West Chester native Kyle Morton signs with Rochester Rhinos

USL club Rochester Rhinos added another player on Tuesday with ties to the region and the Philadelphia Union Academy in former James Madison goalkeeper Kyle Morton.

“I’m excited to get to work and continue to improve,” the West Chester native wrote in an Instagram post.

Morton had previously trialed with the Tampa Bay Rowdies, making an appearance for them in a Florida Cup match back in January. He becomes the team’s third goalkeeper, joining second-year pro Daniel Lynd and third-year pro Tomas Gomez, who started more than half of the team’s games a year ago.

"Kyle has really good upside, good size, and good athleticism," Rhinos Head Coach Bob Lilley said in a news release. "We like his feet, his distribution and he's a pretty good shot stopper."

Morton appeared in 69 games over five seasons at James Madison - he received a medical redshirt after appearing in six games his sophomore season - and finished his college career with 19 clean sheets and a 1.13 goals against average.

Like recent signing Darius Madison and second-year defender Joe Farrell, Morton spent time in the Philadelphia Union youth system when it was essentially an all-star team of players from local youth club affiliates.

The 6-foot-4, 190-pound keeper played club soccer for Penn Fusion and high school soccer at West Chester Henderson and was also the placekicker for the football team. His brother Todd is the starting goalkeeper at the University of Delaware.