Nat Borchers

Nat Borchers (born April 13, 1981 in Tucson, Arizona, Arizona) is an American soccer player who currently plays central defender (football) for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer.

Early career

Borchers attended East High School in Pueblo, Colorado where he played on the boy's 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' USL Premier Development League 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 at the University of Denver.

MLS

Borchers was signed to the Rapids' developmental roster March 18, 2003, however, and soon proved to be far better than most had suspected. By the middle of the 2003 season, Borchers had secured a starting spot in Colorado's central defense, and was clearly one of the best, and most surprising, rookies of the year. Throughout the 2005 season, Borchers continued to anchor the Rapids defense.

Norway

In 2006, Borchers was transferred to Norwegian club Odd Grenland B.K..

Return To MLS

In February 2008, Borchers signed with Major League Soccer side Real Salt Lake on a transfer, after being released by Odd Grenland B.K..

National and Olympic teams

Borchers' surprising 2003 season led to him being called up for the Under-23 team's Olympic Qualifiers, in which the team disappointingly was eliminated. He earned his first cap for the senior United States men's national soccer team on March 9, 2005, against Colombia national football team.