Feb. 12, 1998

Men’s Soccer Signs Fourth Recruit

Markus Berndt will join Irish for 1998 season

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Notre Dame men’s soccer coach Mike Berticelli has added a fourth player to his 1998 recruiting class. MARKUS BERNDT (Blaubach, Germany), a 6-1, 160 midfielder/defender, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Irish beginning with 1998 campaign.

BERNDT becomes the fourth recruit to sign with Notre Dame for the upcoming season. Last week, Berticelli signed other players to national letters of intent – Shane Walton (San Diego, Calif.), Evan Oliver (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Matt Rosso (Churchville, Pa.).

BERNDT, who has been attending the Universitat Des Saarlandes for the past two years, graduated from the Gymnasium Kusel where he was a standout on the school’s soccer team. As a captain, he led his team to back-to-back Rheiland-Pfalz state championships in 1993 and 1994.

BERNDT has been a defender on the FC Homberg squad for three years. Presently, his team has a league-leading 15-0-2 record and he has scored two goals. He was a starter for FC Kaiserlautern which twice finished as runner-up in the German Youth championship. In 1994, his squad finished second at the Dallas Cup losing to Real Madrid in the finals.

His brother Michael currently is a member of the Under-19 German National team.

“Marcus brings maturity, experience and sophistication to our soccer team,” Berticelli says. “He has tremendous leadership qualities that will help our team overcome the loss of our graduating seniors. His experience with both Homberg and Kaiserslautern is a true testament of his quality as a player and person.”