Apopka sophomore Jillian Kurz buried the game-winner with time ticking through the final seconds as the Blue Darters stunned Olympia 3-2 on the road Wednesday night, capping one of their most thrilling performances of the season. 

After a scoreless first half in which Apopka controlled possession but managed only three shots on goal, head coach Tino Sangster urged cleaner decisions in the attacking third. The message landed immediately. Just 1:40 into the second half, sophomore Navaeh Nguyen capitalized on a rebound and fired a shot into the open right side of the net for a 1-0 lead. 

Olympia responded a minute later with a top-corner strike to even the match, and momentum shifted into a back-and-forth stretch as both sides found space in transition. The Titans broke the tie 11 minutes into the half, after a turnover in the neutral zone led to a near-post finish. 

Apopka’s resilience took over from there. With just under 20 minutes left, Robyn Pickard created her own moment, tracking down a deflected pass and ripping a high shot over the goalkeeper to tie the match at 2. 

The Blue Darters pushed hard in the closing minutes, generating repeated chances for Nguyen and Pickard. Their pressure finally cracked the Titans’ back line. A late pass forward deflected off an Olympia defender and rolled to Kurz in stride. The junior blasted a shot from the right side of the box with eight seconds left. She beamed the ball low and watched it bounce past the keeper, into the twine delivering Apopka its most emotional win of the young season. 

The team blitzed Kurz to celebrate the game winning blast, as the traveling Blue Darter crowd popped, and didn’t stop as the referee blew the end whistle seconds later. 

Kurz basked in the glory of her shining moment 

“It felt really good.” Kurz said with joy. “We were pretty even the whole match, and that last shot I just needed to get it in and, we won.”  

Sangster is proud of how his girls regrouped after going down late. 

“They show resilience, they show grit, and I’m super excited for them,” Sangster said. “The biggest thing I see so far is the willingness to learn.” 

Sangster praised the team’s dominance in the final third and credited second-half adjustments, including moving Pickard up top and shifting Kurz between positions. 

“The players are so versatile,” he said. “If something isn’t working, we always have something extra — another rotation, another switch. The girls definitely step up when they need to.”  

The win snapped a two-match skid in district play. Apopka had been shut out 6-0 by West Orange and fell 4-1 to Lake Brantley after trailing only 2-1 at halftime. 

Before that stretch, the Blue Darters put together their strongest offensive showing of the season with an 8-0 mercy-rule win over Freedom on Nov. 17. Nguyen recorded a hat trick, Kurz added two, while Ariana Obregon, Addison Kramer and Ava Croeze each scored. Pickard finished with two assists. 

Their early lessons date back to a tight 1-0 loss at Lake Nona in their second game of the season, where defensive poise showed promise, but communication and pace of play lagged. In that match, Sangster emphasized spacing, support runs, quick touches and confidence under pressure — ideas that have since become pillars of their weekly practice sessions. 

Players echoed that after the Lake Nona loss. Nguyen said the team needed to play faster. Pickard noted how quiet the field felt that night. Sangster said the team’s discipline and communication simply weren’t sharp enough yet. 

“We’ve been making sure everyone understands their roles,” he said. “It’s looking good so far. We just have to keep building.” 

Six games in, the effort has not only been visible — it has been measurable. Apopka now shows more consistency in the midfield, absorbs pressure with more composure and has begun generating higher-quality chances in transition. Those elements all appeared at Olympia when the match hung in the balance. 

Apopka (3-3) returns home for the first time this season, Friday at 7:30 p.m. to host the Windermere Wolverines (2-4).