EASTON — Melissa Lynskey discovered a whole new identity on the soccer pitch.

And basked in it.

The Seneca Valley graduate and senior Lafayette College women’s soccer player was asked to move from defender to forward midway through her collegiate career.

“Melissa had never played the position in her life,” Lafayette coach Mick Statham said. “After her sophomore year, we had a few girls graduating at forward. We had no heir apparent at the position.

“When I called her up to present the idea of her playing forward, she could have thought I was crazy. Instead, she trusted me as her coach. She thought it’d be kind of a neat thing. I knew she had to be on board with it for it to work.”

It worked.

Lynskey, who scored fewer than 10 goals all through high school while playing center back, scored one goal in her first two years at Lafayette as a defender.

She netted five goals as a forward her junior year as the Leopards finished 8-7-1, posting their first winning season in four years.

This year, Lynskey led the team with nine goals and 19 points. She scored three game-winning goals, including an overtime tally at Navy that sent Lafayette to the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 2011.

The team wound up reaching the tourney semifinals for the first time in program history and Lynskey finished third in scoring in the Patriot League.

“At one point this year, she was among the top five goal scorers in the country in Division 1,” Statham said. “It was a total transformation.

“She worked so hard at it. She’s our strongest player in the weight room, dead-lifting 310 pounds. She watched video, trained, practiced ... It was 100 percent every day, all the time.”

Lynskey knew no other way. During spring of her sophomore year, she scored all three goals in a 3-0 scrimmage win over Kutztown — the first game she played at forward.

“I remember that game,” Lynskey said. “It gave me so much confidence. I just felt right playing up there. I’m grateful to my coach for believing in me, believing I could do it.

“That move totally changed my college soccer career.”

Lynskey played on a WPIAL Class AAA championship soccer team in 2009 at Seneca Valley. The Raiders reached the WPIAL finals her senior year.

She opted for Lafayette because of its engineering program. Lynskey is carrying a 3.4 grade point average as a mechanical engineering major and is a Patriot League Academic Honor Roll selection.

“Coach convinced me I’d be a good fit at forward,” she said. “We needed someone to move up there and I wanted to help the team. He thought I had the right skill set for it and I appreciated that.

“A lot of other people, especially my teammates, helped me along the way, too.”

One of those teammates, Knoch graduate Gabi Lassinger, is a junior defender for Lafayette and started 17 games at that position this year.

Statham said he will use Lynskey’s successful transition as motivation to Lafayette players in future years.

“Hers will be a good tale to tell rookies down the line,” the coach said. “She clearly had the talent, but she trusted her coach and had the right attitude to go with it.

“That attitude can take an athlete to some great areas. Melissa is the poster child for that.”

Lynskey is undecided about seeking an engineering position or going to graduate school next year.

She knows she doesn’t want to say goodbye to soccer.

“It’s been such a big part of my life,” she said. “There’s always adult leagues, but the competitive nature of collegiate soccer is irreplaceable.

“I’d love to get into some type of coaching, stay involved in the game in some way. I can’t imagine my life without soccer.”

Statham has a hard time imagining Lafayette soccer without Lynskey.

“The girl is disciplined in everything she does,” he said. “As a student, studying videos, training, games ... She’s a very mature kid.

“She took my wild idea and embraced it. I’ll never forget that.”