The Carolina Courage completed a worst-to-first climb to win the WUSA's regular-season championship on Sunday, overtaking Philadelphia on the final day of the campaign with a 1-1 tie against San Diego.
Hege Riise's 75th-minute goal pulled the Courage (12-5-4, 40 points) with the Spirit before 6,358 at Torero Stadium.
Carolina, the last-place squad in the inaugural season, finished one point ahead of the Charge (11-4-6, 39 points) and two in front of Washington (11-5-5, 38 points). The Courage will face fourth-place Atlanta (11-9-1, 34 points) in a semifinal next Saturday at SAS Stadium in Cary, N.C.
Philly and Washington will meet in the other semifinal at Villanova Stadium.
Shannon Boxx's sharp header from Shannon MacMillan's corner kick gave San Diego a 10th-minute lead, and the Spirit dictated play the first half-hour. Twice the Carolina defense cleared shots, by Julie Foudy and Julie Fleeting, off the goal line.
Riise evened things after Birgit Prinz won the ball in midfield and fed Danielle Fotopoulos, who dribbled several yards, then played the ball to the right. Riise slotted the ball past San Diego goalkeeper Carly Smolak.
Prinz and Fotopoulos were awarded assists on the play, giving each 32 points, three behind scoring champion Katia of San Jose. Prinz and Fotopoulos shared the No. 2 spot on the scoring charts.
BOSTON FIRES HOFFMAN: The Boston Breakers announced Sunday that Coach Jay Hoffman was relieved of his duties following the team's 1-0 season-ending victory over San Jose.
The Breakers went 14-18-10 in two seasons under Hoffman and failed to reach the playoffs.
''I have tremendous respect for Jay both as a coach and a person, so this was a very difficult decision for me,'' club president/GM Joe Cummings said in a statement. ''Jay was extremely dedicated to the organization and to the success of the Breakers and the WUSA. However, at this level, results are paramount. Unfortunately, our record warrants a change.''
SUNDAY'S SUMMARY
Aug. 11 at San Diego
San Diego 1 Carolina 1. Goals: Boxx (MacMillan) 10; Riise (Fotopoulos, Prinz) 75.
San Diego — Smolak (Pagliarulo, 82); Pickup, Fan, Tanaka; Fawcett (Sauer, 83); Boxx (Lindsey, 64), Foudy, Mascaro (Tietjen, 78); Kester, Fleeting, MacMillan (Zhang, 68).
Carolina — Luckenbill; Burt, Baxter (Wilson, 73), Fettig, O'Hanley; T. Roberts, Anderson (James, 65), Riise; Fotopoulos, Prinz, Yankowski (Overbeck, 37; Slaton, 73).
Yellow cards — San Diego: Lindsey 77; Carolina: Fettig 58, Wilson 80, Prinz 81.
Referee — Terry Vaughn. A — 6,358.
SATURDAY'S SUMMARIES
Aug. 10 at Atlanta
Atlanta 2 Philadelphia 0. Goals: Serlenga 4, Cagle (Hooper, Parlow) 63.
Atlanta — Scurry; J. Augustyniak, Krzykowski, Nonen, N. Augustyniak; Serlenga, Bivens, Wang (Cagle, 13), Parlow, Sawa; Hooper.
Philadelphia — Moore; Mitts, Tietjen, Iverson, Benson; Tullock, Fair, McDowell (Liu, 60), Connors (Clemens, 73), Zhao; Pichon.
Yellow cards — Atlanta: Hooper 66, Serlenga 73, J. Augustyniak 80; Philadelphia: Connors 50, Iverson 92+.
Referee — Erich Simmons. A — 7,590.
Aug. 10 at Boston
Boston 1 San Jose 0. Goal: Lilly (Aldama, Mellgren) 51.
Boston — LeBlanc; Kluegel, Sobrero (Gonzalez, 56), McCann, Aldama; Hucles, Dacey (Borisjuk, 66), Lilly, Wiegmann; Meinert, Mellgren (Kemp, 74).
San Jose — Beene; Alagich, Bryan, Lindsey, French; Dorn, Pretinha, Venturini-Hoch (Wagner, 71), Sissi; Chastain (Bell, 30; Borgman, 66), Katia.
Yellow cards — San Jose: Lindsey 34, Bell 66.
Referee — Arnold Baldeaux. A — 6,013.
Aug. 10 at Uniondale, N.Y.
New York 2 Washington 4. Goals: Janss (Fair, Davey) 60, Raveia (Pearce) 89; Bai (Pu) 17, Barr (Bai, Hamm) 56, Hamm 67, J. Little 79.
New York — Webber; Pearce, Raveia, Whelchel (Mustonen, 76), Fair; Davey, Baumgardt-Yamada (Stauffer, 84), Janss, Lalor (Rapp, 58); Pearman, Milbrett.
Washington — Mullinix (Fahey, 82); S. Little (Zimny, 54), Moore, Grubb, Barr; Jones, Noftsinger (Hamm, 46), Gerardo (Makinen, 64), Pu; Bai (J. Little, 58), Wambach.
Yellow cards — New York: Fair 67.
Referee — Kari Seitz. A — 7,635.
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.
FINAL STANDINGS
W-L-T Pts GF-GA
1. Carolina 12-5-4 40 40-30
2. Philadelphia 11-4-6 39 36-22
3. Washington 11-5-5 38 40-29
4. Atlanta 11-9-1 34 34-29
5. San Jose 8-8-5 29 34-30
6. Boston 6-8-7 25 36-35
7. San Diego 5-11-5 20 28-42
8. New York 3-17-1 10 31-62
REMAINING SCHEDULE
Saturday, Aug. 17
Semifinals
Washington at Philadelphia, 1:30 p.m.
Atlanta at Carolina, 4 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 24
Founders Cup II
Semifinal winners at Atlanta, 4 p.m.
All times Eastern
LEADING SCORERS
(G-A–Pts)
1. Katia (San Jose) 15-5–35
2. Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 12-8–32
Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 11-10–32
4. Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 14-1–29
Abby Wambach (Washington) 10-9–29
Kristine Lilly (Boston) 8-13–29
Maren Meinert (Boston) 7-15–29
8. Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 10-8–28
9. Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 11-3–25
Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 11-3–25
Hege Riise (Carolina) 6-13–25
12. Mia Hamm (Washington) 8-6–22
13. Homare Sawa (Atlanta) 7-6–20
14. Shannon MacMillan (San Diego) 5-8–18
15. Bai Jie (Washington) 6-5–17
16. Emily Janss (New York) 8-1–16
17. Julie Foudy (San Diego) 5-4–14
Cindy Parlow (Atlanta) 5-4–14
19. Tisha Venturini-Hoch (San Jose) 6-1–13
20. Zhang Ouying (San Diego) 5-2–12
Nikki Serlenga (Atlanta) 3-6–12
Bettina Wiegmann (Boston) 2-8–12
Zhao Lihong (Philadelphia) 2-8–12
24. 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
28. Angela Hucles (Boston) 3-4–10
Jacqui Little (Washington) 3-4–10
Pu Wei (Washington) 1-8–10
31. Tammy Pearman (New York) 4-1–9
Lori Lindsey (San Diego) 2-5–9
33. Danielle Slaton (Carolina) 4-0–8
Sun Wen (Atlanta) 4-0–8
35. Julie Fleeting (San Diego) 3-1–7
Monica Gerardo (Washington) 3-1–7
Emmy Barr (Washington) 2-3–7
Linda Ormen (New York) 2-3–7
Michelle French (San Jose) 1-5–7
40. Shannon Boxx (San Diego) 2-2–6
Mandy Clemens (Philadelphia) 2-2–6
Venus James (Carolina) 2-2–6
Unni Lehn (Carolina) 2-2–6
Liu Ailing (Philadelphia) 2-2–6
Anne Makinen (Washington) 2-2–6
Kylie Bivens (Atlanta) 1-4–6
Kim Clark (San Jose) 1-4–6
Jen Mascaro (San Diego) 1-4–6
Tiffany Roberts (Carolina) 1-4–6
Sarah Yohe (Boston) 1-4–6