Box Score Kearney, Neb. – The Southwest Minnesota State women's soccer team took advantage of a penalty kick to beat Nebraska-Kearney, 2-1, Sunday afternoon at Ron & Carol Cope Stadium at Foster Field.
 
UNK drops to 1-1 while Southwest improves to 2-0. On Friday, they beat 2012 MIAA Tournament champ Fort Hays State, 1-0.
 
On another sweltering day, the action was fairly even throughout as SMSU ended with 11 shots while the Lopers took eight. The 'Stangs also took one more corner, 3-2, and, thanks to some speedy forwards, were off-sides seven times.
 
In the 64th minute, UNK was called for a hand ball in its own box. That allowed junior midfielder Autumn Hayes to take a penalty kick. Subbing in just moments before, she promptly found the back of the net for the game winning goal.
 
The Lopers had several chances to tie things up, the last one being a shot by senior Missy Everson (Pasco, Wash.) in the 88th minute that was saved by freshmen keeper Brienna Dehkes.
 
Using passes by junior Delanie Phillips (Millard West) and senior Kirsti Rehler (Austin, Texas), Kearney tied the game at one early in the second half.  

On the play, Phillips found Rehler down the right side of the field. Rehler then sent a centering pass to sophomore McKinzie Rieber (Highlands Ranch, Colo.), who knocked the ball in for her fourth career goal.
 
Southwest took the lead in the 30th minute on a similar play as sophomore Miranda Cadena found junior Justine Hauck in the UNK box. Hauck just managed to get the ball past a charging Katelin Mielke (Millard West) for the 1-0 lead.
 
UNK is at NW Oklahoma State and SW Oklahoma State next weekend.