New York and Philadelphia scored big wins in the battle for playoff berths. Third-place New York dropped Boston to the cellar with a 4-2 win at Mitchel Complex. The Charge beat Washington, 2-0, at RFK Stadium to open up a four-point lead (with a game in hand) on the Freedom for the fourth playoff berth. First-place Atlanta blew a chance to clinch a playoff berth when it lost to Carolina, 3-2. The game featured Chinese star Sun Wen’s first goal of the season. July 26 in Chapel Hill, N.C. Carolina 3 Atlanta 2. Goals: Burtini (Fotopoulos, Bengtsson) 27, Fotopoulos (Riise) 45, Riise 5 (Yankowski) 88; Sun Wen (Parlow) 70, Hooper pen. 73. Carolina — Luckenbill, Bengtsson, Burt, Overbeck, Wilson, Baxter, Riise, Roberts, Burtini (Hansen 62), Florance (Yankowski 75; Hendershot 89), Fotopoulos. Atlanta — Scurry, N.Augustyniak (Smith 52), Krzykowski, Nonen, Walsh, Bivens, Korgel (Blalack, 46), Serlenga, Cagle (Sun, 46), Hooper, Parlow. Yellow Card: Atlanta — Cagle 31. Referee: Sandra Hunt. Att.: 4,792. July 26 in Washington, D.C. Washington 0 Philadelphia 2. Goals: Demko (Clemens) 44, Enos (Karvelsson) 78. Philadelphia — Moore, Benson, Fitschen, Kamholz (Schwoy 63), Mitts, Demko (Olafsdottir 85), Fair, Karvelsson, Liu, Smith (McDowell 56), Clemens (Enos 69). Washington — Mullinix, Cromwell, French, Little (Moore 45), Stoecker, Bai, Baumgardt (Davey 82), Grubb, Makinen (Gerardo 59), Pretinha (Milburn 74), Hamm. Yellow Card: Philadelphia — Smith 41. Referee: Todd Perry. Att.: 6,794. July 26 in Uniondale, N.Y. New York 4 Boston 2. Goals: Milbrett (Espeseth) 13, Whelchel (Fettig) 34, Janss (Milbrett, Pearce) 66, Fettig pen. 68; Mellgren (Meinert) 13, Meinert 30. Boston — Ducar, Aldama, McCann, Raygor (Hogan 84), Sobrero, Hucles (Foster 88), Lilly, Omagbemi (Kemp 21; Erikson 72), Wiegmann, Meinert, Mellgren. New York — Gao, Fair, Fettig, Pearce, Whelchel, Espeseth, Janss (McDonald 84), Stauffer (O’Sullivan 78), Whalen, Milbrett (Connors 74), Pearman (Aarones 58). Referee: Jennifer Bennett. Att.: 5,013.