ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The conversation occurred in a New York City hotel lobby in February of 2024.

The Roberts Wesleyan University women's lacrosse team had just dropped a 17-7 decision to top-ranked Pace University to fall to 0-2 on the season and head coach Kristin Paolini and assistant coach Pete Bell broke the news to junior midfielder Emma Blumenstock, a first-team All-East Coast Conference selection as a sophomore, that they were moving her to attack.

The decision was far from easy.

"It was a toggle back and forth of me being like, 'No, we need her as a midfielder, we need her expertise, energy and communication down on the defensive end," Paolini said. "Pete was like, 'We need more out of her offensively and being a midfielder we weren't getting 100% out of her on both ends of the field, because she put so much on her shoulders.

"So, I listened to my staff and said, 'All right, let's do this, let's put her on attack where she can really focus on one end of the field. We play a defense where we can train and put somebody in her spot, which we did. We needed 100% of Emma on the offensive end of the field, so that is what we did."

Blumenstock, who prided herself on her two-way play, wasn't sure the move would work.

"The coaches sat me down and were like, 'This is what we are going to do and this is why,'" Blumenstock said. "They were like, 'How do you feel about it?' At first I was like, 'I don't know how it's going to work, I love being on defense.' It took a few games for it to pay off, but I definitely see that the coaches were right and they knew what they were talking about."

Did they ever.

After scoring 14 points in the first five games of the 2024 season, Blumenstock has tallied a whopping 184 in the next 27 and now ranks second in program history with 268 career points.

All of this from a student-athlete who admits she was better known as a basketball player in high school.

Basketball background

Blumenstock grew up in Penfield, about 20 miles east of the Roberts Wesleyan University campus.

She started playing basketball and lacrosse in second grade and continued playing both through high school, serving as a point guard on the basketball team and middie for lacrosse.

The basketball team reached the Section V championship game for three straight seasons and finally broke through as the sixth seed in her senior year to defeat a top-seeded Bishop Kearney team that included future
Roberts guard Marianna Freeman, 54-51, to win the 2021 championship.

"Nobody saw that coming," said longtime Penfield coach Mark Vogt, whose team knocked off the top three seeds in the bracket to win the title. "They were No. 1, and she was just phenomenal in that championship game."

Blumenstock, who stands 5-feet, 10-inches tall, averaged 7.6 points, 5 assists and 2 steals as a senior and scored eight points, including a pair of three-pointers, and registered five assists in the final.

"She just really quarterbacked the team," Vogt said. "Her head was always looking up the floor and she wanted the ball at the end of the game."

The game signaled the end of Blumenstock's competitive basketball career as the 2021 state playoffs were canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.

The pandemic also severely impacted Blumenstock's high school lacrosse career, canceling her junior season and shortening her senior campaign to eight weeks in the spring.

The Patriots went 10-8 and reached the Section V Class A semifinal.

"I had a better high school career in basketball than lacrosse," Blumenstock said. "Looking back on it, I'm so content in how that finished. Not many people get to say that their last career high school game was a win."

Blumenstock had a connection to basketball long before she was born as her father, Kyle, has been a well-respected referee for more than 30 years.

Vogt says that she, "100 percent," could have played hoops in college but Blumenstock knew all along that lacrosse would be the sport she wanted to pursue.

"I think maybe I saw more opportunity to grow as a player and as a person in lacrosse," Blumenstock said. "I felt like I hadn't really done everything I could do in lacrosse, so being able to take that next step and grow as a person was something that I saw with lacrosse."

Becoming a Redhawk

Blumenstock committed to Roberts in February of 2020, about a month before the pandemic hit.

She played club lacrosse for Common Goal at the time, an organization where Paolini and Bell coached one of the older teams.

Paolini had many conversations with Dave York, Blumenstock's club coach, and was impressed with her natural ability.

"She had moments of showing her potential, she just needed to be put into the right offense," Paolini said. "Just being able to see her bursts of speed, her decision-making, was really enough for me because then I could mold her and place her into our type of offense.

"From what I remember, she was exactly what she is now - multi-dimensional. She was a feeder as well as somebody that could take it to cage and score some goals."

Roberts also checked all of the boxes for Blumenstock, who eventually joined a program that reached the 2021 NCAA Division II Final Four.

"I like that it was close to home, but I also liked the opportunity that I saw with Roberts being a smaller team," Blumenstock said. "I had the opportunity to get field time as a freshman and not join a team where you're 12 people down the bench and you have to wait your turn. I saw a lot of opportunity, but it was still a chance to push myself."

Blumenstock's chance to contribute did come early as she appeared in all 15 games, starting 11, while contributing 15 goals, 7 assists, 14 draw controls and 28 ground balls as a freshman.

"She came in and she was so shy and quiet," said former Roberts All-American Madison Bell, who was a senior on the 2022 team. "During practice you could tell she was a good player. She was tall and athletic and fast, but we were all like, 'Is this girl going to talk?' So it took a little for her to break out of her shell, but once she did, you realize that she has skills that not every player has."

Blumenstock admits to being a bit overwhelmed early in her career.

"I was honestly a little scared," Blumenstock said. "I wasn't really sure. Outside of lacrosse, I really wasn't sure what to expect, but I just wanted to go on and support my other teammates and be there for everyone."

She quickly connected with Madison Bell, who is Pete's daughter, and was a vocal leader on the team.

"After every single game we would sit in my car and discuss the whole game, whether it was good or bad, because for some reason, we were always on the same page," Bell said. "I think that in different ways we helped each other. Obviously, I was older and more of a leader at that time because I had been doing it longer, but she was also helping me in ways because she was seeing it through the eyes of someone who was younger and still trying to earn their spot. … She was just being Emma, and it was working for her."

Continuing to grow

The graduation of Bell and Lindsey Brinkel offered Blumenstock the opportunity to take on an expanded role as a sophomore.

She scored 25 goals in her first 11 games before an injury sidelined her for three contests late in the season.
She returned to the lineup for an April 22 contest against Molloy and delivered a breakthrough moment, scoring the game-winning goal with 29.8 seconds remaining in the third overtime period.

"I had the clear out and I just took it," Blumenstock said of her first career walk-off goal. "Once I got around the corner, I knew that I could take it, and it was just me and the goalie. I just tried to get it by her and end the game."

The play seemed to provide a springboard into Blumenstock's final two seasons where - like a point guard - she often initiates Roberts' offense from up top.

"You can't read her very easily," Madison Bell said. "There's a lot of players where you watch film and you're like, 'OK, you know, exactly what she's going to do when she gets the ball,' and Emma's not like that. "Emma is not readable, she just figures it out as the play is happening. Her opponents are doing whatever, she adapts and it just makes it look easy. I don't know if it's just like the way she moves or something else. She makes it look like she's not even trying."

Roberts senior Allison Clahane occasionally matches up with Blumenstock in practice and knows just how difficult she is to guard.

"When she has the ball, you always have to have your eyes on her because she's just such a playmaker," Clahane said. "If you don't slide to her, she'll score. If you do slide to her, she'll find someone else to give the ball to who will score. She makes everyone who she's going up against better because she's just such a great player."

Blumenstock was named ECC Attacker of the year and third-team All-America after registering 104 points last season and leads the conference with 94 points this season. She ranks in the top five in NCAA Division II in both assists (3.77) and points (6.92) per game.

With 129 career goals and 139 assists, Blumenstock personifies the definition of a dual threat.

"I definitely see it as a point guard role" said Blumenstock, who was named the Redhawks' Female Senior Athlete of the Year at the Reggie Awards on Sunday night. "It's not always getting to the goal to score, it's getting to the goal, get a few defenders on me and make a shot easier for my teammates. So I'm kind of out there trying to help my teammates, set them up for an easier way to score, being able to get the ball in there.

"Even if I don't set up a goal, if I pass it to someone and then someone else passes to someone to score, I like making the defense get out of what they want to do, so that we can do what we want to do on offense. I think it's important to make the other team uncomfortable without making us uncomfortable."

Leading from the front

The field isn't the only place that Blumenstock is comfortable leading. The shy freshman is now a two-year captain who is not afraid to speak up when her teammates need her.

"I'd say she's firm but fair," Paolini said. "She's definitely built that relationship aspect with her team, and that comes from off the field where she's built that respect level and that love for her team."

Blumenstock credits Bell and Brinkel for helping her to develop her own style.

"Maddie had the intensity and the energy that pushed absolutely everyone, you didn't want to step on her toes," said Blumenstock, who will serve as a bridesmaid in Bell's wedding in November of 2026. "You knew that she had that extra drive to do it, but on the other side Lindsey just had a calm presence and she showed up in other times, so I think both of them, in different ways, kind of showed the way for the next few years."

And that legacy is being carried on.

"She's the true example of like a leader by example," Bell said. "She doesn't have to always use her words. You can kind of just see the way she acts and you're like, 'OK, that's, that's what we're doing, that's like the vibe of today.'"

"I like to do a little bit of leading by example, but also being the voice sometimes when it's needed," Blumenstock said. "I want to be the first person down the field riding, doing the extra work, putting in the extra time to prove to my teammates like, 'OK, you can trust me,' so that I can make sure that they know I'm doing it first for myself, so I can hold other people to that standard as well."

Blumenstock also credits her family, including dad, Kyle, her mother, Kate, and brother Jason, for providing a solid foundation and supporting her by attending nearly every game.

"Walking off the field and seeing them has just shaped me and pushed me to work harder," Blumenstock said. "They also calm me down and help me stay in the moment by telling me not to overlook anything, but also not to overthink anything, either. They've been that balance for me that I've definitely needed."

Bluenstock will graduate next month with a degree in Accounting and will begin a job in the small business advisory group at the Bonadio Group in August.

With the postseason beginning with this afternoon's ECC semifinal game against Molloy, it may be easy for Blumenstock to think of what's ahead or reflect on a standout career, but she is not going there.

The Redhawks have earned the second seed in the ECC championship and still have all of their preseason goals - including a potential ECC Championship and NCAA berth - in front of them.

There is no looking back. All eyes are on the task at hand.

"In this current moment, I'm going to remember winning the ECC finals last last year," said Blumenstock, who scored the winner in overtime against Mercy. "But I'm really hoping that that's not where we stop this year. I'm hoping the thing that I'm going to remember most hasn't happened yet."