Mahir Mamelidzija, a Lake Forest College men's soccer player from 2010-13, was listed among the top 100 student-athletes in the 100-year history of the Midwest Conference (MWC) on Thursday.
As the MWC continues to celebrate 100 years of intercollegiate competition, it announced the release of the Centennial Celebration Top 100 on February 26. The Top 100 highlights the athletic and academic achievements of 100 former student-athletes from the fifteen institutions that currently sustain, or at some point in history maintained full membership with the league. The Top 100 reveal began on March 1 with the unveiling of honorees in chronological order by their respective class years. The league posts two honorees each weekday on its website and social media accounts.
Of the numerous awards earned by Mameledzija, the one that best encompasses his excellence on the field and in the classroom came from the College Sports Information Directors of America, who selected him as the 2013 Men's Soccer Division III Academic All-American of the Year®.
Mameledzija finished his career with more goals (72) and points (165) than any other player in MWC history. The forward also set single-season league records with 27 goals, 59 points, and 11 game-winning scores as a junior in 2012, when he led the nation in goals and points per contest. He finished his career with at least one goal in 47 of the Foresters' 78 games and having scored or assisted on exactly half of the team's tallies during that span.
Lake Forest was 54-20-4 overall and 28-8-2 in the league during Mameledzija's career. He captained the team to back-to-back conference titles as a junior and senior and the 2013 Foresters earned the program's first NCAA Division III Tournament berth since 1980.
Mameledzija was a four-time First Team All-MWC selection and named MWC Offensive Player of the Year following his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons. He also earned Third Team All-Region honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of American as a sophomore and First Team accolades each of the next two years. In addition, the NSCAA made him a Third Team All-American in 2012.
Mameledzija's list of academic accomplishments is just as impressive as his records and honors on the field. In addition to the Academic All-American of the Year award, he was a two-time CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American®, three-time Academic All-MWC honoree, and two-year member of the NSCAA College Division Scholar All-America Team. The chemistry and Spanish double-major earned a postgraduate scholarship from the NCAA in 2014 and is now an emergency physician.
