English girls soccer looking to rebuild

There will be plenty of new faces on the field when the English High girls soccer team takes the field this season.The Bulldogs graduated 12 players from last year?s 6-13-1 team, and the only returning senior starter this year is Taegon Nelson in the midfield.?We?ll be extremely young,” English coach Ed McNeil said.The Bulldogs will have one other senior in the lineup with the return of Shanna Zeramby. Zeramby played as a freshman and sophomore, but did not play last year.?We missed her last year,” McNeil said. “She?s a great athlete. She?ll fill a nice defensive spot.”Junior Kaitlyn Nadeau will be a key cog in the Bulldog wheel. She?s a two-year starter in net who posted five shutouts last year. Junior Haylee Denham gives English some experience at sweeper and McKenzie O?Hare should help out at stopper.All told, the Bulldogs lost eight to nine starters, but McNeil has some strong candidates, most of them sophomores and freshmen, to fill the positions. Sophomores Caitlin Geaney and Taylor Sullivan, who both saw time last year, will be starting defenders, McNeil said, and sophomores Emma Trahant and Krista Bowden will shore up the midfield. They also saw action as freshmen.?They?ll be terrific players by the time they?re seniors,” McNeil said.Sophomores Sarah Tobin (forward and halfback); Cynthia DeLeon (forward) and Ange Merlin (forward) should also see plenty of action.?I think this could be considered a rebuilding year with so few seniors,” McNeil said. “We?ll have five or six freshmen on the team and they?ll play.”McNeil has scrimmages lined up with Salem, North Shore Tech, Saugus and Classical before the 20-game season kicks in Tuesday, Sept. 2, against Tech in the Lynn City Tournament.?We?re going to be very young. We?ll probably take our lumps, but as the season goes on, I think things will get better,” McNeil said.English has 16 Northeastern Conference games, the two Lynn City Tournament games and two games against Everett.?I?m hoping we can do a little better (than last year),” McNeil said, adding that last year was the first time in six years his team lost to Classical.McNeil has a new assistant coach this year. Mindy Kidney is taking some time off to work on her master?s degree, but another former player, Marni Biondi, is stepping in to help out. Biondi is a student at Salem State.