By SCOTT FRENCH, Senior Editor

HAT RACK: Dagny Mellgren notched the fourth hat trick of the season — and the third against Philadelphia this season — in Boston's 3-1 victory Sunday. The last-place Charge, hobbled all season by injuries, saw Abby Wambach score three in Washington's 4-1 win on May 10 and Cindy Parlow score three in Atlanta's 4-2 triumph on June 22.

Atlanta's Maribel Dominguez netted a hat trick against the Breakers in a 6-0 Beat win on April 12.

Boston, three points behind first-place Atlanta, is 4-1-2 in its past seven games and unbeaten in its past four. The last-place Charge dropped their third in a row and haven't won in five games.

Mellgren's goals, her eighth, ninth and 10th of the season, pulled her into a share of the lead in the WUSA scoring race (with 22 points) with teammate Maren Meinert, who assisted the second, and injured Philly forward Marinette Pichon.

The Charge, after surrendering a league-low 22 goals in 21 matches last season, have given up 33 in 15 games. Contributing factors include assistant coach Pia Sundhage's departure to become Boston's head coach, Soccer America Defensive Player of the Year Erika Iverson's retirement, and injuries to critical players, including Kelly Smith, Marinette Pichon and Heather Mitts. In the past week and a half, seven Charge players have been on the injured list.

In all, there have been nine hat tricks in WUSA history. There were three in 2001, by New York's Tiffeny Milbrett, former Philadelphia midfielder Liu Ailing and Atlanta's Charmaine Hooper, and two last season, by Milbrett and Pichon.

HOME COOKING: The Beat surged ahead with home victories over San Diego and Washington, earning its sixth shutout in Wednesday's chippy 2-0 win over the Spirit and getting a breakout performance from Ifeoma Dieke in Saturday's 2-1 triumph over the Freedom.

Atlanta has the best home record in the WUSA — 7-2-1 — but only one remaining home game, in the Aug. 9 regular-season finale against New York. The Beat, 1-1-3 away from Herndon Stadium, play its next five matches at Philadelphia, at Boston, at New York, at Philadelphia and at San Jose.

Dieke, an American-born Nigerian who calls Scotland home, on Saturday netted her first WUSA goal to give Atlanta a short-lived first-half lead, then made a nifty move to set up Conny Pohlers' 49th-minute winner.

BEST GOAL: Gotta like Pohlers' strike. Dieke beat Skylar Little on the left byline, then squirted the ball through Jen Grubb's sliding tackle to an open Pohlers.

The German striker, who scored 40 Frauen-Bundesliga goals in the season and a half before joining the Beat in spring, cut left past Carrie Moore, right past Lindsay Stoecker and split Sandra Minnert's legs with a shot that sailed inside the right post.

FALLING FREEDOM: Washington, the best team in the league two months ago, has won only once in seven games, Wednesday's 4-2 victory in the slop over Philadelphia.

Abby Wambach scored twice in three minutes for the Freedom, her first goals since her May 10 hat trick. She should have netted at least four, maybe more.

''I could honestly have had seven goals, that was the type of day it was,'' said Wambach.

SUPPLEMENT: This was the week to be a ''supplemental'' player — three of them saw action and one, Philadelphia's Darci Borski, scored a goal.

Borski, who netted the Charge's goal in the loss at Boston, and Beth McNamara saw action in both Philly games, and McNamara played the full 90 against the Breakers. They've been on Philadelphia's injury-ravaged roster since late June.

Carrie Proost — Borski's teammate with W-League power Hampton Roads — got onto the field near the end of New York's 2-1 win at Carolina, her second ''supplemental'' callup to the Power.

The ''supplemental'' classification was added to the WUSA this season, offering teams short-term additions when rosters fall below 16 players because of injury or international callup.

Ten players have signed ''supplemental'' pacts this season, with former University of Tennessee goalkeeper Ellen Dean joining the Atlanta Beat on three occasions. She served as Melanie Wilson's backup during Saturday's win over Washington.

Keri Sarver, while a ''supplemental'' player with New York, played two minutes on June 14. She signed a ''developmental'' contract with Carolina last week.

ALL THE LUCK: Shannon Boxx, enjoying a marvelous season in New York following an offseason trade from San Diego, leads the league (with Mia Hamm and Charmaine Hooper) with seven assists, the latest on Anita Rapp's 30th-minute opener in the Power's victory at Carolina.

She hasn't scored a goal for New York, but came close Saturday, twice hitting the post. ''My teammates,'' she said, ''tell me I am unlucky right now and that the goals will come.''

The luck has been with Cheryl Salisbury, the big Australian central defender, whose 37th-minute header was her second goal in as many games. She cracked heads with an opponent while scoring.

''I was happy I scored,'' she told the Raleigh News & Observer, ''but I was like, 'Man, my head hurts.' ''

Boxx scored five goals in two seasons with the Spirit.

TWO-THIRDS: The loss at Atlanta was Washington's 14th game, so every team has played at least two-thirds of its schedule.

Here's how the teams stood through their 14th matches:

1. Atlanta, 7-3-4, 25 points (28 goals for, 12 goals against).
2. Boston, 6-4-4, 22 points (22-23).
3. Washington, 6-5-3, 21 points (27-23).
4. San Diego, 5-3-6, 21 points (21-18).
5. Carolina, 5-6-3, 18 points (24-25).
6. San Jose, 5-7-2, 17 points (16-18).
7. New York, 5-7-2, 17 points (24-33).
8. Philadelphia, 3-7-4, 13 points (21-30.)

WUSA SUMMARIES WEEK 15: Road good to Power

July 9 at Atlanta
ATLANTA (7-3-4, 25 points) 2 SAN DIEGO (5-4-6, 21 points) 0.
Goals: Serlenga 73, Crumpton 91+.
Att.: 4,657.

July 9 at Washington
WASHINGTON (6-4-3, 21 points) 4 PHILADELPHIA (3-7-4, 13 points) 2.
Goals: Stoecker 5, Wambach 27, Wambach (Golebiowski) 30, Lindsey (Minnert, Hamm) 73; Hoffmann 8, Tullock 31.
Att.: 5,780.

July 12 at Atlanta
ATLANTA (8-3-4, 28 points) 2 WASHINGTON (6-5-3, 21 points) 1.
Goals: Dieke (Pohlers, Hooper) 26, Pohlers 49; Grubb 27.
Att.: 8,237.

July 12 at Cary, N.C.
CAROLINA (5-7-3, 18 points) 1 NEW YORK (7-7-2, 23 points) 2.
Goals: Baxter (Montgomery) 93+; Rapp (Boxx, Orlandos) 30, Salisbury (Raveia) 37.
Att.: 5,844.

July 13 at Boston
BOSTON (7-4-4, 25 points) 3 PHILADELPHIA (3-8-4, 13 points) 1.
Goals: Mellgren (Monroe, Mugneret-Beghe) 16, Mellgren (Meinert, Kluegel) 45, Mellgren (Gulbrandsen) 65; Borski (Maso de Moya) 81.
Att.: 5,060.