Bremen starting to make some believers

"Watch out for Bremen," Lincoln-Way East head coach Brian Papa said before the season started.

So far, Papa's view is spot on. The Braves stunned cross-district rival Oak Forest with an 8-0 rout Wednesday, their most one-sided outing of the season. Josh Techeira scored four times, while Ruben Ortega added a pair of goals in the match. On the other end, Mick Goulding was kept just busy enough to stay alert, and responded with seven saves in goal.

The win advanced Bremen's record to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in the South Suburban Blue. The Braves were expecting a test against Class 1A powerhouse Morgan Park Academy on Saturday morning, but the game was canceled. Instead, they'll be back in action Monday, hosting Andrew.

On the alumni front, Arturo Macias, a sophomore midfielder at St. Xavier, is seeing semi-regular action, and has three shots in five games for the Cougars.

Brother Rice worldly wise

When Brother Rice's soccer team goes on a road trip, it doesn't fool around.

Not a trip to St. Rita or even Loyola Academy. A trip.

Germany. Croatia. England. Spain. Belgium. Those are trips.

The Crusaders have a tradition of taking summer trips to Europe to learn from more experienced teams, coach Nick Markulin said.

"We've been doing this for the last 10 to 15 years," Markulin said. "This year, it was to Hamburg, Germany. We had two days of torrential rain, but nobody complained."

The weeklong trips, paid for by fundraisers, consist of two practices a day and a game against a local youth squad every other day, along with sightseeing.

Markulin scouts out potential training sites a year in advance, making arrangements with a team to train together, thus giving his players the benefit of advanced training most American players will never experience. The trip to England, for instance, brought the Crusaders in contact with Manchester United for a week.

"It's quite a different animal, to be honest with you," Markulin said of the European experience.

To this juncture, Europe has always been the destination.

"We were going to go to Brazil one year, but it's an incredibly long distance," Markulin said.

The week ahead

Oak Forest, rattled by Bremen on Thursday, tries to bounce back in South Suburban Blue play with matches Tuesday at Argo and Thursday at Tinley Park. ... Shepard faces a tough test Tuesday at Lemont, and hosts Argo on Thursday.

St. Rita is at St. Laurence on Tuesday and at De La Salle on Thursday before hosting Bishop McNamara on Saturday. ... Marist's week begins with a trip to Providence Catholic on Monday and a visit by St. Patrick, the latter an East Suburban Catholic rival, Wednesday.

Tim Cronin can be reached at tcronin@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5948.