36, Serlenga pen. 54, Sawa (Bivens, Parlow) 57, Hooper (Burt) 77. New York — Webber; Pearce, Raveia, Whelchel, R. Fair; Ormen (Davey, 46), McIntosh (Baumgardt-Yamada, 27), Lalor (Stauffer, 66), Rapp (Pearman, 46); Janss, Milbrett. Atlanta — Wilson; Krzykowski, N. Augustyniak, Nonen, J. Augustyniak; Bivens (Miller, 82), Serlenga; Sawa, Sun (Cagle, 77); Parlow (Burt, 70), Hooper. Yellow cards — New York: Webber 54, Janss 56; Atlanta: Burt 86. Referee — Terry Vaughn. A — 5,128. July 13 at Cary, N.C. Carolina 2 Boston 1. Goals: Prinz (Fotopoulos, Riise) 57, own goal Hucles 66; Lilly 59. Carolina — Luckenbill; S. Burt, Fettig, Baxter, Wilson (James, 82); T. Roberts, Anderson (O'Hanley, 46), Riise, Lehn; Prinz, Fotopoulos. Boston — Ducar; Kluegel (Gulbrandsen, 82), McCann, Sobrero, Aldama; Hucles, Sanchez; Lilly, Wiegmann; Meinert, Mellgren. Yellow cards — Carolina: Burt 90; Boston: Aldama 33. Referee — Todd Perry. A — 6,281. WEDNESDAY'S SUMMARIES July 10 at Boston Boston 3 San Diego 2. Goals: Hucles (Wiegmann, Meinert) 3, Mellgren (Lilly, Meinert) 12, Mellgren (Meinert, Wiegmann) 52; MacMillan (Fleeting) 58, Foudy (MacMillan) 79. Boston — Ducar; Kluegel, Sobrero, McCann, Aldama; Hucles, Sanchez, Lilly, Wiegmann (Dacey, 72); Meinert (Yohe, 57), Mellgren. San Diego — Pagliarulo (Smolak, 46); Sauer, Fawcett, Fan, Kraus; Boxx (Pickup, 80), Lindsey, Foudy; MacMillan, Kester (Fleeting, 54), Zhang. Yellow cards — Boston: Sobrero 23, Aldama 57. Referee — Erich Simmons. A — 5,540. July 10 at San Jose San Jose 3 Atlanta 1. Goals: Katia 51, Venturini-Hoch (Sissi) 61, Katia (Clark) 68; Sawa (N. Augustyniak, Burt) 3. San Jose — Beene; Alagich, Bryan, Lindsey, French (Clark, 42); Dorn (Nanez, 44); Venturini-Hoch, Sissi, Pretinha (Wagner, 82); Katia (Hendershot-Brown, 89), Chastain. Atlanta — Wilson; N. Augustyniak, Cromwell (Cagle, 71), Nonen (Krzykowski, 76), J. Augustyniak; Miller, Serlenga; Bivens, Sawa; Burt (Sun, 69), Parlow. Yellow cards — San Jose: Lindsey 87; N. Augustyniak 60, Nanez 62. Referee — Misail Tsapos. A — 5,933. STANDINGS 1. Carolina 10-2-3, 33 points; 2. Philadelphia 9-1-4, 31; 3. Atlanta 7-7-1, 22; 4. San Jose 6-5-4, 22; 5. Washington 6-5-4, 22; 6. Boston 4-7-5, 17; 7. San Diego 3-8-4, 13; 8. New York 2-12-1, 7. NEXT WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Saturday, July 20
Carolina at Philadelphia, 4 p.m.
Boston at Atlanta, 4 p.m.
San Diego at New York, 7 p.m. Sunday, July 21
Washington at San Jose, 6 p.m.
All times EDT. LEADING SCORERS
(G-A–Pts)
1. Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 12-1–25
Maren Meinert (Boston) 7-11–25
3. Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 8-8–24
4. Katia (San Jose) 11-1–23
5. Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 10-2–22
Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 8-6–22
7. Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 8-5–21
Kristine Lilly (Boston) 6-9–21
Hege Riise (Carolina) 5-11–21
10. Abby Wambach (Washington) 7-5–19