Kyle Stuart Morton (born March 31, 1994) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Career

College and amateur

Morton attended Henderson High School, where he played on the school soccer team and served as the team captain as a senior. He played club soccer for Penn Fusion and also spent time with the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

Academy. Morton played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public university, public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1908, the institution was renamed in 1938 in honor of the fourth president of the ...

between 2012 and 2016, receiving a

medical redshirt Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

during 2013. He made third team All- CAA for his final three seasons. While in college, Morton also played with

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

sides

Reading United AC Reading United AC is an American soccer team based in Reading, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1995, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The club plays its home games at Alvernia University. The club's col ...

Lehigh Valley United Lehigh Valley United (also referred to as LVU) is an American soccer team based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2009, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays its home games at Rocco ...

and

OKC Energy U23 Oklahoma City Energy Football Club, or simply Energy FC, is an American professional soccer club based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The club is a member of the USL Championship, the second division of the American soccer league system. Although ...

Professional

Rochester Rhinos

Morton signed his first professional deal with

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

club

Rochester Rhinos Rochester Rhinos, formerly known as the Rochester Raging Rhinos, was an American soccer team based in Rochester, New York, United States. The club won the 1999 U.S. Open Cup, marking the only time a non-MLS team has won the U.S. Open Cup sinc ...

on March 7, 2017. He made his Rhinos debut on May 18 in a 3–0 win over

FC Motown FC Motown is an American soccer club based in Morristown, New Jersey. Founded in 2012, the team currently fields teams in both the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) and USL League Two. In 2020, the team formed a U23 side that competes in t ...

in a

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

match. That would be his only appearance for Rochester and following the 2017 season, the team decided to go on hiatus.

Pittsburgh Riverhounds

On January 26, 2018, Morton joined

USL USL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Underground Sound of Lisbon, a Portuguese dance music project * Urban Strawberry Lunch, a band from Liverpool Companies * United Spirits Limited, India * Former United States Lines shipping company C ...

side

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1998 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American ...

. He made his Riverhounds debut on April 7, keeping a clean sheet in a 4–0 victory against

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, that competes in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as we ...

. He ended his first season in Pittsburgh with 3 appearances and 3 clean sheets, missing most of the season due to a

torn ACL An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

. In 2018, Morton made 24 appearances in the regular season and kept 13 clean sheets, tied for 2nd most in the league, helping the Riverhounds finish first in the Eastern Conference. He played in both of Pittsburgh's playoff games as the Riverhounds reached the Conference Semifinals, where they lost 2–1 to Louisville City in extra time.

Saint Louis FC

On January 3, 2020, Morton moved to USL Championship side

Saint Louis FC Saint Louis FC was an American professional soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The team was founded in May 2014, and competed in the USL Championship. The team played their matches at West Community Stadium, a venue inside the World Wide ...

. He made his debut for Saint Louis on March 7, a 4–1 win over

Miami FC Miami FC is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (201 ...

. In a shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Morton made 14 appearances and kept 2 clean sheets to help Saint Louis qualify for the playoffs. He played in both of their playoff games as Saint Louis reached the Conference Semifinals, where they lost to Louisville City 2–0. Saint Louis FC folded following the

2020 USL Championship season The 2020 USL Championship season was the tenth season of the USL Championship and fourth under Division II sanctioning. This was the second season under the name "USL Championship", having used the name "United Soccer League" through 2018. Re ...

Houston Dynamo

Morton signed with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

side

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...

on January 27, 2021. On July 9, 2021, Morton was loaned to

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

side

Memphis 901 Memphis 901 FC was an American professional association football, soccer team based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 2018, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. On November 13, 2024, it was announced that the team would be ...

. He made his debut for Memphis on July 10, making 8 saves and keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 win over Birmingham Legion. Morton was named USL Championship Player of the Week and made the Team of the Week following his performance against Birmingham. He made 5 appearances while with Memphis, keeping 2 clean sheets. Houston recalled him from his loan on August 18. On November 3, in the final game of Houston's season, Morton made his Dynamo and MLS debut, making 4 saves in a 2–0 loss to

CF Montréal Club de Foot Montréal () is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Montreal. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Founded in 1992 as the Mo ...

. Following the 2021 season, Morton's contract option was declined by Houston.

Louisville City FC

Morton signed with

Louisville City FC Louisville City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Louisville, Kentucky. The team plays in the USL Championship, which is currently the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club was founded in 2014 after O ...

on December 28, 2021. He was released by Louisville following the 2023 season.

Career statistics

Honors

Individual *

Golden Glove:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

*USL Championship All League Second Team :

Personal life

Morton attended Henderson High School, where he played on the school soccer team as well as on the school

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team as

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (magazine), sports magazine in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the wor ...

. He attended James Madison University, where he majored in

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, Biomechanics, biomechanical, Pathology, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kines ...

. His brother is fellow professional soccer goalkeeper, Todd Morton, who currently plays for

Philadelphia Union II Philadelphia Union II is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Chester, Pennsylvania competing in MLS Next Pro. Founded in 2015 as Bethlehem Steel FC, the team is the official affiliate of the Philadelphia Union of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Kyle 1994 births Living people American men's soccer players Men's association football goalkeepers Houston Dynamo FC players James Madison Dukes men's soccer players Lehigh Valley United players Major League Soccer players Memphis 901 FC players Sportspeople from West Chester, Pennsylvania Soccer players from Chester County, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC players Reading United AC players Rochester Rhinos players Saint Louis FC players Louisville City FC players USL Championship players USL League Two players 21st-century American sportsmen