By Scott French, Senior Editor IT'S A MATCH: There's no beating Carolina's road warriors. The Courage are 4-0-2 away from home after dismantling Washington, 3-1, on Saturday. More impressive: A little more than halfway through the season, the Courage has matched its first-year win (6) and point (21) totals. This is a different Carolina team than the one that finished last in the WUSA's inaugural campaign, and the recent addition of German star Birgit Prinz makes it clearly a team to beat when the games count for more. Prinz has picked up points in all five WUSA games she's played, assisting on Danielle Fotopoulos' goal in Wednesday's 3-1 home loss to first-place Philadelphia and scoring the third in the win at Washington. Fotopoulos, the league's No. 3 scorer (behind New York's Tiffeny Milbrett and Boston's Maren Meinert), also has a five-game point streak. The hero of Saturday's win — Carolina's first in five meetings with the Freedom — was Venus James, acquired off waivers from San Jose in January, who scored her first two WUSA goals in her first Carolina start. BEST GOAL: Can't argue with Prinz's blistering diving header at Washington. The set-up was just as good: Defender Nel Fettig retrieved a Freedom clearance near midfield and played a 25-yard ball ahead to Fotopoulos. She played a give-and-go with Hege Riise, maneuvering past defender Emmy Barr for the return on the right flank, then took the ball deep into the Freedom box. Prinz shook off Carrie Moore's coverage and dove to connect with Fotopoulos' far-post cross. WINLESS IN SAN DIEGO: The struggling Spirit picked up its first point in five games with a 1-1 tie Sunday evening against visiting Philadelphia, a result earned despite playing a woman down after Mercy Akide's 15th-minute red card for head-butting Charge goalkeeper Melissa Moore. That leaves Philly, currently on a six-game unbeaten streak, 0-1-1 this season at Torero Stadium and 7-0-2 everywhere else. Its lead on Carolina, pushed to five points following Wednesday's victory, is down to three. WELCOME BACK: Gao Hong's clean sheet for 2002 lasted four minutes. The New York goalkeeper, returning from offseason wrist surgery, was pelted in her debut Saturday, a 5-2 loss at Boston. Meinert and Dagny Mellgren had two goals apiece for the Breakers, who halted a four-game winless streak. It's been a similar story all season for the Power, who are hemorrhaging goals. It has given up 31 in 11 games — 2.82 per game! — and, at this rate, will break the WUSA record (40, by Carolina) on July 13. New York, loser in its past four, already has given up more goals than it did last year, when it surrendered 25 in 21 matches. CAN'T BEAT 'EM: San Jose still hasn't figured out how to beat Atlanta, not without penalty kicks. The Beat's 2-1 victory on Saturday was the sixth meeting without a victory for the CyberRays. That includes last August's initial WUSA final, a spot-kick triumph after a 3-3 tie. Officially, the game counts as a draw. WUSA SUMMARIES WEEK 11: Philly extends lead to 3 June 19 at Cary, N.C.
CAROLINA (5-2-3, 18 pts.) 1 PHILADELPHIA (7-1-2, 23 pts) 3. Goals: Pichon (Mitts) 26, Connors 39, Pichon (Zhao, Connors) 67; Fotopoulos (Prinz) 27.
Att.: 5,244. June 22 at Washington
WASHINGTON (4-5-3, 15 pts.) 1 CAROLINA (6-2-3, 21 pts.) 3. Goals: Bai 76; James 43, James (Riise) 53, Prinz (Fotopoulos, Riise) 67.
Att: 5,761. June 22 at Atlanta
ATLANTA (6-4-1, 19 pts.) 2 SAN JOSE (5-4-2, 17 pts.) 1. Goals: Hooper (Cagle, Nonen) 19, Parlow (N. Augustyniak, Hooper) 36; Venturini-Hoch (Chastain, Sissi) 43.
Att.: 6,670. June 22 at Boston
BOSTON (3-5-4, 13 pts.) 5 NEW YORK (2-8-1, 7 pts.) 2. Goals: Mellgren (Hucles, Lilly) 4, Meinert (Gonzalez, Lilly) 20, Meinert 27, own goal McIntosh 47, Mellgren (Lilly, Wiegmann) 58; Milbrett 15, Janss (Milbrett) 39.
Att.: 6,548. June 23 at San Diego
SAN DIEGO (2-6-3, 9 pts.) 1 PHILADELPHIA (7-1-3, 24 pts.) 1. Goals: Zhang (Lindsey) 49; own goal Fan 45.
Red card: San Diego — Akide 15.
Att: 5,545.