AFC Ann Arbor is excited to announce Belleville native, Olivia Borgdorff to the AFC Ann Arbor Women’s team. Borgdorff is a junior at Aquinas and was recruited from Schoolcraft as a junior college transfer. Her current coach was looking to fill a need on his team with older leadership which he found in Borgdoff. She is a community leadership major and was captain of her team at Schoolcraft.
With the buzz around AFC adding a women’s team, it was her previous coach from Schoolcraft that had heard about the addition and told her she should try out. After taking a gap year after high school, Borgdorff walked on to the team at Schoolcraft. “I did missions with Youth With a Mission in England and Greece for 8 months and worked with Syrian refugees and backpacked in Spain for 5 weeks. It was a super cool experience but I wanted a shot at playing college ball. Walking on to Schoolcraft’s team was such a unique opportunity.”
While at Schoolcraft Borgdorff helped the Ocelots to back-to-back Region XII championships and back-to-back National Qualifier appearances. At her first National Qualifier game, she was called up after two starters suddenly couldn’t play. Borgdorff said, “I'd worked hard all season but hadn't got much PT and I finally got my break on the national stage. Hard work pays off!”
After attending practices with the Legacy last year an ankle injury kept her sidelined most of the summer. After training a ton on her own to get healthy, she’s looking forward to having a team to play with this summer and is excited to be close to friends and family while playing for AFCAA. Looking forward to staying active before heading into her senior year at Aquinas, Borgdorff “can’t wait to be a part of a new program and help build it from the ground up.”
Borgdorff grew up playing on a boys team and learned early on how to be tough and take a hit. She’s conditioned into building an attack and playing into feet and looks for opportunities to get up and down the sidelines. She has run the Detroit marathon and is looking forward to bringing her skills to Ann Arbor.
About AFC Ann Arbor
Founded in 2014, Association Football Club Ann Arbor launched it’s men’s semi-pro team in 2015 and has competed in the NPSL since 2016. Led by Head Coach & Sporting Director, Eric Rudland, the team has found great success winning back to back Great Lakes Championships (‘17 & ‘18) and earning US Open Cup bids three straight years (2017-2019). In October 2018, the club announced the launch of the women’s side, who will be skippered by Andy “Pritch” Pritchard in their inaugural season of the United Women’s Soccer national league. Owned and operated by a group of local soccer fans and entrepreneurs, AFC Ann Arbor has become a fixture in the greater Ann Arbor community.