Louisville City FC moved clear of the Eastern Conference by three points after their 3-0 win over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds at Highmark Stadium Saturday night.

Goals by Luke Spencer, Kyle Smith, and Speedy Williams gave the boys in purple an Eastern Conference best 15th win of the season. City still has a game in hand of second-place Charlotte, to possibly further the gap of the 1st seed as they head into a jam packed September.

Pittsburgh came into the game unbeaten in the past five outings. The Riverhounds had found some semblance of a consistent strategy and came into Highmark Stadium with a solid gameplan. City dominates the opposition and currently lead the USL with 397 shots. Pittsburgh stayed organized and limited City’s chances and looked to catch them on the break when City committed numbers forward.

The execution of said game plan worked to perfection as they held City to just one shot in the opening 30 minutes. But once Luke Spencer broke the game wide open with his goal in the 33rd, the floodgates were open for Louisville to play their style.

As Pittsburgh had to commit numbers forward in an attempt to tie the game, City, notably Spencer, was able to find openings and impose his will on size and chance creating ability.

City doubled their advantage on the brink of halftime. Kyle Smith, returning from serving his three-match ban after seeing straight red against the Bethlehem Steel on Aug. 20, intercepted a pass made by a Pittsburgh defender, bolted past his marker and fired a low shot across goal, too quick for Riverhound goalkeeper Matt Perrella to get down.

The boys in purple added a third in the 54th minute when the referee pointed to the spot after Pittsburgh’s Jamal Jack trucked Spencer in the box. Jamaican International Speedy Williams stepped up and sent Perrella the other way to become the 16th of City’s 17th outfield players to score this season.

City killed the rest of the game off to secure Louisville goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh’s sixth clean sheet of the year.

In a congested September, Louisville is back at Slugger Field on Friday, Sept. 15 to host the Bethlehem Steel. The final regular season meeting between the two teams is slated to kickoff at 7:30 p.m.