By Scott French, Senior Editor

COURAGE CRUMBLES: Reigning WUSA champ Carolina is 0-2 following another home loss, this one to Boston, which ran up a three-goal lead before Birgit Prinz ended the shutout bid.

Maren Meinert and Dagny Mellgren each scored their second goals of the season as the Breakers bounced back from last week's 6-0 debacle in Atlanta.

The Courage lost at home in a Founders Cup II rematch with Washington in Week 1, squandering an early lead in a 2-1 defeat.

Carolina started the inaugural season with four losses and finished eighth. It won its first three matches last year en route to a first-place finish and the WUSA title.

''It's still the beginning of the season,'' Courage captain Tiffany Roberts said afterward. ''I don't want to freak out. We're just not connecting and finding the chemistry. It's basically the same team as last year's, so we should be able to pull it together.''

The Courage are struggling with set plays, unable to create any offense from them, and the loss of playmaker Hege Riise — Soccer America's WUSA Player of the Year last season — to a knee injury in the first half didn't help matters.

Riise's knee will be examined on Monday.

Coach Jay Entlich, still seeking his first WUSA victory, acknowledged that the Courage has turned complacent. ''It's back to the drawing board,'' he said. ''We have a lot of work to do.''

BEST GOAL: Meinert curled a wicked corner kick over backpedaling Carolina goalkeeper Maite Zabala to give Boston a 22nd-minute lead at Carolina.

The corner, a high boot from the left flag, seemed to be heading for the 6-yard box, but it bent and dipped suddenly, clearing Zabala and finding the upper-right corner.

Zabala was playing in place of Kristin Luckenbill, who is out until May with a broken thumb sustained during preseason. Rookie Meghann Burke was Luckenbill's fill-in in the Courage opener, and she struggled on both Freedom goals in the 2-1 loss.

FREEDOM RISING: Mia Hamm netted an early penalty kick and Lori Lindsey headed in a Jacqui Little cross just before halftime, and Washington improved to 3-0 with an emotional triumph at San Jose.

The CyberRays couldn't find the net despite 19 shots and 11 corner kicks in the 2-0 defeat.

''That's our M.O.: Lot of chances, no goals,'' said San Jose's Brandi Chastain. ''We had enough chances. … We need to do [finish]. We're professionals.''

The WUSA-MLS doubleheader — with the San Jose Earthquakes and Kansas City Wizards tying, 1-1, in the nightcap — drew 17,032 to Spartan Stadium.

TOUGH DAY: Chastain endured a difficult afternoon, playing at Spartan Stadium for the first time without one of her parents in the stands.

Her father, Roger Chastain, suffered a heart attack and died after the CyberRays' WUSA opener at Spartan two weeks ago. Her mom, Lark Chastain, died after a stroke last summer.

Brandi Chastain is from San Jose. Her parents were extremely supportive of her career, from youth soccer through her college career at the University of California and Santa Clara University through her years with the national team and, finally, with the CyberRays. They were considered part of the CyberRays' ''family.''

''They were our soccer mom and dad, too,'' said San Jose coach Ian Sawyers.

''It was my hardest day on the soccer field ever,'' Brandi Chastain said. ''I felt I could list myself out of any situation, but it was like being in a sand dune: The harder you try to climb out, the harder you fall.''

NAMAZI'S FIRST: Joy Fawcett's stunning return just two weeks following ankle surgery and Shannon MacMillan's play at both ends gave San Diego coach Omid Namazi his first WUSA victory.

Fawcett, who had been expected to miss a month following her April 4 operation, anchored a busy Spirit defense that shut out New York, 2-0.

MacMillan scored one goal (from a sweet feed from Aly Wagner) and set up the other (a corner kick headed home by Julie Fleeting) to give San Diego a two-goal advantage by the 28th minute. She also preserved the shutout, heading an Emily Janss chip off the goal line in the 74th minute.

NO HAT TRICK: Fleeting might have had three goals with better fortune. She fired a penalty kick off the crossbar in the first half, eight minutes before her header made it 2-0. She scored again late in the match, a goal that referee Jennifer Bennett initially awarded.

After conferring with one of her assistants, Bennett reversed herself, ruling that Fleeting handled the ball before shooting — a decision borne out by replays.

WUSA SUMMARIES WEEK 3: Road woes? Not here

April 19 at Uniondale, N.Y.
NEW YORK (0-3-0, 0 points) 0 SAN DIEGO (1-1-0, 3 points) 2.
Goals: MacMillan (Wagner) 16, Fleeting (MacMillan) 28.
Att.: 5,025.

April 19 at Cary, N.C.
CAROLINA (0-2-0, 0 points) 1 BOSTON (2-1-0, 6 points) 3.
Goals: Prinz (Fotopoulos, Gordon) 74; Meinert 6, Gonzalez (Hawkins) 22, Mellgren (Lilly) 73.
Att.: 5,110.

April 19 at San Jose
SAN JOSE (1-1-0, 3 points) 0 WASHINGTON (3-0-0, 9 points) 2.
Goals: Hamm pen. 9, Lindsey (J. Little) 46+.
Att.: 17,032.