Ifeoma Dieke scored her first WUSA goal and set up Conny Pohlers' superb winner as the Atlanta Beat extended their lead in the standings to five points with a 2-1 victory Saturday over visiting Washington.
The New York Power received first-half goals from Anita Rapp and Cheryl Salisbury to beat host Carolina, 2-1, and climb into second place.
All four teams were missing players because of Sunday's U.S.-Brazil friendly in New Orleans. Atlanta also was missing two starters playing in the Japan-Mexico World Cup qualifier in Tokyo.
Saturday's highlights:
Atlanta 2 Washington 1: Dieke gave the Beat a short-lived first-half lead, and Pohlers netted the decisive goal after a weaving run early in the second half as Atlanta (8-3-4, 28 points) won at Herndon Stadium for the second time in four days.
The Beat, playing before 8,237 fans, extended its WUSA lead to five points over New York (7-7-2, 23 points), which has played one more game than Atlanta, and six points over Boston (6-4-4, 22 points), which is home Sunday against last-place Philadelphia.
International duty deprived Atlanta of goalkeeper Briana Scurry, midfielders Cindy Parlow and Homare Sawa, and forward Maribel Dominguez. Washington was without goalkeeper Siri Mullinix, midfielder Mia Hamm and forward Abby Wambach.
Dieke, a U.S.-born, Scotland-raised rookie, fired Atlanta ahead from a Charmaine Hooper feed in the 26th minute. Hooper redirected a long ball from Kylie Bivens, but the pass squeezed past Pohlers, who made contact while whiffing on her shot. Pohlers had pulled two defenders to her, leaving Dieke alone on the left.
Washington's Jen Grubb evened the score a minute later with a first-time shot to the upper-left corner after her free kick from 24 yards slammed into Atlanta's wall.
Pohlers netted the winner in the 49th minute, after Dieke made a nice move to beat Skylar Little on the end line left of the goal. Two defenders collapsed on Dieke, with the ball squirting out to Pohlers. The German forward weaved past Carrie Moore and Lindsay Stoecker, and her shot nutmegged Sandra Minnert en route to the net.
Washington (6-5-3, 21 points) has won only one of its past seven games.
New York 2 Carolina 1: The Power scored goals seven minutes apart to beat the Courage before 5,844 at SAS Stadium, reaching .500 and pulling into second place with its second successive victory.
Rapp scored from Shannon Boxx's cross in the 30th minute, and Salisbury tallied in the 37th, heading in a Jaclyn Raveia chip after a corner kick was nodded out. It was the Australian defender's second goal in as many games.
Boxx, who hit the post twice with shots, earned her seventh assist of the season, tied for the league lead with Atlanta's Charmaine Hooper and Washington's Mia Hamm.
Carolina's Erin Baxter halved the deficit in stoppage time.
''Supplemental'' player Carrie Proost saw about five minutes of action for New York.
New York was without U.S. national-teamers Tiffeny Milbrett and Christie Pearce. Carolina was missing Tiffany Roberts and Danielle Slaton.
New York has only five games remaining — every other club has six or seven games to play — and has played two more matches than third-place Boston or fourth-place Washington.
SATURDAY'S SUMMARIES
July 12 at Atlanta
Atlanta 2 Washington 1. Goals: Dieke (Pohlers, Hooper) 26, Pohlers 49; Grubb 27.
Atlanta — Wilson; Bivens, N. Augustyniak, Nonen, Gaston; Serlenga, Warren; Withers (Crumpton, 46), Dieke; Pohlers (Miller, 90), Hooper.
Washington — Wright; S. Little (Meier, 80), Moore, Grubb, Minnert; Jones, Stoecker; Lindsey (Zimny, 85), Golebiowski (Noftsinger, 71); J. Little (Schott, 60), Beard.
Yellow cards — Atlanta: Pohlers 59; Washington: S. Little 36, Golebiowski 69.
Referee — Erich Simmons.
A — 8,237.
July 12 at Cary, N.C.
Carolina 1 New York 2. Goals: Baxter (Montgomery) 93+; Rapp (Boxx, Orlandos) 30, Salisbury (Raveia) 37.
Carolina — Luckenbill; Burt, Baxter, Fettig, Boyd (Montgomery, 46); Borgman (McCullough, 26), O'Hanley (Wallis, 69), Overbeck, Lehn; James, Prinz.
New York — Webber; Orlandos, Raveia, Salisbury, Tietjen; Davey (Janss, 73), Boxx, Peters, Rapp (Baumgardt, 73); Beem (Proost, 89), Pearman (Jones, 86).
Yellow cards — Carolina: Burt 36; New York: Boxx 51.
Referee — Misail Tsapos.
A — 5,844.
WUSA STANDINGS
Pl W-L-T Pts (GF-GA)
1. Atlanta 15 8-3-4 28 (30-13)
2. New York 16 7-7-2 23 (28-35)
3. Boston 14 6-4-4 22 (22-23)
4. Washington 14 6-5-3 21 (27-23)
5. San Diego 15 5-4-6 21 (21-20)
6. Carolina 15 5-7-3 18 (25-27)
7. San Jose 15 5-8-2 17 (17-20)
8. Philadelphia 14 3-7-4 13 (21-30)
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Saturday, July 12
Atlanta 2 Washington 1
Carolina 1 New York 2
Sunday, July 13
Philadelphia at Boston, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, July 9
Atlanta 2 San Diego 0
Washington 4 Philadelphia 2
All times Eastern
LEADING SCORERS
G-A–Pts
1. Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 10-2–22
2. Mia Hamm (Washington) 7-7–21
Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 7-7–21
Maren Meinert (Boston) 8-5–21
Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 9-3–21
6. Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 7-6–20
7. Maribel Dominguez (Atlanta) 7-4–18
Abby Wambach (Washington) 7-4–18
9. Julie Fleeting (San Diego) 7-3–17
10. Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 7-2–16
11. Pretinha (San Jose) 5-5–15
12. Melanie Hoffmann (Philadelphia) 4-5–13
Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 4-5–13
14. Christie Welsh (New York) 6-0–12
15 Conny Pohlers (Atlanta) 3-5–11
16. Christine Latham (San Diego) 4-2–10
Cindy Parlow (Atlanta) 3-4–10
Sissi (San Jose) 3-4–10
Stacey Tullock (Philadelphia) 3-4–10
20. Jacqui Little (Washington) 2-5–9
Lindsay Stoecker (Washington) 4-1–9
22. Abby Crumpton (Atlanta) 3-2–8
Krista Davey (New York) 3-2–8
Julie Foudy (San Jose) 3-2–8
Homare Sawa (Atlanta) 3-2–8
26. Shannon Boxx (New York) 0-7–7
Venus James (Carolina) 3-1–7
Emily Janss (New York) 3-1–7
Anita Rapp (New York) 2-3–7
Margaret Tietjen (New York) 1-5–7
Aly Wagner (San Diego) 2-3–7
32. Kelly Golebiowski (Washington) 2-2–6
Angela Hucles (Boston) 1-4–6
Katia (San Jose) 2-2–6
Joanne Peters (New York) 2-2–6
Zhang Ouying (San Diego) 1-4–6
37. Justi Baumgardt (New York) 1-3–5
Erin Baxter (Carolina) 2-1–5
Kylie Bivens (Atlanta) 1-3–5
Brandi Chastain (San Jose) 1-3–5
Unni Lehn (Carolina) 0-5–5
Lori Lindsey (Washington) 2-1–5
Shannon MacMillan (San Diego) 1-3–5
Jaclyn Raveia (New York) 2-1–5
Cheryl Salisbury (New York) 2-1–5
Allie Sullivan (San Diego) 1-3–5
Tisha Venturini-Hoch (San Jose) 2-1–5
48. Danielle Borgman (Carolina) 2-0–4
Nel Fettig (Carolina) 1-2–4
Monica Gonzalez (Boston) 1-2–4
Steffi Jones (Washington) 1-2–4
Tammy Pearman (New York) 1-2–4
Keri Sanchez (San Jose) 1-2–4
Nikki Serlenga (Atlanta) 1-2–4
Goals
1. Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 10
2. Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 9
3. Maren Meinert (Boston) 8
4. Maribel Dominguez (Atlanta) 7
Julie Fleeting (San Diego) 7
Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 7
Mia Hamm (Washington) 7
Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 7
Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 7
Abby Wambach (Washington) 7
Assists
1. Shannon Boxx (New York) 7
Mia Hamm (Washington) 7
Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 7
4. Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 6
5. Melanie Hoffman (Philadelphia) 5
Unni Lehn (Carolina) 5
Jacqui Little (Washington) 5
Maren Meinert (Boston) 5
Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 5
Pretinha (San Jose) 5
Margaret Tietjen (New York) 5