Nov 20, 2025
Northern Michigan University’s Alessandra Scialanga boots the ball downfield during a GLIAC game played against Purdue Northwest at the NMU Soccer Field in Marquette on Nov. 2. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
MARQUETTE — Four men’s soccer players from Northern Michigan University have earned conference postseason honors, the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announced last week.
Senior Alessandro Scialanga and junior Luca Rosen were named to the GLIAC First Team, while junior Asaf Kristal and sophomore Ian Weimer made the GLIAC Honorable Mention list.
Scialanga, a team captain from Sutri, Italy, was named as a defender on the conference First Team.
Known as the “heartbeat of the Wildcat defense,” according to an NMU Sports Information news release about the awards, he played all 90 minutes in the Wildcats’ first six games before being injured in late September.
Making what was termed a “miraculous” recovery and missing most of four games, he came back to play at least 84 minutes for the duration of the season, including all 110 minutes of the Wildcats’ shootout win over Purdue Northwest in the GLIAC Tournament quarterfinals.
In addition to his defensive skills and being NMU’s main player on set pieces, Scialanga scored a goal and had three assists during the season, including a pair of assists in the quarterfinal win.
Rosen was named to the GLIAC First Team as an “at-large” player after his first year at Northern following his transfer in the offseason from Northeast Community College in Nebraska.
A London, England, native, he had a slow start to the season but picked it up during the GLIAC campaign, leading the league for conference games in a majority of statistical categories, including his 68 shots — surpassing all others in the league by nearly 30 — 27 shots on goal, nine goals, four game-winning goals and 19 points.
Rosen was named GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week twice, the only forward to achieve that distinction.
Kristal, a native of Tel Aviv, Israel, also joined the Wildcats this season and set NMU season records for goalkeepers in saves, shutouts, wins and was on pace to break several more entering last weekend.
He led the GLIAC in shutouts, saves, saves per game and was second in goals allowed and goals-against-average, earning a GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week honor and blanking Saginaw Valley State for its first loss this season, following it up with consecutive double-digit save efforts.
Weimer, from Marietta, Ohio, exploded on the scene after playing sparingly as a freshman. He became an impact player for the Wildcats after not playing more than 23 minutes in each of the team’s first five games.
He finished second to Rosen on the team with six goals, 13 points and three game-winning goals, scoring the only goal in the 71st minute of NMU’s 1-0 win over SVSU in the GLIAC Tournament championship.
He was also named GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week in the regular season’s final week.
The regular-season champion Cardinals won three of the league’s six major awards — graduate student Eoin Farrell was named GLIAC Player of the Year, senior Kolja Thomas the Defensive Player of the Year and their staff the Coaching Staff of the Year.
Roosevelt graduate student Fynn Mewes was named Offensive Player of the Year, Wisconsin-Parkside junior Daniyal Rana the Goalkeeper of the Year and Davenport freshman Charlie Davis the Freshman of the Year.
Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the awards. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.
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