Second, a lesson in resilience - defensive and offensive.

The Fort Lewis College men's soccer team, after waiting out an unexpected two-hour delay, worked on both lesson plans Tuesday afternoon with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Montana State-Billings at Dirks Field in Durango.

A scheduling snafu had the teams ready to face off in an intersectional matchup at 1 p.m., but the game officials from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference were traveling to Durango anticipating a scheduled start time of 3:30 p.m.

Thus, the delay.

The teams were sent back to their respective locker rooms after they initially had warmed up for the 1 p.m. start.

They returned about two hours later; the match kicked off about 3:15 p.m.

Disappointed fans who left when the delay was announced were replaced by enthusiastic Fort Lewis students who drifted to the field as their classes wrapped up.

"You have to be able to handles these types of things," Fort Lewis head coach Tom Hankinson said, recalling his coaching days at Tampa Bay in the MLS when thunderstorms were notorious for delaying matches.

Hankinson said the FLC coaches told the players to take the delay in stride and relax, listen to music, watch television, snack `85 even nap.

"But when we give the shout out, they've got to come alive," Hankinson said.

And they did.

The Skyhawks struck for the first goal just a minute and a half after play finally began. Sam Morris' curling left-footed service on a corner kick was redirected into the Montana State-Billings goal by a leaping Euan Purcell.

But the celebration and the 1-0 led was short when the Yellowjackets from Billings answered less than a minute later with the tying goal from Sam Charles, who redirected a bouncing through ball into the Fort Lewis goal.

Scott Dixon provided the Billings assist as a British invasion swept over the Fort Lewis soccer pitch.

All four players involved in the first two goals hail from Great Britain - Purcell and Morris for FLC and Charles and Dixon for Billings.

The 1-1 tie held through halftime Tuesday.

Purcell put the Skyhawks ahead for good about 20 minutes into the second half.

Kyle Wood, the energetic Fort Lewis defender from Albuquerque, burst upfield with the ball and drew a late Billings defender. Wood, a sophomore from Eldorado High School, dropped the ball off to Purcell, who scored his second goal of the match.

"The forwards were making great runs all day," Wood said.

"They were easy to find," he said, describing his charge with the ball while Purcell worked his way free into the box.

Wood also was part of the stifling last line of defense for Fort Lewis, a defensive unit that kept the big and strong Charles (6-4, 205 pounds) in check after his early goal for the Yellowjackets.

"Coach (Hankinson) did a good job of keeping us focused (during the delay)," Wood said, adding that the Skyhawks knew they had to manage the delay and then come out playing at a maximum level.

That fit right into Wood's own philosophy: "I just try to go 110 percent for the whole game."

He was bolstered in back by Jeff Jennings, who moved back to defense when Fabian Kling had some physical issues early in the contest.

"Jeff moved back. We had to make some changes. But he's got a year's worth of experience back there," Hankinson said.

Hankinson said he was pleased with the way the Skyhawks responded with the rescheduled start time.

"I think our guys came out very well (after the delay)," he said.

"We're sorry it was a late lunch," Hankinson said.

"It was disappointing (with the delayed start).

"I feel badly for Montana (State-Billing). They came all this way. That was unfortunate."

The victory improved the FLC men to 4-1-1 overall. The Skyhawks are currently ranked No. 7 in the nation in Division II.

Montana State-Billings moved to 4-3-0 overall.

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