When Nathan Sprenkel was a senior at Zionsville Community High School, his mother suggested taking a look at DePauw. And he did - a year later after a season at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Penn.
What did Sprenkel learn from that?
"Of course, moms are always right," Sprenkel said. "I listened, and the rest is history."
The 2012 graduate's decision to move from a Div. I school to a Div. III school admittedly was a risk. Sprenkel, since his high school years, had dreams of becoming a professional goalkeeper. Those dreams are now a reality. In July, he signed a contract with Antigua Barracuda FC - a team in the third tier of the United States Soccer Federation below Major League Soccer and the North American Soccer League.
In high school, he played for The Carmel United Soccer Club and traveled to different tournaments around the state and the country. It was then when he believed he had what it took to try to go professional. However, he thought that required going to a Div. I school.
"Naively, I thought that was only way to do what I wanted to do," Sprenkel said. "I couldn't have been more wrong. I was just young and naïve and not knowing any better. Really anything you do, it's who you know and how you're going to get there."
Duquesne, Butler University and Indiana University all told him he could walk-on their team. He chose Duquesne because the No. 1 goalkeeper would be a sophomore when he was a freshman. With hopes of winning the starting spot, Sprenkel chose the Div. I route. However, Duquesne's head coach chose the incumbent to start.
"I did see some time toward the end of the season," he said. "I got in during an overtime and got scored on after a minute and a half, ending the game. I was supposed to start the next game and got mono the night before. The end of the season wasn't really great for me."
In 18 minutes of play, Sprenkel didn't record a save and surrendered one goal at Duquesne. At the conclusion of a 5-10-4, 2008 season, he spoke with his coach about transferring.
"I never really felt settled in there," Sprenkel said. "The school is in downtown Pittsburg - it's loud, it's dirty. I never really felt at home. Some of the guys I really didn't get along with. As soon as I came to DePauw for my visit, it was a completely different world."
In a mid-winter phone call to Brad Hauter, DePauw's head men's soccer coach, Sprenkel conveyed his desire to pursue a professional career, and what his academic goals were. The conversation, according to Hauter, seemed too good to be true.
"As he's describing who he is: he's from Zionsville, I'm from Zionsville," Hauter said. "He's a goalkeeper, I'm a goalkeeper. He's a psychology major, I'm a psychology major. Everything we were talking about sounded eerie and creepy, it may have sounded like I was over-recruiting him and making this stuff up. It clicked and we agreed to meet."
Later in the winter, Hauter met with Sprenkel and his family face-to-face. It was there Hauter realized he may have a serious talent coming to DePauw the next year. He just had no idea if Sprenkel was going to commit.
"His emotions are difficult to read in his face," Hauter said. "As we're sitting there talking, he's getting me excited about him. I'm not seeing a spark in his eye that he's excited about coming to DePauw. I left there thinking 'I have no idea.' It felt the right fit...He's a good poker player, I had no idea."
Sprenkel chose to come to DePauw shortly after, and the doors of the professional world opened up for him.
Following his sophomore season, he was named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and earned All-Great Lakes Region first team honors. During the summer before his junior year, Hauter arranged for Sprenkel and current senior DePauw goalkeeper, Tony Halterman, to train in Serbia with profession soccer club, Red Star Belgrade.
"It's all about getting on radars and building my resume a little bit," Sprenkel said. "We were there for two weeks just training with their goalkeeper coach and their U-20 team. I loved it."
After a successful junior year, Sprenkel was invited back to Red Star - this time training with its second team players.
"I played with paid professionals for two weeks," he said. "The coaches all thought I showed well."
In his senior year, Sprenkel led the Tigers to a North Coast Ath-letic Conference title, and was named the NCAC Defensive Player of the Year. At the conclusion of the season, Hauter and Sprenkel immediately began making contacts with professional coaches. He and Sam Meyer '12 were invited to the Info Sport Pro Soccer Combine in Florida in January. It was after this experience that Antigua came into the picture during the team's open trial in Florida.
"I got a concussion the first day. I was kneed in the face," Sprenkel said. "I didn't remember the 10 minutes before or several hours after. I didn't participate in the rest of the trial, and they told me to come back after my spring break and I'll train with the team and they'd get a better look at me."
"It was actually better for me because I was the only person trying out the second time around, so coaches were able to get a much better look at me."
In the spring, Sprenkel tried out again and Antigua said afterward they would speak to the management and see if they could sign him. In the meantime, he graduated in May and waited for Antigua's decision.
"I knew that if I gave professional soccer a shot, I wanted to give it a fair shot," Sprenkel said. "I knew I had to be patient, my parents said they were behind me 100 percent. If it doesn't work out this summer, we'd figure something else out."
After a month of waiting, Sprenkel received an email he quickly forwarded to Hauter and his parents. Antigua wanted him to meet the team in Florida and begin his professional career.
"It was a huge relief because now I could just focus on soccer and where I was going," he said. "Then we focused on getting myself ready."
After a month of training, Sprenkel started for the Barracudas Aug. 17 at California State University Fullerton Titan Stadium in Los Angeles and surrendered one goal and totaled one save.
"I just told myself this was going to be a huge experience, a huge first step. Just enjoy it for the rest of your life and have fun. That was the goal for me," Sprenkel said. "I was very pleased with it afterward despite the 1-0 loss."
Next up for Sprenkel is an attempt to play in an indoor soccer league. He tried out for a Chicago indoor team last Sunday, and hopes he can continue playing and getting experience.
Today, Sprenkel is an assistant coach for Hauter, for a program some say is on the verge of becoming a national powerhouse because of Sprenkel's presence in goal for three years.
"I'd love to say we played a giant role in his development," Hauter said. "But we were really a canvas for his abilities to start dropping and falling on.
"I don't think Nathan is close to his ceiling just yet. When he starts playing more and more at the next level, with faster play and making quicker decisions, he's going to get closer and closer to that ceiling very quick - and that's going to be frightening."
However, for a program he's given so much to, Sprenkel said he would be nowhere without the success of his teammates, and the constant assistance from Hauter.
"If we were a middle of the road team, I would be a middle of the road goalkeeper," he said. "There's more I can achieve. I'm continuing to try and find teams. I really want to make a career out of outdoor soccer, but you have to do what you can in your early years and make your way up."