This year, the Lynn English girls soccer team will play with a defensive mindset, according to head coach Ed McNeil.”I think our defense will carry us as far as we can go,” said McNeil, who begins his 10th year with the program, and eighth as a head coach (he was an assistant for two years).Who is on that defense? Well, one player McNeil listed is stopper Rachel Roy, whom he called “the best kicker on the team.”Meanwhile, sweeper Katherine Lozano is “probably our fastest player,” McNeil said.”The strength of the team is on defense,” the coach said.Also in the mix on defense is third-year player Jamie Mah.”We have six good defenders and four spots,” McNeil noted. “They’ll be alternating.”Overall, there are 20 players who have tried out for the team. The Bulldogs will scrimmage Salem today. They open the season in the Lynn Tournament with a game against Lynn Tech on Sept. 5.The co-captains of the 2012 Bulldogs are Marnie Biondi and Abbie Martocchio. McNeil said that they are “terrific players both, halfbacks for me who can move around.”English has a freshman goalie, Kaitlyn Nadeau, and last year’s goalies, Karissa Burton and Taegon Nelson, will instead play fullback.”Last year, we had to use two good athletes who were not goalies (at the position),” McNeil said. “They played great. We’ll get to keep both of them on the field (this year).”As for the Bulldogs’ starting forwards, McNeil is looking at Veronica Uk and Brianna Goulet to fill that role when the season starts, he said.Other players whom the coach mentioned include Nicolette Angelli (halfback), Sam Holey (halfback/forward) and Shanna Zeramby (defense). He also mentioned three juniors, forward Caroline Dally and track captains Karina and Karla Ross. Of the Rosses, he said, “They’re really fast. They’re new to the game, they play outside halfback and they can run like deer.”English went 6-10-3 last season and among last year’s seniors, McNeil noted that the Bulldogs will miss Mackenzie Clark, and that Briana Moreno, who scored 12 of the 26 English goals, will be “tough to replace.”However, he also said, “I’m very pleased with the first three practices,” and added that while “we don’t have a big freshman class, we have a lot of players back, eight seniors back.”On the Bulldogs’ schedule this year are state champion Peabody (twice), who went 23-0-1 and has nine starters back; Beverly twice; and Danvers once.”They’re very, very tough teams,” McNeil said.English will also play Somerville and Everett.The Bulldogs have won six, seven and six games the last three seasons.”We’re in the middle of the pack,” McNeil said.Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].