The home teams held on for a win and two ties over a three-game weekend. Washington was the only host to win a match, blanking Carolina, 2-0, in the first half of a double header with D.C. United. Meanwhile, late goals by Shannon Boxx and Liu Ailing gave San Diego and Philadelphia ties with New York and Atlanta, respectively. The weekend’s games marked the smallest slate of games since Week 1, when Washington hosted the Bay Area. The weekend produced three red cards, after the WUSA had just one red card through last weekend. Despite the absence of Mia Hamm, Siri Mullinix and Michelle French — away with the United States for the 2-2 friendly tie with Canada — the Freedom snapped its three-game losing streak at the expense of last-place Carolina, which was missing Canada’s Silvana Burtini and Hege Riise and goalkeeper Bente Nordby, who were with Norway at Euro 2001 in Germany. The teams played before a crowd of 30,271 at rain-soaked RFK Stadium. The game was delayed 52 minutes, due to inclement weather. Just before game time, thunder sounded and lightning lit up the skies. Then the heavens opened up and dumped buckets of rain on the stadium field. In the 33rd minute, Bai sliced her way past a Courage defender, beating her down the flank, and served a nice cross into the goalmouth. Freedom teammate Monica Gerardo leapt up and nodded the ball hard into the goal. The ball glanced off of Courage captain Carla Overbeck as it screamed into the net. Four minutes later, Carolina lost another keeper. Backup Kristin Luckenbill left her box as Washington forward Pretinha converged on goal. The Brazilian fired a shot that deflected off of Luckenbill’s arm, and Referee Arnold Baldeaux showed Luckenbill a red card. Allison Snooks took over in goal for the Courage. On the ensuing free kick, Washington’s Jen Grubb hammered a shot targeted for the upper corner. Snooks was able to get her hand to it and deflect it off the crossbar. The rebound fell in front of the unprotected goalmouth. Carolina defender Staci Burt arrived to sweep it away, but her clearance slammed off of Bai’s leg and into the open goal. The much-maligned Freedom defense held Carolina to four shots — Carolina’s Danielle Fotopoulos had three of them — and just one shot on goal, also from Fotopoulos. Elsewhere, Tara Koleski set up Boxx for an 86th-minute equalizer for San Diego. Reserve goalkeeper Carly Smolak — starting in place of starter Jaime Pagliarulo and backup Ulrika Karlsson, away with the United States and Sweden, respectively — and Holly Pierce made their debuts for the Spirit. On July 1, Liu scored in stoppage time as host Philadelphia stunned Atlanta, 1-1. The match began 64 minutes late due to thunder and lightning. Atlanta was on its way for its sixth win of the year when Charge goalkeeper Melissa Moore received a red card for tackling the Beat’s Emily Burt in the 82nd minute and Homare Sawa scored on a free kick four minutes later. The free kick came after Kalli Kamholz was cautioned for fouling Beat forward Charmaine Hooper. But Hooper received her second yellow card of the match for fouling Philly’s Jennifer Tietjen in the 88th minute and the referees called for four minutes of stoppage time. In the third minute of stoppage time, Charge defender Jenny Benson got off a low line drive from 10 yards away that Atlanta’s Briana Scurry made a great save on. But the ball popped to substitute forward Deidre Enos, who headed it across the goalmouth. The took bounced high to Liu and the Chinese veteran calmly headed it past a Beat defender for her team-leading sixth goal of the season. June 30 in Washington, D.C. WASHINGTON 2 CAROLINA 0 Scoring Summary: WAS û Monica Gerardo (Bai Jie) 33. WAS û Bai Jie (Jen Grubb) 37. WASHINGTON — Erin Fahey, Amanda Cromwell, Lindsay Stoecker, Emmy Barr, Jen Grubb, Bai Jie, Krista Davey (Skylar Little, 61), Anne Makinen, Monica Gerardo (Justi Baumgardt, 68), Pretinha (Roseli, 74), Tracey Milburn CAUTIONS: None; EJECTIONS: None. CAROLINA — Kristin Luckenbill, Staci Burt, Jaclyn Raveia (Mikka Hansen, 71), Carla Overbeck, Staci Wilson, Kim Yankowski (Allison Snooks, 37), Tiffany Roberts, Erin Baxter, Wen Lirong (Beth Sheppard, 46), Meredith Florance (Naomi Stone, 62), Danielle Fotopoulos. CAUTIONS: Carla Overbeck 48; EJECTIONS: Kristin Luckenbill 37. Referee: Arnold Baldeaux. Attendance: 30,271. Weather: û Wet, 75 degrees. June 30 in San Diego SAN DIEGO 1 NEW YORK 1 Scoring Summary: NY – Tammy Pearman (Katie Tracy, Sara Whalen) 55. SD – Shannon Boxx (Tara Koleski, Margaret Tietjen) 86. SAN DIEGO — Carly Smolak, Fan Yunjie, Margaret Tietjen, Kim Pickup, Rhiannon Tanaka, Traci Arkenberg (Holly Pierce, 69), Jen Mascaro (Tara Koleski 60), Shannon Boxx û C (Karissa Hampton, 89), Erin Montoya, Sherrill Kester (Missy Wycinsky, 71), Mercy Akide. CAUTIONS: Erin Montoya 80; EJECTIONS: None. NEW YORK — Gao Hong, Kristy Whelchel, Nel Fettig (Jen OÆSullivan, 86), Sara Whalen -C, Ronnie Fair, Anne Nielsen, Jen Lalor, Katie Tracy (Emily Janss, 79), Ann Kristin Aarones (Jessica Reifer 74), Tammy Pearman, Kerry Connors. CAUTIONS: None; EJECTIONS: None. Referee: Peter Kokolski. Attendance: 4,506. Weather: Sunny, breezy û 84 degrees. July 1 in Villanova, Pa. PHILADELPHIA 1 ATLANTA 1 Scoring Summary: ATL – Homare Sawa 86. PHI – Liu Ailing (Diedre Enos) 90. PHILADELPHIA — Melissa Moore, Heather Mitts, Kalli Kamholz, Jennifer Tietjen, Jenny Benson, Rakel Karvelsson (Margret Olafsdottir, 77), Laurie Schwoy, Liu Ailing, Rebekah McDowell, Mandy Clemens (Saskia Webber, 82), Erin Martin (Deidre Enos, 61). CAUTIONS: Laurie Schwoy 56, Kalli Kamholz 85; EJECTIONS: Melissa Moore 82. ATLANTA — Briana Scurry, Dayna Smith, Sharolta Nonen, Nancy Augustyniak, Lisa Krzykowski, Kylie Bivens, Julie Augustyniak (Bryn Blalack, 76), Homare Sawa, Sun Wen (Emily Burt, 65), Kelly Cagle (Nikki Lamb, 73), Charmaine Hooper. CAUTIONS: Charmaine Hooper 71, 88; EJECTIONS: Hooper 88. Referee: Kari Seitz. Attendance: 6,185. Weather: Clouds and rain, 75 degrees.