Rochester inks goalie Kyle Morton and winger Jalen Brown to contracts.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Rhinos announced the signing of two players this week, goalkeeper Kyle Morton, a former member of James Madison University, and winger Jalen Brown, a former member of the University of Xavier. The signings are pending league and federation approval.
“Kyle has really good upside, good size, and good athleticism,” said Rhinos Head Coach Bob Lilley, “We like his feet, his distribution and he’s a pretty good shot stopper.”
Morton played 69 games over five seasons at JMU – earning a medical redshirt after six games his sophomore year – and finished his career with 19 shutouts and a 1.13 goals against average.
“We’re excited, he’s already competing with Dan (Lynd) and Tomas (Gomez). We’re very confident in our goalkeeping group this year.”
Morton was part of the Union Academy “club and country” setup in 2012-13, a year prior to the Union joining the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. Kyle’s brother Todd is the starting goalkeeper at the University of Delaware.
Brown
“Jalen had a good college career with Xavier,” said Lilley, “He’s got great quickness and is a good 1 v 1 player.””
Brown was one of Xavier’s top offensive threats throughout his career (2013-16). He recorded several career-bests in 2016, including starts (19), goals (6), assists (3), shots (46) and shots on goal (20). He led the team in goals and ranked second with 15 points, 46 shots and 20 shots on goal. A workhorse up top, Brown ranked fifth on team with 1,524 minutes played.
He also developed a reputation for coming up huge in big moments during his Xavier career, scoring five total game-winners.
“We had tracked him at the MLS Combine,” exclaimed Rhinos Head Coach Bob Lilley, “He became available, and we feel like he could help us in wide areas.”
Brown started 14 and 19 games during his junior and senior seasons, respectively, and finished his career with 14 goals (five game-winners) and eight assists.
The Rhinos will kick off the 2017 USL regular season on Saturday, April 1 against Bethlehem Steel FC at Goodman Stadium. The club’s home opener is on Saturday, April 22 when the defending USL Cup champion New York Red Bulls II visit Capelli Sport Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:05 p.m.