Julie Fleeting and Christine Latham scored goals and the San Diego Spirit wrapped up the No. 3 spot in the WUSA with a 2-1 victory Sunday over the visiting Washington Freedom in a regular-season finale.

The Freedom (9-8-4, 31 points) finished even with San Diego (8-6-7, 31 points), but the victory gave the Spirit a 2-1 edge in the season series, the first standings tiebreaker. Washington enters next week's WUSA semifinals as the No. 4 team.

Their foes will be known Sunday, when Atlanta and Boston (both 9-4-7, 34 points) play their final regular-season matches. Atlanta beat the Breakers in the season series and will be the No. 1 seed, meeting Washington, if the leaders finish on even terms.

The Beat is home against New York; Boston finishes up at San Jose.

San Diego and Boston qualified for the playoffs for the first time.

Fleeting's 11th goal of the season gave San Diego a second-minute lead. It was a first-time blast from 7 yards off a cross by Latham, who beat defenders Casey Zimny and Jen Grubb on the right wing before delivering the ball.

Steffi Jones pulled Washington even three minutes into the second half after Kelly Golebiowski sent a ball for Jacqui Little to run onto. The Spirit argued unsuccessfully for Little to be called offside.

Latham's winner, her sixth goal of the year, was a 58th-minute header from an Aly Wagner cross. The play started with a flip-throw throw-in by Kim Pickup on the right wing. Freedom defender Carrie Moore headed the ball back toward the wing, and Pickup sent it toward the semicircle for Jen Nielsen.

Nielsen slid at the ball, sending it into space to the right of the goal. Wagner raced to it, sending a short cross from the byline. Latham's header went off Grubb, guarding the left post on the throw-in, en route to the net.

A second Freedom goal, scored by Abby Wambach while on the ground under Fleeting, was waved off when Lindsay Stoecker was ruled offside as Mia Hamm took a free kick from just right of the San Diego box.

Fleeting suffered a dislocated finger in her tussle with Wambach, but she returned to the field after receiving treatment.

Goalkeeper Siri Mullinix kept Washington in the game with two fine saves on Latham, a reaction stop from a sharp header in the 30th minute and a diving save from close range in the 49th.

In Saturday's other game:

Carolina 1 Philadelphia 1: Birgit Prinz netted her 11th goal of the season to give the Courage a ninth-minute lead, and Pavlina Scasna's first WUSA goal pulled the visiting Charge even four minutes later in a season-ender before 5,950 at SAS Stadium.

Defending champion Carolina (7-10-4, 25 points) and Philadelphia (5-11-5, 20 points) finished at the bottom of the WUSA standings. The Courage is even on points with New York and San Jose (both 7-9-4, 25 points), which finish their seasons Sunday, but the Power and CyberRays won their season series with Carolina.

The Courage and Charge posted the best regular-season records last season, and Philly was picked during preseason by some — Soccer America included — to win the WUSA title.

Philadelphia's Kelly Smith fired a penalty kick off the right post three minutes into second-half stoppage time.

SATURDAY'S SUMMARIES

Aug. 9 at San Diego

San Diego 2 Washington 1. Goals: Fleeting (Latham, Connors) 2, Latham (Wagner, Nielsen) 58; Jones (J. Little, Golebiowski) 48.

San Diego — Branam; Pickup, Fawcett, Krzykowski; Connors, Foudy, Wagner, Daniela (Bush, 63); Nielsen; Latham, Fleeting (Rohbock, 88).

Washington — Mullinix; S. Little, Moore, Grubb, Zimny (Lindsey, 64); J. Little (Meier, 75), S. Jones, Stoecker, Golebiowski (Beard, 80); Wambach, Hamm.

Yellow cards — San Diego: Daniela 48, Connors 52, Pickup 57.

Referee — Sandra Hunt.

A — 6,858.

Aug. 9 at Cary, N.C.

Carolina 1 Philadelphia 1. Goals: Prinz (S. Burt) 9; Scasna (Misaki, Pichon) 13.

Carolina — Luckenbill (Zabala, 46); S. Burt (O'Hanley, 32), Baxter, Fettig, Slaton; Montgomery (Borgman, 70), Roberts, McCullough (Wallis, 58), Lehn; James (Overbeck, 65), Prinz.

Philadelphia — Solo; Fair (Burt, 74), Mitts, Tietjen-Prozzo, Benson; McVeigh; Kruze, Tullock, Misaki (Smith, 56); Pichon, Scasna (Maso de Moya, 44).

Yellow cards — Carolina: Lehn 90, Baxter 90.

Referee — Erich Simmons.

A — 5,950.

WUSA STANDINGS

Pl W-L-T Pts (GF-GA)
1. xy-Atlanta 20 9-4-7 34 (33-18)
2. xy-Boston 20 9-4-7 34 (32-29)
3. xz-San Diego 21 8-6-7 31 (27-26)
4. x-Washington 21 9-8-4 31 (40-31)
5. San Jose 20 7-9-4 25 (23-29)
6. New York 20 7-9-4 25 (32-42)
7. Carolina 21 7-10-4 25 (30-32)
8. Philadelphia 21 5-11-5 20 (30-40)
x — clinched semifinal berth
y — clinched home field for semifinals
z — won season series with Washington to finish third

THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Saturday, Aug. 9
San Diego 2 Washington 1
Carolina 1 Philadelphia 1

Sunday, Aug. 10
Boston at San Jose, 6 p.m.
New York at Atlanta, 6:30 p.m.
End regular season

Wednesday, Aug. 6
Boston 1 Carolina 0
Philadelphia 2 Washington 0
San Jose 1 Atlanta 1

All times Eastern

LEADING SCORERS

G-A–Pts
1. Mia Hamm (Washington) 11-11–33
2. Abby Wambach (Washington) 13-6–32
3. Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 14-3–31
4. Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 14-2–30
5. Maren Meinert (Boston) 9-10–28
6. Julie Fleeting (San Diego) 11-4–26
7. Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 9-7–25
Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 11-3–25
9. Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 7-6–20
10. Maribel Dominguez (Atlanta) 7-4–18
11. Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 5-6–16
12. Melanie Hoffmann (Philadelphia) 5-5–15
Christine Latham (San Diego) 6-3–15
Pretinha (San Jose) 5-5–15
15. Conny Pohlers (Atlanta) 4-5–13
16. Katia (San Jose) 5-2–12
Christie Welsh (New York) 6-0–12
18. Venus James (Carolina) 5-1–11
Cindy Parlow (Atlanta) 3-5–11
Sissi (San Jose) 3-5–11
Stacey Tullock (Philadelphia) 3-5–11
22. Shannon Boxx (New York) 1-8–10
Jacqui Little (Washington) 2-6–10
24. Emily Janss (New York) 4-1–9
Homare Sawa (Atlanta) 3-3–9
Lindsay Stoecker (Washington) 4-1–9
27. Abby Crumpton (Atlanta) 3-2–8
Krista Davey (New York) 3-2–8
Julie Foudy (San Jose) 3-2–8
Kelly Golebiowski (Washington) 2-4–8
Steffi Jones (Washington) 2-4–8
Kristine Lilly (Boston) 2-4–8
Anita Rapp (New York) 2-4–8
Margaret Tietjen (New York) 1-6–8
Tisha Venturini-Hoch (San Jose) 3-2–8
Aly Wagner (San Diego) 2-4–8
37. Cheryl Salisbury (New York) 3-1–7
Keri Sanchez (San Jose) 1-5–7
39. Justi Baumgardt (New York) 1-4–6
Emily Burt (Philadelphia) 2-2–6
Brandi Chastain (San Jose) 1-4–6
Nel Fettig (Carolina) 2-2–6
Angela Hucles (Boston) 1-4–6
Unni Lehn (Carolina) 0-6–6
Joanne Peters (New York) 2-2–6
Zhang Ouying (San Diego) 1-4–6
47. Katie Barnes (San Jose) 2-1–5
Erin Baxter (Carolina) 2-1–5
Kylie Bivens (Atlanta) 1-3–5
Jen Grubb (Washington) 2-1–5
Lori Lindsey (Washington) 2-1–5
Shannon MacMillan (San Diego) 1-3–5
Mary-Frances Monroe (Philadelphia) 1-3–5
Jaclyn Raveia (New York) 2-1–5
Danielle Slaton (Carolina) 2-1–5
Allie Sullivan (San Diego) 1-3–5
57. Danielle Borgman (Carolina) 2-0–4
Staci Burt (Carolina) 0-4–4
Michelle French (San Jose) 0-4–4
Monica Gonzalez (Boston) 1-2–4
Devvyn Hawkins (Boston) 1-2–4
Jena Kluegel (Boston) 0-4–4
Brooke O'Hanley (Carolina) 0-4–4
Tammy Pearman (New York) 1-2–4
Pavlina Scasna (Philadelphia) 1-2–4
Nikki Serlenga (Atlanta) 1-2–4
Jen Tietjen-Prozzo (Philadelphia) 1-2–4

Goals
1. Dagny Mellgren (Boston) 14
Marinette Pichon (Philadelphia) 14
3. Abby Wambach (Washington) 13
4. Julie Fleeting (San Diego) 11
Mia Hamm (Washington) 11
Birgit Prinz (Carolina) 11
7. Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 9
Maren Meinert (Boston) 9
9. Maribel Dominguez (Atlanta) 7
Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 7

Assists
1. Mia Hamm (Washington) 11
2. Maren Meinert (Boston) 10
3. Shannon Boxx (New York) 7
Charmaine Hooper (Atlanta) 7
5. Danielle Fotopoulos (Carolina) 6
Unni Lehn (Carolina) 6
Jacqui Little (Washington) 6
Tiffeny Milbrett (New York) 6
Margaret Tietjen (New York) 6
Abby Wambach (Washington) 6