Matthew Real verbally commits to Wake Forest

Philadelphia Union Academy U18 defender Matthew Real has verbally committed to play college soccer at Wake Forest, where he will join teammate Joseph DeZart II at the ACC program in the fall of 2017, according to Top Drawer Soccer.

DeZart, who is also a defender, plans to attend Wake Forest this fall. Real and DeZart will have a lot of company in college soccer's most powerful conference. Teammates Jerren Nixon and Raheem Taylor-Parkes are planning to attend Virginia this fall, while Auston Trusty is going to North Carolina and Michael Swift to Clemson.

Wake Forest is the top-seeded team in the NCAA Tournament this year and have made the tourney 15 of the last 17 seasons, winning a national championship in 2007, when Michael Lahoud was on the team.

Union first-teamer Brian Carroll (2000-2002) also played college soccer at the Winston-Salem, North Carolina school.

Real, 16, is currently ranked No. 25 in Top Drawer Soccer's Class of 2017. He's played in 7 games, starting 4, for the U18 team this season in U.S. Development Academy play and recently started a game for the U16 team.