ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Men's Soccer) – Florida Tech (4-1, 1-0 SSC) returned from a 13-day hiatus to knock off Eckerd (2-3, 0-2 SSC) 4-1 in its Sunshine State Conference opener Saturday night in St. Petersburg.

The Panthers looked rusty in the first half as a result of the lengthy gap between games. However, the team rallied in the second half, scoring four unanswered goals to claim their first SSC victory of the season.

Goals have been easy to find for Florida Tech this season. The Panthers have scored at least four goals in all four of its victories, and are outscoring opponents 18-4 in those games.

FIT dominated the matchup with the Tritons, registering more shots (20-5), shots on goal (11-2) and corners (8-2) in the victory. Panther goalkeeper Christopher Page made one save and allowed one goal on five shots to improve his season mark to 3-1.

Eckerd opened the scoring with an unassisted tally by Juan Tejada in the 40th minute. Tejada found some open space on the left side of the box and ripped a shot to the upper right corner past Page.

Brandon Smalley opened the flood gates and evened the score at 1-1 in the 67th minute when he received a lead pass from Hugo Lopez and scored his fifth goal of the season, finishing it just inside the left post.

Stian Hagboe Olsen gave FIT its first lead of the game, 2-1, in the 76th minute as he knocked in a Smalley free kick past EC goalie Alex Gott.

Evan Enders got into the mix in the 82nd minute, firing in a Lopez diagonal pass inside the right post to make the score 3-1.

Lopez capped off the second half onslaught as he tapped in the rebound off Per Henrik Nag's shot, increasing FIT's advantage to 4-1 in the 87th minute.

Florida Tech returns to the pitch Tuesday night, Sept. 26, with a SSC road matchup with Nova Southeastern in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET at the NSU Soccer Complex.