By Scott French, Senior Editor

FINAL FOUR: Carolina captured the regular-season title and Atlanta nabbed the final playoff berth on the last weekend of the WUSA's second campaign.

The Courage overtook Philadelphia for the top spot with a 2-1 victory Wednesday in New York and a 1-1 tie Sunday in San Diego. Birgit Prinz and Danielle Fotopoulos both had a goal and two assists for the week.

Atlanta stumbled on Wednesday, falling, 1-0, to visiting San Diego — on a Julie Foudy goal that kept San Jose, coached by Foudy's husband, Ian Sawyers, alive in the playoff chase — but the Beat rebounded to beat Philly, 2-0, on Saturday to snag the fourth semifinal spot. Nikki Serlenga and Kelly Cagle scored the goals.

The Charge, which has won just once in six games, will be home against Washington and Atlanta will visit Carolina in Saturday's semifinals. The winner advance to the Aug. 24 Founders Cup II in Atlanta.

The Freedom, which finished the regular-season with a 4-2 win at New York, continues to be the hottest team in the WUSA. It hasn't lost in nine games and is sporting a four-game winning streak.

COACHING MOVES I: The sixth-place Boston Breakers did the expected and let go Coach Jay Hoffman, who wasn't able to get the club into the WUSA playoffs the first two seasons, following Saturday's season finale. ''Hoffy'' was a U.S. Soccer staff coach before joining the Breakers and was one of Tony DiCicco's assistants when the U.S. women won the World Cup in 1999.

Boston, inconsistent defensively but possessing a dynamic attack featuring Maren Meinert, Kristine Lilly, Dagny Mellgren and Bettina Wiegmann, went 14-18-10 under Hoffman.

The Breakers might have had a very different year had Ragnhild Gulbrandsen been healthy enough to play an important role. The Norwegian forward, acquired during the offseason following a long courtship, arrived with an injured foot and played only 77 minutes in six games late in the season. She had an assist but no goals.

COACHING MOVES II: San Diego, meantime, is closer to selecting a coach for next season. GM (and interim coach) Kevin Crow, due to leave the club Thursday to become the league's chief operating officer, acknowledged that Santa Clara University coach Jerry Smith — husband of San Jose star Brandi Chastain — and Philadelphia assistant coach Pia Sundhage, a former Swedish standout, are the primary candidates for the job.

Crow says he's had conversations with Smith and will talk in detail with Sundhage once the Charge's season concludes. He hopes to fill the post by the end of August.

BEST GOAL: Serlenga's fourth-minute blast from 30 yards, the critical strike in Atlanta's playoff-clinching victory over Philadelphia, gets our vote.

Serlenga found the upper-left corner, off goalkeeper Melissa Moore's fingertips, with a first-time volley after defender Jen Tietjen weakly headed a Liping Wang cross out of the Charge area. It followed a sequence that started with a Homare Sawa takeaway near midfield.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Brazilian forward Katia won the WUSA's scoring title with 35 points (15 goals, 5 assists), tying the mark set last season by New York's Tiffeny Milbrett. Katia also scored the most goals in the league, and Boston's Maren Meinert dished off the most assists (a WUSA-record 15).

Neither is going to the playoffs.

The top goalkeeper, statistically, was Philadelphia's Moore, who finished with a 1.00 goals-against average.

WUSA SUMMARIES WEEK 18: Road teams go 3-2-2

Aug. 7 at Atlanta
ATLANTA (10-9-1, 31 pts.) 0 SAN DIEGO (5-11-4, 19 pts.) 1.
Goal: Foudy (MacMillan, Pickup) 46.
Att.: 5,814.

Aug. 7 at Villanova, Pa.
PHILADELPHIA (11-3-6, 39 pts.) 1 SAN JOSE (8-7-5, 29 pts.) 1.
Goals: Tullock (Koleski, Fair) 73; Chastain (Katia) 34.
Att.: 6,402.

Aug. 7 at Uniondale, N.Y.
NEW YORK (3-16-1, 10 pts.) 1 CAROLINA (12-5-3, 39 pts.) 2.
Goals: Pearman (Milbrett) 89; Prinz (Fotopoulos, Riise) 66, Fotopoulos (Prinz) 81.
Att.: 8,314.

Aug. 10 at Atlanta
ATLANTA (11-9-1, 34 pts.) 2 PHILADELPHIA (11-4-6, 39 pts.) 0.
Goals: Serlenga 4, Cagle (Hooper, Parlow) 63.
Att.: 7,590.

Aug. 10 at Boston
BOSTON (6-8-7, 25 pts.) 1 SAN JOSE (8-8-5, 29 pts.) 0.
Goal: Lilly (Aldama, Mellgren) 51.
Att.: 6,013.

Aug. 10 at Uniondale, N.Y.
NEW YORK (3-17-1, 10 pts.) 2 WASHINGTON (11-5-5, 38 pts.) 4.
Goals: Janss (Fair, Davey) 60, Raveia (Pearce) 89; Bai (Pu) 17, Barr (Bai, Hamm) 56, Hamm 67, J. Little 79.
Att.: 7,635.

Aug. 11 at San Diego
SAN DIEGO (5-11-5, 20 pts.) 1 CAROLINA (12-5-4, 40 pts.) 1.
Goals: Boxx (MacMillan) 10; Riise (Fotopoulos, Prinz) 75.
Att.: 6,358.