DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Men's Soccer) – 24th-ranked Florida Tech men's soccer rallied from a halftime deficit against Sunshine State Conference foe Embry-Riddle to win 2-1 in overtime Saturday night at ERAU Soccer Stadium. It is the second straight game that the Panthers have needed to come back from a first half deficit to win.

FIT has won five in a row and improved its overall record to 7-1 and 4-0 in SSC play. The Panthers also moved to 4-0 in road games this season. ERAU drops to 1-5-1 and 0-4-1 in the SSC.

The Crimson and Gray outshot the Eagles, 15-9, in the contest, including 11-3 in the second half and overtime. Florida Tech finished with a definitive advantage in corner kicks, 18-2.

Seven total cards were handed out to six different players in the game. Florida Tech players accounted for five of the cards, including Jan Hlavica who received a yellow and red card in the second half and will now have to sit out the Panthers' next game.

Christopher Page made three saves against the Eagles and improved his season mark to 6-1 in the Panthers' net.

Embry-Riddle got on the board in the 36th minute on a penalty kick by Magnus Magnusson. The opportunity arose after ERAU's Daniel Gylfason was taken down in the Panthers' box.

The Eagles held onto their lead for the next 50 minutes of play. In the 84th minute, Solomon Wheatley took advantage of an ERAU miscue and scored to tie the game at 1-1. It was Wheatley's fourth goal of the season and third in as many games.

Luck landed in the Panthers' lap early into overtime as an Eagle clearance attempt banged directly off of Brandon Smalley and ricocheted into the ERAU net for the game-winning goal. The score is Smalley's sixth goal of the season. The Bridlington, England product has now recorded a point in all eight games for FIT this season and currently leads the SSC with 16 total points.

"We found it hard to get going tonight and it looked like it may have been a day that got the better of us," said head coach Robin Chan. "Embry-Riddle made it very hard for us to get anything clear cut and defended well but we continued to force the issue. The boys stayed together and finally started to get some consistent pressure. Once we tied things up, we felt like we could go on and win." 

Florida Tech returns to the pitch on Tuesday, Oct. 10, hosting Saint Leo in a game that was postponed due to weather on Sept. 29. Kickoff for the SSC matchup is set for 6 p.m. ET at Rick Stottler Field. Fans can access live coverage of the action at FloridaTechSports.com/live.