Danielle Fotopoulos, tied for the top spot in the WUSA scoring race heading into Wednesday's action, sustained an apparent torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during Carolina's 2-0 loss at San Jose.
Fotopoulos tumbled to the Spartan Stadium turf while challenging Thori Bryan for a ball in the 35th minute. She struggled to her feet, walked about 15 yards toward the far sideline, then sat down and was in tears when she walked off, next to Courage trainer Cody Malley, under her own power.
Malley said Fotopoulos would return to North Carolina for a magnetic imaging resonance exam on Thursday to confirm the injury, but the Courage striker was certain she had torn her ACL.
''Thori cut it, so I went to stop and change direction, and my knee kind of buckled,'' Fotopoulos, in surprisingly good spirits, said afterward. ''And I think that's probably when I tore my ACL. … I heard the pop.
''So then I got up and I'm, like, 'I think I just did it,' and I kept playing, and the first time I tried to run or move or do any kind of thing, agility, it gave way. So I stayed down. Because I kind of knew it.''
Carolina already lost one crucial player, playmaker Hege Riise, to a torn ACL this season. Other WUSA players who have been sidelined this season by torn ACLs are San Diego's Shannon MacMillan, Philadelphia's Deliah Arrington, and New York's Sara Whalen and Kristy Whelchel.
Fotopoulos, who missed the 1997 college season at the University of Florida after tearing her right ACL, is the WUSA's all-time scoring leader with 76 points (27 goals, 22 assists). She had seven goals and six assists for 20 points this season.
''It didn't hurt,'' she reported. ''I just knew I did it, so I was really upset. That's why I was probably bawling my eyes out [as I left the field].''
Fotopoulos was out of action for nearly 10 minutes earlier in the half while getting stitches on the back of her head. She apparently suffered a cut while knocking heads with an opponent, but she didn't realize anything was wrong until a teammate told her she was ''gushing blood'' while Courage players huddled following Keri Sanchez's ninth-minute goal.
Betsy Barr added her first WUSA goal in the closing minutes as the CyberRays (5-6-1, 16 points) won for the first time in five games while snapping Carolina's five-game unbeaten streak.
Pretinha assisted on both San Jose goals and might have scored a first-half hat trick with better finishing.
The Courage (4-6-2, 14 points) fell to seventh place with the loss.
The match drew 4,425 fans, the CyberRays' smallest home crowd of the season.
In Wednesday's other WUSA game:
Boston 2 New York 1: Angela Hucles' 67th-minute header from Maren Meinert's free kick carried the Breakers (6-4-2, 20 points) back atop the WUSA standings before 4,723 at Nickerson Field.
Tammy Pearman gave the Power (5-7-1, 16 points) a 20th-minute lead, but Christie Pearce's 31st-minute own goal — while trying to clear a Meinert cross — pulled the Breakers even.
Meinert's assist on Hucles' winner vaulted her ahead in the WUSA scoring race with 21 points, one more than Fotopoulos and Washington's Mia Hamm possess.
Boston is ahead of Atlanta by one point in the standings, but the Beat have one game in hand.
WEDNESDAY'S SUMMARIES
June 25 at Boston
Boston 2 New York 1. Goals: own goal Pearce 31, Hucles (Meinert) 67; Pearman (Boxx) 20.
Boston — LeBlanc; Kluegel, Sobrero, Gonzalez, McCann; Mugneret-Beghe (Hawkins, 89), Hucles, Monroe, Lilly; Meinert, Mellgren.
New York — Webber; Pearce, Raveia, Salisbury (Orlandos, 88), Tietjen; Janss, Boxx, Peters (Baumgardt, 78), Rapp; Milbrett, Pearman (Davey, 70).
Yellow card — New York: Boxx 47.
Referee — Rachel Woo.
A — 4,723.
June 25 at San Jose
San Jose 2 Carolina 0. Goals: Sanchez (Pretinha, Venturini-Hoch) 9, Barr (Pretinha, Sanchez) 86.
San Jose — Beene; Antongiovanni, Bryan, Cromwell, Chastain; Barr; Sanchez, Venturini-Hoch (Sissi, 46), French; Pretinha (Clemens, 88), Barnes (Katia, 39).
Carolina — Luckenbill; Burt, Fettig, Baxter, Boyd (Borgman, 72); Roberts, James (Slaton, 46), O'Hanley (Overbeck, 62), Lehn; Fotopoulos (Wallis, 39), Prinz.
Yellow cards — San Jose: Cromwell 28, Antongiovanni 80; Carolina: Burt 53.
Referee — Kari Seitz.
A — 4,425.
WUSA STANDINGS
Pl W-L-T Pts (GF-GA)
1. Boston 12 6-4-2 20 (19-20)
2. Atlanta 11 5-2-4 19 (23-9)
3. Washington 10 5-3-2 17 (21-17)
4. San Diego 11 4-3-4 16 (16-14)
5. San Jose 12 5-6-1 16 (13-14)
6. New York 13 5-7-1 16 (21-30)
7. Carolina 12 4-6-2 14 (18-20)
8. Philadelphia 11 3-6-2 11 (16-23)
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Wednesday, June 25
Boston 2 New York 1
San Jose 2 Carolina 0
Saturday, June 28
Boston at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. (PAX TV)
Washington at Atlanta, 7 p.m.
Carolina at New York, 7 p.m.
Sunday, June 29
San Jose at San Diego, 8 p.m.
All times Eastern
LEADING SCORERS
G-A–Pts
1. Maren Meinert (Boston) 8-5–21
2. Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 7-6–20
Mia Hamm (Washington) 7-6–20
4. Maribel Dominguez (Atlanta) 7-4–18
Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 8-2–18
6. Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 7-2–16
7. Julie Fleeting (San Diego) 6-2–14
Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 4-6–14
Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 6-2–14
Pretinha (San Jose) 5-4–14
11. Abby Wambach (Washington) 5-3–13
12. Christie Welsh (New York) 6-0–12
13. Melanie Hoffmann (Philadelphia) 3-3–9
Jacqui Little (Washington) 2-5–9
Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 3-3–9
Cindy Parlow (Atlanta) 3-3–9
17. Julie Foudy (San Jose) 3-2–8
Homare Sawa (Atlanta) 3-2–8
19. Emily Janss (New York) 3-1–7
Conny Pohlers (Atlanta) 2-3–7
21. Abby Crumpton (Atlanta) 2-2–6
Joanne Peters (New York) 2-2–6
Sissi (San Jose) 1-4–6
Margaret Tietjen (New York) 1-4–6
Stacey Tullock (Philadelphia) 1-4–6
Zhang Ouying (San Diego) 1-4–6
27. Shannon Boxx (New York) 0-5–5
Brandi Chastain (San Jose) 1-3–5
Kelly Golebiowski (Washington) 2-1–5
Unni Lehn (Carolina) 0-5–5
Shannon MacMillan (San Diego) 1-3–5
Lindsay Stoecker (Washington) 2-1–5
Aly Wagner (San Diego) 1-3–5
Kylie Bivens (Atlanta) 1-2–5
35. Krista Davey (New York) 2-0–4
Monica Gonzalez (Boston) 1-2–4
Angela Hucles (Boston) 1-2–4
Steffi Jones (Washington) 1-2–4
Katia (San Jose) 1-2–4
Tammy Pearman (New York) 1-2–4
Anita Rapp (New York) 1-2–4