Nat Borchers

Nat Borchers (born April 13, 1981) is an American former soccer player who played as a defender. He won the MLS Cup in 2009 with Real Salt Lake and in 2015 with the Portland Timbers.

Nat Borchers
Borchers wearing a Real Salt Lake kit
Personal information
Date of birth (1981-04-13) April 13, 1981
Place of birth Tucson, Arizona, United States
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s) Defender
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2002 Denver Pioneers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002 Boulder Rapids Reserve
2003–2005 Colorado Rapids 83 (2)
2006–2007 Odd 46 (1)
2008–2014 Real Salt Lake 205 (10)
2015–2016 Portland Timbers 52 (4)
Total 386 (17)
International career
2003–2004 United States U23 6 (0)
2005–2010 United States 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Youth and college career

Born in Tucson, Arizona, Borchers attended East High School in Pueblo, Colorado where he played on the boys' soccer team. In his four years at East High School, he was selected all-league three times and All-State once. He was chosen as the League MVP his senior year. He also played for the youth club, Colorado Storm (Club Colorado Select). In addition to playing soccer, Borchers ran track and played basketball.

Borchers played four years of college soccer for the University of Denver from 1999 to 2002, and also excelled for the Colorado Rapids' PDL affiliate, the Boulder Rapids Reserve. He was selected all-league three times and was the MVP of the league in his senior year at DU. Despite this, Borchers went undrafted in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft. Borchers earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting while in school.

Club career
Borchers with the Timbers in 2015

Borchers was signed to the Colorado Rapids developmental roster on March 18, 2003. However, he soon proved to be far better than most had expected and by the middle of the 2003 season had secured a starting spot in Colorado's first team central defense. Throughout the 2005 season, Borchers continued to anchor the Rapids defense.

In 2006, Borchers was transferred to Norwegian club Odd Grenland. In February 2008, Borchers signed with MLS side Real Salt Lake on a transfer, after being released by Odd Grenland.[1] His success with RSL in his first three seasons with the club led to a long-term deal announced on February 14, 2011, that kept Borchers in Salt Lake through the 2014 season.[2]

On December 8, 2014, Borchers was traded to Portland Timbers in exchange for allocation funds.[3] During his time with the Timbers, Borchers had been a starting defender contributing in the club's 2015 Championship run. The defender in 2016 had suffered with a leg injury that had him out for the rest of the season. On February 2, 2017, he retired from professional soccer.

International career

Borchers' surprising 2003 season led to him being called up for the Under-23 team's Olympic Qualifiers, in which the team was eliminated. He earned his first cap for the senior national team on March 9, 2005, against Colombia. Nat most recently played for the senior team on November 17, 2010, against South Africa, entering in the 67th minute.

Outside football

In addition to soccer, Borchers owns and manages his own commercial real estate investment company.

Career statistics

Club
As of March 23, 2014[4][5][6]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup[lower-alpha 1] League
post season[lower-alpha 2]		 Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Colorado Rapids 2003 Major League Soccer 2202021–261
2004 2921020–322
2005 3100000–310
Total 822304100893
Odd Grenland 2006 Tippeligaen 2303221–283
2007 1915100–242
Total 421832100525
Real Salt Lake 2008 Major League Soccer 290–30–320
2009 301–40–341
2010 302–205[lower-alpha 3]0372
2011 30320103[lower-alpha 3]0363
2012 26210203[lower-alpha 3]0322
2013 2814050–341
2014 3210020–341
Total 205107019011024210
Portland Timbers 2015 Major League Soccer 3132061–394
2016 21110–0[lower-alpha 3]0221
Total 524306100615
Career total 3811721331311044423
  1. Includes Open Cup, Norwegian Football Cup.
  2. Includes MLS Playoffs.
  3. Appearances in CONCACAF Champions League

International
As of September 16, 2013[7]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
United States 200520
201010
Total30

Honors
Real Salt Lake
Portland Timbers

Individual

References
  1. "The Daily Scoop". Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2008.
  2. "Nat Borchers Signs Contract Extension through 2014 | Real Salt Lake". Archived from the original on February 18, 2011.
  3. http://www.timbers.com/news/2014/12/portland-timbers-acquire-defender-nat-borchers-real-salt-lake-e
  4. Statistics, retrieved: March 24, 2014
  5. Nat Borchers, retrieved: March 24, 2014
  6. Odds BK NM Cupen Archived March 26, 2014, at the Wayback Machine; retrieved: March 25, 2014
  7. Nat Borcher - USMNT, retrieved: March 25, 2014
  8. "Goals, screw-ups, stats and more: Everything great from the MLS Cup Final". December 6, 2015.
  9. "Timbers, fans celebrate Western Conference Championship". December 2015.
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