Nat Borchers

Nat Borchers (born April 13, 1981) is an American former professional 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.

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. Two of his sporting idols were Magic Johnson and Dennis Bergkamp.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Club career

File:PORTLAND TIMBERS VS. SPORTING KC 2 - 2 (2).jpg

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On December 8, 2014, Borchers was traded to Portland Timbers in exchange for allocation funds.<ref>Portland Timbers </ref> 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.<ref name="mlsplayers">Template:Cite web</ref>

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. Borchers last played for the senior team on November 17, 2010, against South Africa, entering in the 67th minute.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Outside football

In addition to soccer, Borchers owns and manages his own commercial real estate investment company, Back Line Real Estate.<ref name="mlsplayers" />

Career statistics

Club

Template:Updated<ref name="colorado-stats">Statistics, retrieved: March 24, 2014</ref><ref name="rsl-stats">Nat Borchers, retrieved: March 24, 2014</ref><ref name="nm-cupen-07">Odds BK NM Cupen Template:Webarchive; retrieved: March 25, 2014</ref>

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			CupTemplate:Efn		League post seasonTemplate:Efn		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Colorado Rapids	2003	Major League Soccer	22	0	2	0	2	1	–		26	1
	2004		29	2	1	0	2	0	–		32	2
	2005		31	0	0	0	0	0	–		31	0
	Total		82	2	3	0	4	1	0	0	89	3
Odd Grenland	2006	Tippeligaen	23	0	3	2	2	1	–		28	3
	2007		19	1	5	1	0	0	–		24	2
	Total		42	1	8	3	2	1	0	0	52	5
Real Salt Lake	2008	Major League Soccer	29	0	–		3	0	–		32	0
	2009		30	1	–		4	0	–		34	1
	2010		30	2	–		2	0	5Template:Efn	0	37	2
	2011		30	3	2	0	1	0	3Template:Efn	0	36	3
	2012		26	2	1	0	2	0	3Template:Efn	0	32	2
	2013		28	1	4	0	5	0	–		34	1
	2014		32	1	0	0	2	0	–		34	1
	Total		205	10	7	0	19	0	11	0	242	10
Portland Timbers	2015	Major League Soccer	31	3	2	0	6	1	–		39	4
	2016		21	1	1	0	–		0Template:Efn	0	22	1
	Total		52	4	3	0	6	1	0	0	61	5
Career total			381	17	21	3	31	3	11	0	444	23

International

Template:Updated<ref name="usmnt">Nat Borcher - USMNT, retrieved: March 25, 2014</ref>

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
United States	2005	2	0
	2010	1	0
Total		3	0

Honors

Real Salt Lake

• MLS Cup: 2009
• Eastern Conference (playoffs): 2009
• Western Conference (playoffs): 2013

Portland Timbers

• MLS Cup: 2015<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Western Conference (playoffs): 2015<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Individual

• MLS Best XI: 2010

External links

• Template:MLS player
• Odd Grenland profile (Norwegian)
• Template:NFT player