Mia Hamm set up one goal and scored a sensational follow-up as the visiting Washington Freedom rallied for a 2-1 victory Saturday over the Carolina Courage in the opener to the WUSA's third season.

Abby Wambach got credit for a goal just before halftime and Hamm blasted into the upper-right corner in the 59th minute as the Freedom overcame an early deficit to beat the reigning champions in Cary, N.C., in a rematch of last summer's Founders Cup final.

Carolina went ahead when Birgit Prinz finished a fast break in the sixth minute, fending off defender Carrie Moore and dribbling past goalkeeper Siri Mullinix. Carolina could have gone ahead in the 53rd minute, but Hege Riise put her penalty kick, awarded after a hand ball, wide to the left.

Wambach, a force at both ends of the field, pulled Washington ahead in the 44th minute, leaping at Hamm's free kick from 45 yards. It was difficult to tell if Wambach made contact with the ball, but she was given credit after it bounced past rookie goalkeeper Meghann Burke.

Burke, pressed into service by a thumb injury to Kristin Luckenbill, was tested repeatedly by Washington and struggled at key moments. She made no attempt to beat Wambach to the ball on the Freedom's first goal, then parried Hamm's shot into her net.

Hamm's blast, from 22 yards deep and just wide of where the edge of the box would extend, was tough to stop, a left-footed half-shot, half-cross that was heading a few yards inside the right post just below the crossbar. Burke leapt at the ball and got her hand on it, but it deflected into the upper-right corner.

The loss, televised on ESPN2, spoiled Carolina coach Jay Entlich's debut.

In Saturday's other openers:

Atlanta 5 New York 0: The Beat, held without a goal in its previous two openers, destroyed the undermanned Power at Herndon Stadium and spoiled Tom Sermanni's WUSA head-coaching debut.

Kylie Bivens headed in a Leslie Gaston cross in the 18th minute and Atlanta netted another five minutes later when Lindsey Jones redirected a Cindy Parlow shot into the net.

Maribel Dominguez added another three minutes into the second half, and Charmaine Hooper and Abby Crumpton tallied in the final minutes.

The Power, coming off a 3-17-1 campaign in which it surrendered 62 goals, was without four key players because of injury or international duty.

Boston 2 San Diego 1: Dagny Mellgren and Maren Meinert scored goals and the visiting Breakers, displaying defensive organization previously absent, held rookie Aly Wagner in check to earn the victory at Torero Stadium.

Pia Sundhage won in her head-coaching debut, the only new coach in the WUSA to start with a victory. Omid Namazi, San Diego's coach, also was in his first match.

Mellgren gave the Breakers an eighth-minute lead from a Kristine Lilly corner kick on the right. Lilly found Gonzalez unmarked beyond the goalmouth, and she headed the ball back into the 6-yard box for Mellgren, also unmarked. Mellgren's header hit Ronnie Fair en route to the net. Lilly extended her WUSA-record points streak to 11 games with her assist.

Meinert clinically finished Sarah Popper's feed over the top of the Spirit defense in the 68th minute to make it 2-0. San Diego applied heavy pressure the final five minutes, and rookie Christine Latham tallied in the 89th minute.

San Jose 1 Philadelphia 0: Katie Barnes, picked up off waivers from Carolina the final week of March, scored in the 32nd minute to lift the CyberRays at Spartan Stadium.

Barnes chipped Philly goalkeeper Melissa Moore after a feed from Katia, netting her first WUSA goal. Moore had an otherwise fine outing, making six saves and stopping Pretinha twice on breakaways.

SATURDAY'S SUMMARIES

April 5 at Cary, N.C.

Carolina 1 Washington 2. Goals: Prinz (Fotopoulos, Riise) 6; Wambach (Hamm) 44, Hamm 59.

Carolina — Burke; Burt, Fettig, Boyd, Slaton; Roberts, Lehn (James, 74), Riise, Carlson (O'Hanley, 37); Prinz, Fotopoulos.

Washington — Mullinix; S. Little, Moore, Grubb, Barr; Stoecker, Jones; Lindsey (Zimny, 92), Hamm; J. Little (Gerardo, 79), Wambach.

Yellow cards — Washington: Lindsey 48.

Referee — Sandra Hunt.

A — 6,061.

April 5 at Atlanta

Atlanta 5 New York 0. Goals: Bivens (Gaston) 18, own goal Jones 23, Dominguez (Hooper, Sawa) 48, Hooper 80, Crumpton (Bivens, Dominguez) 84.

Atlanta — Scurry, Bivens, Nonen, N. Augustyniak, Gaston; Miller (Warren, 82), Serlenga; Sawa (Crumpton, 69), Parlow (Antongiovanni, 81); Hooper (Burt, 85), Dominguez.

New York — Smolak; Pearce, Jones (Davey, 89), Orlandos, Raveia, Tietjen; Janss (Pearman, 79), Boxx, Rapp (Baumgardt-Yamada, 69); Milbrett, Welsh.

Yellow cards — Atlanta: Bivens 60; New York: Orlandos 67.

Referee — Terry Vaughn.

Att. — 8,967.

April 5 at San Diego

San Diego 1 Boston 2. Goals: Latham 89; Mellgren (Gonzalez, Lilly) 8, Meinert (Popper) 68.

San Diego — Pagliarulo; Alfiler (Sullivan, 55), Krzykowski, Pickup, Fair (Fleeting, 70); Nielsen (Zhang, 74), Foudy; MacMillan, Wagner. Connors; Latham.

Boston — LeBlanc; Kluegel, Sobrero, Gonzalez, Aldama; Mugneret-Beghe, Hucles, Popper (Hawkins, 74), Lilly; Meinert, Mellgren.

Yellow cards — San Diego: Connors 43.

Referee — Kari Seitz.

Att. — 6,161.

Aug. 5 at San Jose

San Jose 1 Philadelphia 0. Goal: Barnes (Katia, Pretinha)32.

San Jose — Beene; Sanchez, Bryan, Chastain, French; Barr, Sissi, Clemens; Barnes (Venturini-Hoch, 66), Katia, Pretinha.

Philadelphia — Moore; Mitts, Tietjen-Prozzo, McVeigh, Benson; Tullock, Fair (Borisjuk, 80), Makinen (Smith, 62), Pichon; Hoffmann, Arrington (Scasna, 26).

Yellow cards — San Jose: Katia 72.

Referee — Mark Arblaster.

Att. — 6,042.