The hero was senior Arturo Alvan, who scored on a breakaway with 3:57 left in the second overtime period to give the Cougars the advantage they needed. Alvan's shot was the 27th fired by an Apex player, compared to just eight by Cary.

The Imps, coming off a 9-0 loss to 10th-ranked Fuquay-Varina two days earlier, fought off shot after shot by the Cougars on Wednesday. Goalkeeper Kelly Chege played brilliantly in goal, posting nine saves and turning away several of Apex's tantalizingly close shots.

After a scoreless first half, it was the Imps who got on the board first, with a goal by junior Eric Inscoe with 32:43 left in regluation. Inscoe fired it in from inside the box, where he received the ball from teammate Luis Gomez.

Cary coach Joy Nsubuga-Mogbo said she wasn't pleased with her team's effort against Fuquay, and through mass substitions she got her team's attention in time for Wednesday – not that any extra emphasis was need for the rivalry game.

“I think the boys played well. We re-grouped after the Fuquay game. I'm not disappointed and I'm not angry,” Nsubuga-Mogbo said. “It should've went antoher way tonight but that's OK. It's better than what we did Monday night.”

Apex coach Kevin Todd, meanwhile, said he had to convince his team to not take Cary lightly despite their overall record and recent score. In each of the last three years, Cary has sent Apex into overtime.

“Particularly after [the Fuquay] defeat, [Cary] had a lot of pride. When you lose that badly, you want to come out and prove that that was not you. And they proved that was not them,” Todd said. “I told the guys before the game ‘we've gone into overtime with them the past three years. Always overtime.' It's just – it's a rivalry.”

Although Cary's backline turned away several chances by Apex, sometimes a little luck was involved. In all, four Apex players hit the post, while the ball rolled periously in front of the goal line on three more occasions.

“It was crazy but we ended up winning this game,” Alvan said.

With so many near chances not working, Apex became visibly frustrated when they were called offsides in the second half – twice taking goals away from the Cougars. Apex was called for offsides a whopping 13 times in the game.

With 23:55 left in the second half, another offsides negated a one-on-one opportunity for Apex's Payne Clark. At that point, the game was stopped as the usually mild-mannered Todd was delivered an explanation from the side referee.

Clark, a senior, wasted little time making up for the lost opportunity when he beat Chege to tie it up with 18:00 to go. Just two minutes later, however, the Cougers went a man down as Parker McNeeley was given a red card for a hard foul.

The one man advantage didn't stop Apex from testing the Cary back line, but the Imps held strong for the rest of regulation and the first 10-minute overtime period. Just when it seemed Cary was going to earn a tie with a top-10 team in the state, Alvan sealed it.

“I was telling [teammate] Michael Forsyth in the first overtime ‘I wish I had a breakaway,'” Alvan said. “So then I finally get one and I scored.”

Nsubuga-Mogbo said her team did have some things to build upon after hanging tough with a talented Apex team.

“This is a game that we could've won. Apex was playing a man down and we should've kept possession more. I think we started rushing it, palying quicker, too fast,” Nsubuga-Mogbo said. “We didn't use that advantage.”

Apex was set to play Fuquay in a match of two of the state's top ten teams this week, but that game has been postponed for Apex's open house on Sept. 9.