Top-ranked Pitt men’s soccer team defeats Louisville 4-1

The Pitt men’s soccer team took the field as the No. 1 team in the nation for the first time on Friday afternoon, and it lived up to its reputation, dealing Louisville a 4-1 loss at Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium.

Bryce Washington was the first to score for Pitt, as he headed in a Veljko Petkovic corner kick in the ninth minute. Later in the first half, Petkovic centered a ball for Filip Mirkovic at the top of the box. Mirkovic then reeled off a shot that split two Louisville defenders and sped past Louisville goalkeeper Jake Gelnovatch to give Pitt a 2-0 lead just before halftime.

After Mirkovic’s goal, the game was temporarily stopped due to inclement weather in the Louisville area. The weather delay lasted about an hour and 15 minutes.

Louisville opened the scoring in the second half on a goal by Elijah Amo, but the rest of the game would be all Pitt. Jasper Löeffelsend found Valentin Noel on the left post of the Louisville goal in the 64th minute, and Noel headed in a shot for a 3-1 Pitt advantage. Luke Mort then found himself with the ball in the box in the 70th minute, shimmied by a Louisville defender and hammered a shot into the top right corner of the net to seal a 4-1 victory.

The win improves Pitt’s record to 5-0-0 on the season and drops Louisville to 1-4-1. The Panthers also completed a season sweep, of sorts, of the Cardinals, as they previously beat them 5-0 in an exhibition game on Sept. 19.

Two games remain on Pitt’s schedule, and both are home matchups with opponents Pitt previously defeated. First up is Notre Dame, which Pitt will host at Ambrose Urbanic Field on Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Then comes Syracuse on Nov. 6 for Pitt’s regular-season finale.