Opponents held senior Kaysie Clark scoreless for nearly 700 minutes to begin the 2014 season.

Twenty-eight minutes into the Tigers’ eighth game of the season, Clark ended her goalless streak Sunday against California State-Northridge (2-3-1). A passing mirage by four different Tigers in the box gave Clark the ball, who sent it to the back of the net past the sliding Matador keeper.

“Finally,” Clark thought.

“I was excited — pretty happy overall,” she said. “I’ve been shooting a lot (this season).”

But Clark’s goal was just the equalizer, as CSUN struck first in the 17th minute. Lyndsey Preston, white arm cast and all, sniped a shot from across the box into the upper left netting of the goal for the match’s opening goal.

At the 50-minute mark, CSUN nearly pulled ahead when a free kick nailed the crossbar, deflecting out of bounds. Ten minutes later, the Tigers would get another favorable deflection, this one off of senior Taylor Grant’s head which put the ball into the goal for a 2-1 Tiger advantage.

That would be the go-ahead goal in Mizzou’s fifth victory of the season. The Tigers (5-1-2) benefitted from an own goal by the Matadors to make the final score 3-1.

The game ended with the teams combining for 32 fouls in the 90 minutes of play. Play wasn’t pretty from the start, with three Tiger handballs in the first 22 minutes.

“I think Sunday games are like that sometimes because (the players) are tired,” Missouri coach Bryan Blitz said. “As we say, ‘Sunday games are made for champions,’ so for that reason it’s always a very grinding physical game.”

The Tigers won the corner kick category, shutting out the Matadors 13-0. Missouri also had the advantage in shots by a score of 18-5.

Missouri (5-1-2) will begin Southeastern Conference play Sept. 19, against LSU (4-3-1). The match is the SEC opener, and will be broadcasted live on SEC Network+.

Blitz thinks his team is ready for conference play, as they were tested at home with talented non-conference opponents following the three-week road trip to begin the season.

“You hope for the best,” Blitz said. “I think we’ll be prepared. We know it’s going to be a whole another level. It’s going to be a grind every conference game. We expect that. We know that. It’s a given.”