In the 55th minute of the men’s soccer game against Mount Saint Mary’s Saturday, junior defender Brice Carr launched a free kick into the penalty box, looking for a teammate in hopes of an equalizing goal for the Colonials. On the other end of that free kick was sophomore forward Seth Rudolph, who managed to sneak past the defense and tap the ball past the goalie, scoring his third goal of the afternoon and tying the game at three in the second half.

Down 3-1 at halftime, GW mounted an impressive second-half comeback on the back of Rudolph, whose 55th-minute equalizer was preceded seven minutes earlier by another Rudolph goal to bring the Colonials to within one.

The tie didn’t last long for GW, whose second-half momentum came to a screeching halt in the 61st minute when Mount St. Mary’s forward Koudzo Komlan put his team ahead for good, scoring the go-ahead goal and giving his team a 4-3 lead that lasted until the final whistle.

Head coach George Lidster blamed the Mount’s game-winning goal on mental lapses that left the Colonials vulnerable once Rudolph tied the game at three.

“You know it was great when Seth tied the game and scored his third goal,” Lidster said. “The players have to keep playing. We showed our naiveté a little bit, and we allowed a goal only shortly after [tying the game].”

On defense, the Colonials struggled to contain Mount St. Mary’s midfielder Eric Detzel, who scored one of the Mount’s three first-half goals and assisted on the two others, all in the space of four minutes. After Rudolph’s first goal put GW ahead in the 22nd minute, Detzel assisted the Mount’s Chris Wheeler, tying the game at one in the 32nd minute. Detzel scored a goal of his own a minute later, and assisted on one more to cap the Mount’s first-half offensive flurry.

Despite the defensive struggles, Lidster said there was plenty of blame to spread around, pointing to Mount St. Mary’s physical style of play as well as GW’s young roster.

“It wasn’t just the defense, it was the whole team,” Lidster said. “They took advantage of their size and experience, and that took a lot out of our young guys. It was a very physical game, and they really just outmatched us.”

Those advantages manifested themselves statistically on offense, allowing the Mount to outshoot the Colonials 23-6 and to put 14 shots on goal compared to GW’s four.

Saturday’s loss was the team’s final tune-up as it prepares for its toughest test of the preseason, a road game Tuesday night at eighth-ranked Duke with kickoff set for 7 p.m. With GW’s showdown against the Blue Devils looming, Lidster said his team’s second-half comeback was reason for optimism despite the loss to the Mount.

“This is a very young team, and they’ve fought hard during every one of our games. Today they came back when it looked like we were down and out, so I really was impressed.”