LVU Sonic roster has six players with ties to Union Academy

Morgan Hackworth, Christopher Gomez, all three Keys brothers and Kyle Morton will be representing the Philadelphia Union Academy this summer playing for Lehigh Valley United Sonic in the PDL.

Hackworth and Gomez are Syracuse teammates who also played together in the Academy (Gomez spent his last season before college with PDA) and Cameron Keys, a goalkeeper and Garrett Keys, a defender, are twin brothers who will be entering their second season at La Salle. Their older brother Logan, also a goalkeeper, will be a fifth-year senior this fall at LIU Brooklyn.

Morton, a previously announced roster addition, will be a fifth-year senior at James Madison this fall. He and Logan Keys both spent time with the Union Academy in its part-time "club and country" days while the other four competed with the team after it became a full-time member of the U.S. Development Academy.

Hackworth and Gomez are both fighting for more playing time at Syracuse after a freshman season where they mostly watched their team's run to the College Cup from the sidelines. Cameron Keys is aiming to nail down the starting job in his second season at La Salle this fall while Garrett was a regular starter in the defense.

The Sonic will kick off their season on Sunday against local rival Reading United, which has its share of players with ties to the Union Academy. Reading has eight players on its roster with ties to the Union Academy after the recent addition of Syracuse forward Kenny Lassiter.

Sunday's game will be played at Lehigh University's Goodman Stadium at noon as the first game of a doubleheader that includes Bethlehem Steel FC hosting FC Montreal.

Lehigh Valley United's roster includes nine other players with ties to the greater Philadelphia region. They include Bryn Mawr native and Penn freshman-to-be Aramis Kouzine, Delaware goalkeeper and West Chester native Todd Morton, SMU forward and Douglassville native Colton Habecker, West Virginia defender and Philadelphia native Rushawn Lamond, Campbell senior defender and Cheltenham native Matthew Martinez, Cabrini midfielder and Allentown native Ben Roda and Villanova midfielder Miguel Polley. Colombia native Julian Lucumi Villegas, who played in central New Jersey at Mercer County Community College last fall, is also on the roster.

The full roster posted to the PDL website is below: