JACKSON TWP — On the surface, Melissa Lynskey appears to be in for a bit of culture shock.

The Seneca Valley senior defender was part of three section championship, two WPIAL finalist and one WPIAL championship girls soccer teams with the Raiders.

Those teams were a combined 64-13-6 overall, 58-6-3 during the section title years.

“Starting for an undefeated WPIAL championship team as a freshman was a cool experience,” Lynskey said.

Now she’s headed for a Lafayette College program that’s posted one winning women’s soccer season in the past 10 years and is coming off a 4-12-2 campaign, 1-6 in the Patriot League.

But that record won’t matter to Lynskey. She’ll view it as a challenge.

“Melissa is always focused on making her team better,” SV coach Dave Sylvester said. “Her attitude spills over to the other players.

“As a freshman, she was part of a core group that wound up doing amazing things on the soccer field.”

Lynskey hasn’t done too badly for herself off the field, either.

She recently received a WPIAL Scholar Athlete Award — one of 10 girls to achieve this honor out of 140 school districts that submitted nominations.

“I was honored just to get the nomination from our high school,” Lynskey said.

She carries a 4.60 grade point average and is ranked seventh in her class. She plans to major in engineering at Lafayette.

Lynskey was part of the Raiders’ girls 4x400 meter relay team that reached the WPIAL Championships last spring. She also competed in the 100, 200 and 400 meters, along with the 4x100 relay.

Also a member of SV’s indoor track and field team, Lynskey could not compete this spring after suffering a concussion March 8 while practicing with her North United Fire traveling soccer team.

“I missed 20 days of school and I feared how that would affect me academically,” Lynskey said. “But my teachers and the school district were very accommodating to me.”

Lynskey is ranked seventh academically out of 555 in her graduating class.

“Melissa strives to be No. 1, the best she can be in all aspects of her life,” Sylvester said. “That’s the type of kid she is.

“She’s active in the community and always has been. I’m not surprised she won that award ... She deserves that award.”

Lynskey volunteers her time at the Passavant Retirement and Medical Center in Zelienople. She also works with the Pa. Connecting Center, which assists teenagers with special needs.

Lynskey finds time to do volunteer work with her church — St,. Ferdinand’s in Cranberry Township — and the local food bank as well. She’s also a member of the Key Club and Student Council at Seneca Valley.

“I help organize activities for the patients (at Passavant) and it makes their day when we come visit them,” she said. “A friend of mine was going there and asked me if I wanted to come with her.

“I’ve been going ever since.”

Lynskey spends two days a week, four hours a day, for six weeks of the summer at the Passavant center.

Once she stepped foot on campus for a visit at Lafayette, “I knew I was in the right place.

“They have a great engineering program and I’m one of eight incoming freshmen on the soccer team, which lost five seniors,” Lynskey added. “My goal in soccer there is to make a difference, have successful seasons and win the Patriot League.”

No culture shock happening here.

“I’ll stay busy,” Lynskey said, laughing.