Slumping powers Carolina and Philadelphia picked up their second road wins Saturday as WUSA's attendance troubles continued with small crowds in Atlanta and San Diego.
Danielle Fotopoulos became the league's all-time scoring leader in the Courage's 2-1 victory at Atlanta, and the Beat's Maribel Dominguez grabbed sole possession of the top spot on this year's scoring list in a losing cause.
Philadelphia scored off a pair of long throw-ins by Jennifer Tietjen-Prozzo to end San Diego's seven-game unbeaten streak with a 2-1 triumph.
The Charge and Courage, which have shared the cellar all season, extended their unbeaten streaks to season-high two games, notching their second wins of the season one week after battling to a 2-2 draw.
Saturday's highlights:
Carolina 2 Atlanta 1: Danielle Fotopoulos converted a seventh-minute penalty kick and Birgit Prinz added a goal four minutes later and the visiting Courage (2-5-1, 7 points) prevented the Beat (4-2-3, 15 points) from overtaking first-place Washington in the standings.
Fotopoulos' penalty, after a Marci Miller hand ball, was her sixth goal of the season and gave her 73 career points, two more than New York's Tiffeny Milbrett. The Power play at San Jose on Sunday.
Prinz, open in Atlanta's box, finished a feed from Unni Lehn after a poor clearance by the Beat. The goal was Prinz's fifth goal of the season.
Dominguez netted her league-leading seventh goal and 18th point in the 24th minute following a splendid run by Cindy Parlow. Hooper also picked up an assist on the goal, her league-leading sixth.
The match drew only 4,891 to Herndon Stadium, the Beat's third sub-5,000 crowd in its history and its second this season.
Philadelphia 2 San Diego 1: Marinette Pichon and Melanie Hoffmann scored on world-class volleys a minute apart and the Charge (2-5-1, 7 points) prevailed despite San Diego domination for most of the match.
The smallest Spirit home crowd in history — just 3,989, including U.S. women's national team coach April Heinrichs and WUSA President/CEO Lynn Morgan — saw Julie Foudy convert her third penalty kick in as many games, but San Diego (3-2-4, 13 points) struggled without Scottish striker Julie Fleeting.
Fleeting was in Portugal playing for Scotland's women's national team in a European Championship qualifier.
Pichon and Hoffmann both tallied after long tosses by Tietjen-Prozzo bounced around the Spirit penalty area. Pichon's goal, in the ninth minute, was her sixth of the season. Hoffmann doubled the advantage in the 10th minute.
Six of the 10 goals San Diego has surrendered this season have been scored in the first 10 minutes of matches.
SATURDAY'S SUMMARIES
June 7 at Atlanta
Atlanta 1 Carolina 2. Goals: Dominguez (Parlow, Hooper) 24; Fotopoulos pen. 7, Prinz (Lehn) 11.
Atlanta — Scurry; J. Augustyniak (Dieke, 75), Nonen, Bivens, Gaston; Miller (Withers, 81), Serlenga; Parlow (Crumpton, 71), Dominguez; Hooper, Pohlers.
Carolina — Luckenbill; Burt, Baxter, Fettig, Boyd (Slaton, 46); O'Hanley (Wallis, 82), James (Borgman, 60), Roberts, Lehn (McCullough, 46); Prinz, Fotopoulos.
Yellow cards — Atlanta: Miller 19; Carolina: Borgman 66.
Referee — Jennifer Bennett.
A — 4,891.
June 7 at San Diego
San Diego 1 Philadelphia 2. Goals: Foudy pen. 20; Pichon 9, Hoffmann 10.
San Diego — Pagliarulo; Pickup, Fawcett, Krzykowski; Foudy, Daniela (Nielsen, 57), Connors (Bush, 60), Wagner; Sullivan, Latham, Zhang (R. Fair, 84).
Philadelphia — Moore; L. Fair, Mitts, Tietjen-Prozzo, Benson; Makinen; Misaki, Tullock, Burt; Hoffmann, Pichon.
Yellow cards — San Diego: Pickup 27; Philadelphia: Misaki 82.
Referee — Jesse Johnson.
A — 3,989.
WUSA STANDINGS
Pl W-L-T Pts (GF-GA)
1. Washington 7 5-1-1 16 points (18-9)
2. Atlanta 9 4-2-3 15 (19-7)
3. Boston 9 4-3-2 14 (14-17)
4. San Diego 9 3-2-4 13 (12-10)
5. San Jose 8 4-4-0 12 (8-8)
6. New York 8 3-5-0 9 (13-22)
7. Carolina 8 2-5-1 7 (13-17)
8. Philadelphia 8 2-5-1 7 (11-18)
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Saturday, June 7
Atlanta 1 Carolina 2
San Diego 1 Philadelphia 2
Sunday, June 8
Boston at Washington, 4 p.m.
New York at San Jose, 6 p.m.
All times Eastern
LEADING SCORERS
G-A–Pts
1. Maribel Dominguez (Atlanta) 7-4–18
2. Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 6-5–17
3. Mia Hamm (Washington) 6-4–16
Maren Meinert (Boston) 6-4–16
5. Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 4-6–14
6. Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 6-1–13
Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 6-1–13
8. Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 5-2–12
9. Abby Wambach (Washington) 4-3–11
10. Julie Fleeting (San Diego) 4-1–9
11. Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 3-2–8
Homare Sawa (Atlanta) 3-2–8
Christie Welsh (New York) 4-0–8
14. Julie Foudy (San Jose) 3-1–7
Jacqui Little (Washington) 2-3–7
Pretinha (San Jose) 3-1–7
17. Abby Crumpton (Atlanta) 2-2–6
Melanie Hoffmann (Philadelphia) 2-2–6
Sissi (San Jose) 1-4–6
Stacey Tullock (Philadelphia) 1-4–6
21. Kelly Golebiowski (Washington) 2-1–5
Unni Lehn (Carolina) 0-5–5
Shannon MacMillan (San Diego) 1-3–5
Joanne Peters (New York) 2-1–5
Lindsay Stoecker (Washington) 2-1–5
26. Brandi Chastain (San Jose) 1-2–4
Krista Davey (New York) 2-0–4
Monica Gonzalez (Boston) 1-2–4
Katia (San Jose) 1-2–4
Conny Pohlers (Atlanta) 1-2–4