San Jose's playoff hopes grew stronger and Carolina clinched home field for the semifinals on a dramatic night of action in the final week of the WUSA's regular season.

The CyberRays pulled within two points of the fourth-place Atlanta Beat in the battle for the final playoff spot after dominating play against Philadelphia for the second time in eight days in a 1-1 tie. The Beat, which would have clinched the semifinal berth with a victory, was upset, 1-0, at home by San Diego; the result clinched third place for idle Washington.

To reach the playoffs, San Jose on Saturday must win at Boston while Atlanta loses to visiting Philadelphia; any other combination will qualify the Beat. Atlanta's result will be known before the Boston-San Jose game kicks off Saturday night.

Carolina overcame inspired New York, 2-1, to pull even on points with Philadelphia and nail down a home assignment for the Aug. 17 semifinals.

Philly won the season series and would win the regular-season championship should the teams finish with the same point total. Carolina, which plays at San Diego on Sunday, must earn a better result than Philadelphia to grab the top spot.

In Wednesday's WUSA action:

San Diego 1 Atlanta 0: Julie Foudy gave a present to husband Ian Sawyers — San Jose's head coach — by scoring in the opening seconds of the second half to lift the Spirit (5-11-4, 19 points) past the Beat (10-9-1, 31 points) before 5,814 at Herndon Stadium.

The ball came from a ''flip-throw'' throw-in by Kim Pickup into the center of the box. Shannon MacMillan headed it to the right, and an onrushing Foudy blasted it into the net.

The Beat, which lost its second in a row, nearly scored in the 21st minute. Sun Wen struck the crossbar from the top of the net, but Charmaine Hooper's rebound was smothered by goalkeeper Carly Smolak.

Philadelphia 1 San Jose 1: Katia tied Tiffeny Milbrett's season-points record with an assist as the CyberRays (8-7-5, 29 points) won their season series with the Charge (11-3-6, 39 points) before 6,402 at Villanova Stadium.

Katia earned an assist on Brandi Chastain's 34th minute goal when her shot ricocheted off the crossbar. Chastain finished the rebound. It was Katia's fifth assist of the season, to go with 15 goals for 35 points. Milbrett won the scoring title in Year 1 with 16 goals and three assists for 35 points.

Stacey Tullock pulled Philly even in the 73rd minute, scoring her second goal in as many games with the Charge's only shot on goal. Tara Koleski fed Tullock with a back-heel from a Lorrie Fair cross, and the rookie midfielder turned and fired home from the middle of the box.

Heather Mitts returned from a hip-pointer for Philadelphia, but Coach Mark Krikorian left Fair, Tullock and forward Marinette Pichon on the bench. Fair and Tullock (and midfielder Liu Ailing) came on at halftime, and Pichon entered in the 58th minute.

Carolina 2 New York 1: The Courage (12-5-3, 39 points) became the first team to win 12 games in a regular-season campaign as Birgit Prinz and Danielle Fotopoulos each tallied a goal and an assist.

The match, played before 8,314 at Mitchel Athletic Complex, was the first game of an MLS/WUSA doubleheader, with Columbus beating the MetroStars in a U.S. Open Cup match in the nightcap.

Carolina withstood frequent attacks by New York (3-16-1, 10 points) in the first half and took control during a frenetic final 45 minutes. Prinz's 12th goal gave the Courage a 65th-minute lead, and Fotopoulos doubled the advantage in the 81st.

The first came from a fine sequence started when rookie Meghan Anderson intercepted a pass at midfield and played it back to Hege Riise. The Norwegian midfielder sent the ball to the left wing, and Fotopoulos crossed it into the box. An onrushing Prinz headed the ball home from 6 yards. Fotopoulos scored after outbattling New York defender Jaclyn Raveia on a 50-50 challenge.

Power forward Tammy Pearman netted her fourth goal of the season in the 80th minute.

WEDNESDAY'S SUMMARIES

Aug. 7 at Atlanta

Atlanta 0 San Diego 1. Goal: Foudy (MacMillan, Pickup) 46.

Atlanta — Scurry; J. Augustyniak, Krzykowski (Bivens, 32), Nonen, N. Augustyniak; Miller, Serlenga (Wang, 83); Sun (Cagle, 62), Sawa; Hooper, Parlow (Burt, 56).

San Diego — Smolak; Tanaka, Fawcett, Fan, Pickup; Mascaro (Lindsey, 75), Boxx (Kraus, 64), Foudy; MacMillan, Fleeting, Kester.

Yellow cards — Atlanta: Hooper 36; San Diego: Pickup 33'; Fleeting 91+.

Referee — Todd Perry. A — 5,814.

Aug. 7 at Villanova, Pa.

Philadelphia 1 San Jose 1. Goals: Tullock (Koleski, Fair) 73; Chastain (Katia) 34.

Philadelphia — Moore; Mitts (Fair, 46), Iverson, Hall, Alfiler; Demko (Tullock, 46), Monroe, Zhao (Liu, 46), Martin (Pichon, 58), Clemens; Koleski.

San Jose — Beene; Alagich, Bryan, Lindsey, French; Dorn, Venturini-Hoch, Wagner (Sissi, 79; Nanez, 89); Chastain, Bell (Pretinha, 62), Katia.

Yellow cards — Philadelphia: Koleski 82, Fair 87.

Referee — Rachel Woo. A — 6,402.

Aug. 7 at Uniondale, N.Y.

New York 1 Carolina 2. Goals: Pearman (Milbrett) 89; Prinz (Fotopoulos, Riise) 66, Fotopoulos (Prinz) 81.

New York — Gao; Pearce, Raveia, Whelchel (Rapp, 83), Fair; Baumgardt-Yamada, Davey, Janss (Mustonen, 75), Lalor; Milbrett, Pearman.

Carolina — Luckenbill; Burt, Fettig, Wilson, Slaton (James, 46; Yankowski, 87); O'Hanley, Roberts, Riise, Lehn (Anderson, 39); Prinz, Fotopoulos.

Yellow cards — Carolina: Wilson 21.

Referee — Ricardo Salazar. A – 8,314.

STANDINGS
W-L-T Pts GF-GA

1. Philadelphia 11-3-6 39 36-20
2. Carolina 12-5-3 39 39-29
3. Washington 10-5-5 35 36-27
4. Atlanta 10-9-1 31 32-29
5. San Jose 8-7-5 29 34-29
6. Boston 5-8-7 22 35-35
7. San Diego 5-11-4 19 27-41
8. New York 3-16-1 10 29-58

THIS WEEKEND'S SCHEDULE
Saturday, Aug. 10
Philadelphia at Atlanta, 4 p.m.
Washington at New York, 7 p.m.
San Jose at Boston, 7 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 11
Carolina at San Diego, 8 p.m.

End regular season

All times Eastern

LEADING SCORERS
(G-A–Pts)
1. Katia (San Jose) 15-5–35
2. Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 12-7–31
Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 11-9–31
4. Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 14-1–29
5. Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 10-8–28
Abby Wambach (Washington) 10-8–28
Maren Meinert (Boston) 7-14–28
8. Kristine Lilly (Boston) 7-13–27
9. Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 11-2–24
Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 11-2–24
11. Hege Riise (Carolina) 5-13–23
12. Homare Sawa (Atlanta) 7-6–20
13. Mia Hamm (Washington) 7-5–18
14. Shannon MacMillan (San Diego) 5-7–17
15. Emily Janss (New York) 7-1–15
16. Bai Jie (Washington) 5-4–14
Julie Foudy (San Diego) 5-4–14
18. Tisha Venturini-Hoch (San Jose) 6-1–13
Cindy Parlow (Atlanta) 5-3–13
20. Zhang Ouying (San Diego) 5-2–12
Bettina Wiegmann (Boston) 2-8–12
Zhao Lihong (Philadelphia) 2-8–12
23. Brandi Chastain (San Jose) 4-3–11
Pretinha (San Jose) 4-3–11
Kelly Smith (Philadelphia) 4-3–11
Sissi (San Jose) 1-9–11
27. Angela Hucles (Boston) 3-4–10
Nikki Serlenga (Atlanta) 2-6–10
29. Tammy Pearman (New York) 4-1–9
Lori Lindsey (San Diego) 2-5–9
31. Danielle Slaton (Carolina) 4-0–8
Sun Wen (Atlanta) 4-0–8