After a slow start that left them in last place and without a goal after three games, the Athletica moved into sole possession of second place with a 1-0 win over Boston on Sunday.

The Athletica are still 11 points behind first place L.A., which has played three more games. But they’re a point up on third place Washington, which comes to the Soccer Park on Saturday for a game with second place on the line.

The Athletica have won four of five, with all four wins by shutout. They are unbeaten in six of their past seven.

Eniola Aluko got the only goal for Athletica — on a perfectly weighted through ball by Kendall Fletcher – and increasingly, she’s it when it comes to the offense for the team. She’s had a role in four of the team’s past five goals, either scoring them, assisting on them or, in the case of the own goal against Chicago, knocking the ball in off an opposing player. The goal was a classic Aluko goal, sprinting past a defender in pursuit of a pass, getting the ball before the defender or goalie could get it and then putting it in the net.

Now, the Athletica could make their lives a lot easier if they could get a second goal, because after Aluko scored just before halftime, the team spent the second half hanging on. It wasn’t as bad as the second half against Sky Blue, but the Athletica didn’t have a whole lot of scoring chances in the second half.

“We knew Boston would have chances and come hard,” Aluko told me by phone after the game. “It was a case of us not losing our heads and keeping our focus so hey couldn’t nick us one way or the other. We don’t want to be known as a 1-0 team, but 1-0 does it.”

Three of Athletica’s four wins have been 1-0, and the other was 2-0. (To be technical, since the other win included an own goal, the Athletica have scored just one goal in four of their past five games. The other game was a 2-0 loss to L.A.)

“It was nice we were able to score that goal, even better we were able to hold on to the score,” coach Jorge Barcellos said. “These are tough games. We’ll take 3 points, but there’s a lot of work to be done. When you win a game by one goal, you can’t really make any mistakes. So far we’ve been able to hold on to the score, but there are little things we have to work on, little mistakes need to work on. I congratulate our players for playing with heart, playing smart, playing tough. I congratulate themon a good win for us.”

Lori Chalupny came out of the game in the 75th minute with cramps. She told Barcellos earlier in the half she could go 10 more minutes, and in the 75th minute, Sara Larsson went in for Chalupny. It’s the first time Chalupny hasn’t gone the distance this year.

The only other sub for Athletica was Ashlee Pistorius coming in for Christie Welch in the 89th minute. It was Pistorius’ first action since the first L.A. game. Kerri Hanks didn’t make the trip.

I asked Barcellos earlier in the week about the tough choices he’s now facing in deciding who to play and who not to. He said it was a great situation to be in as a coach and you didn’t want to have it the other way, where you didn’t have any options. Lisa Stoia didn’t play for the second straight game and Melissa Tancredi didn’t make the trip with her quad injury. (Look for a guest blog from Tancredi later this evening.)

(Update: No doubt because I was watching the NBA Finals while writing this, I referred to the Athletica as L.A. on occasion. Those have been fixed.)