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sports&recreation THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2013
Against all odds
SPORTS VIEW
Nutley East All-Star Buscanan breaks gender barrier, overcomes illness
Contact Jim at Ogsmar@aol.com
Red Bulls pull victory out of jaws of defeat HARRISON – Real Salt Lake striker Alvaro Saborio had just scored his third goal of the game Saturday night, with two coming in a span of two minutes, and the New York Red Bulls went from having a commanding 2-0 lead to now trailing 3-2 with just eight minutes remaining in regulation. At that point, Red Bulls head coach Mike Petke decided that going for a tie wasn’t nearly enough. “We didn’t want to settle for a tie at home,” Petke said. “We wanted to get the win.” It seemed like a lofty goal, considering that Real Salt Lake owned the best record in Major League Soccer at 11-6-4. Down a goal with eight minutes left and seeking a win was a lot to ask for. But when Fabian Espindola scored his second goal of the game, both on penalty kicks, with two minutes left in regulation, tying the game at 3-3, the Red Bulls had hope. Four minutes into added injury time, the Red Bulls got the gamewinner. Dax McCarty headed home the game-winner off a feed from Brandon Barklage and the Red Bulls had the improb-
able 4-3 victory. It capped a furious final 10 minutes, where Real Salt Lake scored twice to take a 3-2 lead, only to see the Red Bulls score twice to earn the win. The Red Bulls are now 10-7-5 overall, gaining ground in what is a tight Eastern Conference playoff race. The top five teams in the conference are separated by a total of seven points. Undermanned Real Salt Lake, who had only four regular starters, dropped to an MLS best 11-7-4, sitting atop the Western Conference standings. Petke was pleased with McCarty’s contribution. “Dax is still coming back (from injury),” Petke said. “He’s not satisfied where he’s at right now. He’s obviously not terrible. We have high hopes for Dax. Once he embraces what I want from him, he’s going to be a big player for this club.” McCarty, who was struggling recently, was ecstatic with his gamewinner. “It was one of the craziest games I’ve ever been a part of in my MLS career or my basically my entire career,” see VIEW page
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Photo by Jim Hague
Natalia Buscanan of Nutley East Little League was the lone girl to compete in the New Jersey Little League state championships in Wallington last weekend.
By Jim Hague Observer Sports Writer
gency room and I heard the call for the device to bring her back,” said Chris Buscanan, Natalia Buscanan was a little Natalie’s father. “I just hapmore than a week old when she pened to be there. We had two had to endure the first obstacle choices, either bring her to of her life. New York or Philadelphia for “It was the most traumatizing surgery. With all the medical moment of my life,” said Roe advances they had, we made Buscanan, Natalia’s mother. sure she was in New York.” “She had stopped breathing Both Roe and Chris imagined and was given last rites.” the worst. Young Natalia was suffer“We thought we were going ing from a critical coarctation to have to amputate her limbs of her aorta and hyplastic left to save her life,” Roe Buscanan heart syndrome, a condition said. “You name it. We went that required open heart surthrough every sort of emotion. gery, even at that age. It all ran right through me.” “I walked out of the emer“We were ready to let the
professionals take over, but we were told that there was a possibility she wouldn’t make it,” Chris Buscanan said. “I was so positive that she was going to be fine. I just wanted to make it through this.” Fast forward six years and young Natalia had to endure yet another heart surgery. “She was doing gymnastics and started to complain about a shortage of breath,” Roe Buscanan said. “We took her to a cardiologist and they did a stress test.” This time, Natalia suffered from a sub-aortic membrane see BUSCANAN next page