Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Reina Horikawa took a pass from fellow reserve Emilly Kosch and scored in the 44th minute to help Nebraska-Kearney beat Southwest Baptist, 1-0, Sunday afternoon at Ron & Carol Cope Stadium at Foster Field.
 
The win is UNK's first over SBU in four tries and puts them at 2-0-0 in the conference. Overall, the Lopers improve to 3-3-2 with the Bearcats falling to 4-4-0 (1-1-0).
 
Southwest Baptist is an established MIAA power, having reached the NCAA Tournament in 2014 and 2013. While they have a new head coach, the majority of the roster returned from last year's 16-5-1 squad.
 
SBU had a shot sail wide just 70 seconds into the action with UNK freshman keeper Ali Hirschman (Millard South H.S.) recording the first of her six saves in the 11th minute.
 
Kearney's best chance to score early on came seven minutes later when junior Evie Sintek (Norfolk) had a stopped by SBU's Cheyenne Forshey and then freshman Tori Weber (Lincoln Southeast H.S.) was wide on the follow up.
 
Late in the half, both Horikawa (Japan) and Kosch (Columbus Scotus H.S.) entered. With just 30 seconds left before intermission, Kosh broke away from the Bearcat defense. From the right side, she found Horikawa in the box.
 
The sophomore found the back of the net for her second goal as an American collegian.
 
Hirschman and the defense made sure that held up as SBU took just three of its 10 shots after the break and didn't have a corner over the final 45 minutes.
 
"That was a big win for our program. We're young but we just keep getting better and better," said UNK head coach John Maessner. "I kept telling everyone we had a great preseason and that this team is capable of doing some great things. We've went through a tough spell and that can happen to young teams. The girls are now playing confident, tough and hard."
 
UNK hosts top-ranked Central Missouri Friday at 1:00 p.m. The Jennies (8-0-0) beat Washburn, 1-0, today at home.