Devin Burns sparks Loyola rout

Loyola lost five starters from last year’s 24-1-1 team that captured the Pepsi Showdown title and ended the regular season ranked No. 1 before losing a triple overtime 1-0 heartbreaker to rival New Trier in a sectional final.

Loyola coach Craig Snower thinks the new edition is potentially even better.

The No. 2 Ramblers have unleashed one of the state’s top freshman in forward Devin Burns, the younger sister of star senior defender Corey Burns.

Devin Burns continued a torrid start to her varsity career by scoring two goals and adding an assist as Loyola smashed Queen of Peace 6-0 in a weather-shortened game Monday at the Loyola Sports Complex in Glenview.

The Ramblers (5-0, 1-0 GCAC) are unscored upon in the early season. Last year’s team had 97 goals and surrendered just five.

“Thirty five of those goals were off set pieces,” Snower said. This year’s team is showing more creativity in the open field.

Devin Burns is one of four freshman starters for the Ramblers. She already has nine goals and three assists.

“At first it was pretty daunting thinking about playing the varsity right away, but I played up with my sister’s club team two or three times last summer and that’s prepared me for this,” Devin Burns said.

The team’s facilitator who orchestrates the attack remains junior midfielder Tori Iatarola. Last year she established a school-record with 30 assists. She recorded three assists in the first half as Loyola ran out to a 4-0 advantage.

Iatarola has not missed a beat since last year. She has nine assists against three goals to start the new campaign.

“I definitely get more excitement out of getting assists than scoring myself,” she said. “We graduated some very good players, but we also have some very good young girls and it’s always fun, especially at the start of the year to see how the team meshes together.

“So far we’ve done a great job.”

Two of the Iatarola’s first half assists originated off corner kicks that rangy sophomore defender Katie Taylor converted for goals. “That’s our inverted style of corners, and our primary threats there are out defenders, like Corey [Burns] and Katie,” Snower said.

Devin Burns and freshman midfielder Shannon Powers also recorded first half goals for the Ramblers.

Defensively, Corey Burns locked down the Pride’s top offensive threat, junior forward Nina Izzo, who entered the game with 10 goals on the season. Queen of Peace (5-3, 0-1) could never string together the necessary passes to get into the Ramblers’ defensive interior.

Devin Burns accounted for both of the Ramblers’ scores in the second half. She assisted sophomore forward Kathryn Cichon and ended the day by blasting a ball from about nine-yards out for the final margin.

Her classmate Powers assisted the final score.

The game was called just eight minutes into the second half after the third weather-delay.