America stay top of the Apertura championship with 16 points after seven matches but are now separated only by goal difference from Monterrey, who won 1-0 at Queretaro on Friday.
The Eagles had the lion’s share of possession and chances in Saturday’s match at their Azteca stronghold but conceded the only goal when Lopez’s shot took a deflection off a defender and wrongfooted goalkeeper Moises Munoz.
"The team showed hunger in each 50-50 ball, they fought, they helped each other and we had good luck and came away with the result,” Pumas coach Guillermo "Memo" Vazquez told reporters.
Vazquez, in his third spell in charge, has garnered four points in two matches since replacing the sacked Jose Luis Trejo two weeks ago and ended a run of four defeats.
“Aside from having produced eight or 10 goal chances, if you don’t put (the ball) in you can’t win,” said a disappointed America coach Antonio “Turbo” Mohamed.
"We've lost some finishing power, it happened to us at Chiapas and now it's happened again," added the Argentine referring to last weekend’s 0-0 draw.
Atlas remain third two points behind after a 1-1 draw at home to Santos Laguna, who are fourth and equal on 12 points with Pachuca, who beat title holders Leon 2-1 away.
Puebla gave new coach Jose Luis "Chiles" Sanchez a winning start when they beat Morelia 3-2 at home to climb into midtable with eight points. Chelis, back for a second spell at Puebla, took over from sacked Argentina Ruben Romano at the beginning of the week.
Friday’s match at Queretaro was held up for nearly 40 minutes in the second half because of a floodlight power failure.
Monterrey scored in the first half through Chilean striker Humberto “Lollipop” Suazo in a fast breakaway led by Colombian Dorlan Pabon after surviving a Dionisio Escalante shot that came crashing back off their bar at the other end.
(Additional reporting by Carlos Calvo; Writing by Rex Gowar; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
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