Philadelphia Union Academy midfielder Cole Turner plans to return home to Maryland to play college soccer at the Naval Academy in 2019.
The Churchville, Maryland, native who is part of the academy’s residency program, verbally committed to Navy last week. He’s the second commitment from the 2019 graduating class at YSC Academy to verbally commit to Navy. U17 defender JD Wagner announced his commitment back in October.
“The main factor in my decision was when I went on my visit it felt like home,” Turner said. “I just felt like I had to go to school there. On top of all that all the opportunities you are given are unreal. I also really like all the tradition that is there.”
Turner comes from a military family: both his grandfathers served in the military and has a great grandfather who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Soccerwise, Turner sees Navy’s possession style suiting him well. A box-to-box midfielder, Turner is skilled on the ball and has quality going forward in the attack and also linking the defense with the offense.
“It will be similar to the way we play at the Union,” Turner said.
The 16-year-old, who played for Baltimore Celtic and Baltimore Bays before joining the Union U14 team in 2015, is continuing a theme for the 2019 class committing to schools in either Maryland, Virginia or Washington D.C.
In addition to the two Naval Academy commits, Nick Blacklock (Virginia Tech), Marco Bla (Old Dominion) and Tomas Romero (Georgetown) have also committed to schools in the region.