By Scott French, Senior Editor

BEST GAME: There have been few WUSA matches as thrilling as New York's 5-4 triumph Saturday over Philadelphia, in which the Power rallied four times from deficits and scored twice in the final minutes — including the winner in stoppage time — to spoil the Charge's home opener.

It was an offensive showcase marked by some sensational passing passing, clinical finishing and a rather lax approach to defending.

''I think both teams are very disappointed in how they defended,'' said Power coach Tom Sermanni, ''rather than the creativity of the other team.''

BEST GOAL: Plenty to choose from in the Philly-New York clash, but none was bigger than Krista Davey's left-footed smash 1:13 into stoppage time. It came seven minutes following rookie Christie Welsh evened things, 4-4, with her second goal of the match.

The winner required superb work from Davey, who had scored just two goals in 31 previous WUSA matches. She took a feed from Joanne Peters about 40 yards from the goal and streaked down the right flank, then cut across the top of the box to elude defenders Jenny Benson and Jen Tietjen-Prozzo.

Davey slipped her shot, a sharp left-footer from 18 yards, between Tietjen-Prozzo and an advancing Mary McVeigh and past sprawling goalkeeper Melissa Moore just inside the right post.

CHARGE'S STRUGGLES: There were some positives for Philadelphia in the defeat. The Charge's attack, limited to one goal in its first two games, finally came alive — and Marinette Pichon and Kelly Smith netted their first goals of the season.

Defensively, it was a disaster. What was the league's best defensive club last year has surrendered nine goals in three matches, all losses, and given up eight goals in the past 180 minutes.

Foes needed 12 games to score nine goals on the Charge in 2001 and 11 games to do so in 2002. Before the 3-1 loss to Boston on April 26, Philly had surrendered more than two goals in a game only once, a 3-2 defeat late last season to New York — its only home loss of 2002.

Pia Sundhage, the assistant coach in charge of defending the first two season, left last August to become Boston's head coach. Center back Erika Iverson, Soccer America's 2002 WUSA Defensive Player of the Year, retired before this season began.

''We knew there was going to be a transition period,'' Charge coach Mark Krikorian said. ''A relationship doesn't develop overnight. I keep looking at our group and saying we have a whole lot more talent than we ever had before but we just aren't cohesive enough. It's my job to make us cohesive enough. It's a matter of time before we put it all together.''

BREAKERS GO TOP: Sundhage has Boston atop the standings, tied at 10 points with idle Washington, following a tough 1-1 draw with visiting San Diego in the nightcap of an MLS-WUSA doubleheader at Gillette Stadium.

The result, notched on a fourth-minute goal by Dagny Mellgren, extended the Breakers' home unbeaten streak to 13 games and gave them their best start in history.

The Spirit, too, is off to its best start, and it was unfortunate not to get three points. Julie Fleeting, who has been terrorizing opposing defenses this season, headed home a Julie Foudy cross in the second half and came close to scoring another on several occasions.

ONE UNBEATEN LEFT: Atlanta finally was defeated, dropping a 1-0 decision to visiting San Jose, leaving Washington as the lone unbeaten team five weeks into the season.

Brandi Chastain's header from Sissi's free kick in the 69th minute was the difference for the CyberRays, who won on the road for the first time in 363 days — just short of a year.

''It was a big win in many ways,'' San Jose Ian Sawyers said. ''WeÆve been playing well but not finishing things off. Tonight we asked the big players to play big, and they did.''

WUSA SUMMARIES WEEK 5: Tough going at home

May 3 at Villanova, Pa.
PHILADELPHIA (0-3-0, 0 points) 4 NEW YORK (2-3-0, 6 points) 5.
Goals: Pichon (Tullock, Hoffmann) 3, Tullock 23, Smith (Pichon) 38, Arrington 54; Baumgardt 6, Milbrett pen. 25, Welsh 40, Welsh 85, Davey 91+.
Att.: 8,095.

May 3 at Foxboro, Mass.
BOSTON (3-1-1, 10 points) 1 SAN DIEGO (2-1-1, 7 points) 1.
Goals: Mellgren (Meinert) 4; Fleeting (Foudy, Zhang) 62.
Att.: 13,722.

May 3 at Atlanta
ATLANTA (2-1-1, 7 points) 0 SAN JOSE (2-2-0, 6 points) 1.
Goal: Chastain (Sissi) 69.
Att.: 7,328.