Philadelphia Union Academy defender commits to Liberty University

Philadelphia Union Academy U16 defender Evan Godfrey will be heading south to play college soccer at Liberty University.

Godfrey, who is from Millville, N.J., will be a freshman at the Virginia school in 2017. He’s the first player with ties to the Union Academy to verbally commit to the Big South program, which is coming off its first losing season in a decade.

The center back has played 10 games and started 9 for the U16 team this season. He played in 17 games and started 9 for the U16 team last season, his first with the Union. He played at Players Development Academy before that and also spent time at the IMG Academy in Florida.

Ranked number 125 in the class of 2017 by TopDrawerSoccer.com, Godfrey is one of four current Academy players who have announced college commitments for 2017, including Wake Forest-bound defenders Mark McKenzie and Matthew Real and defender Andrew Aprahamian, who has verbally committed to Stanford.

Matthew Ralph

Matthew Ralph is the managing editor of Philadelphia Soccer Now. He's covered soccer at all levels for a decade in the Philadelphia region and has also written for TheCup.us, NPSL, PrepSoccer and other publications. He lives with his wife and two young children in Broomall, Pa., but grew up in South Jersey and is originally from Kansas.

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