ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - There was nothing in the first two games the Bard College men's soccer team played this fall that made the new coaching staff raise its eyebrows.

Clearly they were looking for something. Some quality, some grit ... intangibles ... some clue as to the character of the 2016 version of the Bard Raptors.

On Wednesday night a few eyebrows were raised.

Bard gutted out a 2-1 victory over Mount St. Mary, snapping a five-game losing streak against the Knights. Bard got the lead, gave it up, then got it back to improve to 2-0-1. All the scoring was in the second half.

The formula to victory was similar in some respects to the 2015 team. Austin Higgins was a menace and seemingly got to every ball that was in the air; Nick Shenberger was a constant threat up front.

As Bard has learned, though, that will only get you so far in the Liberty League. Other players need to play at a high level, and on Wednesday night, several did.

Bard outshot Mount St. Mary 11-2 in the first half, but four of those shots were blocked and only two were on goal. It was scoreless after 45 minutes. The last two meetings between these neighboring schools went to OT.

The Raptors started the second half with noticable urgency, and they created pressure all over the field. It paid off with a pretty goal in the 58th minute.

A long free kick into the box by John Flynn was headed to the side of the area, where Antonio Scanni headed it more toward the middle. David Mamukelashvili used the back of his head to get it to land behind him and right on the doorstep, and Shenberger one-timed a low shot between the legs of Knights' keeper Tyler Biscone (Garden City, NY).

It took the visitors less than five minutes to respond. A foul in the box meant a penalty kick for Joey Dolan (New Paltz, NY), and he scored to make it 1-1.

Ten minutes later Bard got the game-winner. Mamukelashvili was fouled in the box, and Higgins made the ensuing PK to make it 2-1. Biscone guessed correctly on which side Higgins would choose to shoot, but the shot was too fine to stop.

The Knights (1-2) pressed forward for the rest of the game, collected a lot of corners, and got a running header in the final minute from Dolan that keeper Taylor Bond had to stop, but they couldn't get the equalizer.

Bard outshot Mount 21-6, but the shots on goal were 6-5 in Bard's favor. The visitors had eight corners to Bard's four. Biscone and Bond each made four saves.

Up next for Bard is a road contest at Green Mountain College on Saturday at 2.