July 1, 1999

NOTRE Dame, Ind. – University of Notre Dame men’s soccer coach Mike Berticelli has added two more German players to his list of recruits for the 1999 as Erich Braun (Frankfurt, Germany) and Alex Altmann (Berlin, Germany) have signed national letters of intent to play soccer at Notre Dame beginning this fall. The addition of the two players brings the Irish recruiting total to six for the upcoming season.

Braun and Altmann will be two of three German recruits on the Notre Dame rosters this season. Earlier, Andreas Forstner (Gernlinden, Germany), a defender, also signed with the Irish.

Braun, a 5-10 forward, was a member of the Under-16 German National Team. A graduate of Adolft-Reichwein-Gymnasium, he has played for the past five years for Eintracht Frankfurt. This past season, his team finished fourth (among 14 teams) in the Hessen League with a 14-6-8 record.

He played five games as a member of the German Youth National Team as a 15 and 16-year old and scored two goals during this time with the squad. He also played for three years on the Hessen Regional Team for three years and twice led his team to the national title. As a 17-year old, Braun was goal-scoring champion at the national tournament with seven goals in five games.

“With the loss of Shane Walton (the team’s leading scorer as a freshman in 1998 who will play football at Notre Dame this fall), it was imperative that we get a goal scorer and Erich fills that void left by Shane,” Berticelli says. “Erich is a technical player with very sound fundamental skills. He has a quick and aggressive style of play that fits in well with our system. I expect him to come in and contribute immediately.”

Altmann, a 5-10 midfielder, also spent time playing with the Under-16 national squad as he appeared in two games. He graduated from Leonard-Da-Vinci Oberschule and play for T.S.V. Rudow. His squad recently finished its season with a 23-9-6 record as he scored nine goals and dished off 10 assists and earned player-of-the-match honors on 10 occasions.

Altmann appeared in two games with the national team and also played on the Under-15 and Under-18 regional teams.

“We feel very fortunate to sign two players the caliber of Erich and Alex,” Berticelli says. “Similar to Erich, Alex will come in and immediately help our team. He also will have an immediate impact on our program because he is such a versatile player.

“With these two players and the other four we signed earlier, this rounds out an outstanding recruiting class for us. We filled a lot of needs with quality players who are going to come and contribute right away. This is probably our best and strongest class in my 10 years here.”

In addition to the three German players, Notre Dame also signed defender Justin Ratcliffe (Miami, Fla.), goalkeeper Greg Tait (Fayetteville, N.Y.) and midfielder Paul Rodriguez (San Antonio, Tex.).