Karina LeBlanc's superb showing in Boston's nets and Kristine Lilly's goal-line save enabled the second-place Breakers on Saturday to hold the visiting Atlanta Beat to a scoreless tie and keep pace with the WUSA leaders.

Washington and Carolina made strides toward the playoffs with home victories, leaving the four teams behind Atlanta and Boston — the Freedom, San Diego, New York and the Courage — within three points of each other.

Every team except San Jose has four or five games remaining. The CyberRays play six more, including a match Sunday against visiting Philadelphia.

Saturday's highlights:

Boston 0 Atlanta 0: LeBlanc made four superb saves and Lilly stopped a Cindy Parlow header heading for the net as the Breakers (7-4-5, 26 points) earned a point before 7,212 at Nickerson Field.

Boston is 4-1-3 in its past eight games and extended its unbeaten streak to five matches. Atlanta (9-3-5, 32 points) is 5-1-2 in its past eight and is unbeaten in its past four games. The Beat's three-game winning streak was halted.

The shutout was Atlanta's eighth and No. 1 goalkeeper Briana Scurry's seventh of the season. LeBlanc notched her second clean sheet of the campaign.

Atlanta had more chances than Boston, which saw a sixth-minute Maren Meinert goal waved off when linesman Melanie Johnson ruled the German striker handled Dagny Mellgren's cross, a ruling confirmed by replays.

LeBlanc, the Canadian national team's top netminder, made two superb first–half saves on Homare Sawa, tipping her 30-yard blast over the crossbar in the third minute and diving to push a sharp 21-yard shot around the left post in stoppage time.

Lilly made her goal-line save on Parlow off the corner kick that followed LeBlanc's second stop on Sawa.

LeBlanc also came up big in the 72nd minute, knocking away a Maribel Dominguez shot from close range, and in the 74th, stopping a Sawa shot to the lower-right corner.

Washington 2 New York 0: Abby Wambach netted her eighth and ninth goals of the season and the Freedom (7-6-3, 24 points) won the second game of an RFK Stadium doubleheader before 21,892. The San Jose Earthquakes topped D.C. United, 2-1, in an MLS game in the opener.

Wambach's third multigoal performance of the season enabled Washington to win for just the third time in nine matches. New York (7-8-2, 23 points) saw its two-game winning and three-game unbeaten streaks snapped.

Wambach fired the Freedom ahead in the sixth minute, finishing the rebound after Steffi Jones' shot ricocheted off a defender. She connected on a diving header from a Mia Hamm free kick in the 80th minute for the second goal.

Hamm's assist — plus another on another Wambach goal on June 9, added last week by official WUSA statistician Elias Sports Bureau — puts Hamm on top in the WUSA scoring race with 23 points. Wambach, Boston's Maren Meinert and Dagny Mellgren, and Philadelphia's Marinette Pichon have 22 points.

Carolina 1 San Diego 0: Nel Fettig's first-half goal stood up for the Courage (6-7-3, 21 points), who won for the second time in three games to thrill 5,024 at SAS Stadium.

Carolina dominated the first half and San Diego controlled the second, both creating numerous chances, but the only goal came from a scramble off a corner kick.

Brooke O'Hanley's cross bounced off the face of the crossbar, hit Spirit midfielder Julie Foudy in the leg, and was finished from close range by Fettig.

San Diego (6-5-6, 24 points), which has won just once in four games, would have pulled into second place with a victory.

SATURDAY'S SUMMARIES

July 19 at Boston

Boston 0 Atlanta 0. Goals: None.

Boston — LeBlanc; Kluegel, Sobrero, McCann, Aldama; Hawkins (McDowell, 75); Hucles, Monroe (Gulbrandsen, 88), Lilly; Meinert, Mellgren.

Atlanta — Scurry; Bivens, Nonen (J. Augustyniak, 50), N. Augustyniak, Gaston; Serlenga, Dieke (Warren, 90); Parlow (Withers, 82), Sawa; Pohlers (Dominguez, 67), Hooper.

Yellow card — Atlanta: Hooper 31, Sawa 62.

Referee — Mark Arblaster.

A– 7,212.

July 19 at Washington

Washington 2 New York 0. Goals: Wambach 6, Wambach (Hamm) 80.

Washington — Mullinix; S. Little, Grubb, Minnert, Moore; Stoecker (Zimny, 53), Jones; Hamm (Schott, 87), Golebiowski; Beard (J. Little, 64), Wambach.

New York — Webber; Pearce, Raveia, Salisbury, Tietjen; Davey (Janss, 56), Boxx (Whelchel, 86), Peters, Rapp (Baumgardt, 78); Beem (Orlandos, 78), Milbrett.

Yellow cards — Washington: Wambach 58; New York: Salisbury 46+, Milbrett 67.

Referee — Todd Perry.

A — 21,892.

July 19 at Cary, N.C.

Carolina 1 San Diego 0. Goal: Fettig 25.

Carolina — Luckenbill; Burt, Baxter, Fettig, Slaton (Borgman, 79); O'Hanley, Roberts, Overbeck (McCullough), Lehn; James (Wallis, 72), Prinz.

San Diego — Branam; Pickup, Fawcett, Krzykowski; Foudy, Daniela (Nielsen, 30); Connors, Wagner, Zhang (Bush, 65); Sullivan, Fleeting.

Yellow cards — Carolina: Overbeck 53; San Diego: Pickup 37.

Referee — Jennifer Bennett.

A — 5,024.

WUSA STANDINGS

Pl W-L-T Pts (GF-GA)
1. Atlanta 17 9-3-5 32 (31-13)
2. Boston 16 7-4-5 26 (25-24)
3. Washington 16 7-6-3 24 (30-25)
4. San Diego 17 6-5-6 24 (23-22)
5. New York 17 7-8-2 23 (28-37)
6. Carolina 16 6-7-3 21 (26-27)
7. San Jose 15 5-8-2 17 (17-20)
8. Philadelphia 16 3-9-4 13 (22-34)

THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Saturday, July 19
Boston 0 Atlanta 0
Washington 2 New York 0
Carolina 1 San Diego 0

Sunday, July 20
Philadelphia at San Jose, 6 p.m.

Wednesday, July 16
Philadelphia 0 Atlanta 1
San Diego 2 Washington 1

All times Eastern

LEADING SCORERS

G-A–Pts
1. Mia Hamm (Washington) 7-9–23
2. Maren Meinert (Boston) 8-6–22
Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 10-2–22
Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 10-2–22
Abby Wambach (Washington) 9-4–22
6. Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 7-7–21
Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 9-3–21
8. Julie Fleeting (San Diego) 8-4–20
Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 7-6–20
10. Maribel Dominguez (Atlanta) 7-4–18
11. Pretinha (San Jose) 5-5–15
12. Melanie Hoffmann (Philadelphia) 4-5–13
Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 4-5–13
Conny Pohlers (Atlanta) 4-5–13
15. Christine Latham (San Diego) 5-2–12
Christie Welsh (New York) 6-0–12
17. 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. Nel Fettig (Carolina) 2-2–6
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
38. 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
Steffi Jones (Washington) 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
50. Danielle Borgman (Carolina) 2-0–4
Monica Gonzalez (Boston) 1-2–4
Jena Kluegel (Boston) 0-4–4
Mary-Frances Monroe (Philadelphia) 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. Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 10
Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 10
3. Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 9
Abby Wambach (Washington) 9
5. Julie Fleeting (San Diego) 8
Maren Meinert (Boston) 8
7. Maribel Dominguez (Atlanta) 7
Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 7
Mia Hamm (Washington) 7
Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 7

Assists
1. Mia Hamm (Washington) 9
2. Shannon Boxx (New York) 7
Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 7
4. Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 6
Maren Meinert (Boston) 6
6. Melanie Hoffman (Philadelphia) 5
Unni Lehn (Carolina) 5
Jacqui Little (Washington) 5
Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 5
Pretinha (San Jose) 5
Margaret Tietjen (New York) 5