VIDEO: Sussex's Alfano Thrives as Grad Student on MU Soccer Team

Michael Alfano faced a tough choice last May — try to parlay his magna cum laude degree in marketing from Marquette into a full-time job, or enroll in graduate school and complete his soccer eligibility.

He chose the latter, saying that he couldn't let his teammates down after all they'd been through. Alfano said he couldn't be happier, as Marquette is 5-0-0 in the Big East heading into a home match Wednesday night against nationally ranked Georgetown.

He attends night classes at MU toward his MBA and also interns during the day at Harley-Davidson, making him one of the few graduate students in the country also playing NCAA Division I athletics.

"He's really an ideal student-athlete," said Marquette men's soccer coach Louis Bennett. "He's managed to balance the time constraints of a heavy practice workload on the field, working on his own game after practice, and then putting in the appropriate amount of work and getting a degree."

"He's been low-maintenance and really been an advocate of what we're trying to do."