Think of Quinn Healy as her goalkeepers’ bodyguard.

In water polo, the goalie is a team’s last line of defense, the player ultimately tasked with keeping the ball out of the net, thereby keeping opponents off the scoreboard. As a 2-meter center defender for Stanford University, it’s Healy’s job to keep opposing players away from her goalie, making sure they don’t get close enough to fire off a decent shot.

The Soquel High graduate did her job well enough to lead Stanford to the NCAA Division I championship this season. The Cardinal captured their 10th national title on Sunday, avenging their only loss of the season with an 11-7 triumph over USC in Indianapolis.

“It’s a feeling that’s unmatched,” said Healy, hours after helping the Cardinal claim its third NCAA crown in the past four years and fourth since 2019. “We worked so hard all year for this moment.

“Winning other games is fun, but there were no other games this season that felt like this one. This one really felt like we were going to war, so to come out with a win is just unmatched.”

Perhaps the best measure of Healy’s success in shot prevention is that Stanford’s primary starting goalie, Christine Carpenter, ranked just sixth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in saves with 156. She also allowed a downright stingy 108 goals in 23 matches — an average of 4.70 in a sport in which teams’ goal totals typically reach double digits in a given match.

By contrast, UCLA netminder Lauren Steele, the MPSF’s regular-season leader in both saves and save percentage, had surrendered 194 goals in 23 starts, or 8.43 goals per match, by the time the Bruins bowed out of the NCAA tournament. Carpenter’s goals-against average was much lower in large part because Healy excelled at ensuring that opponents didn’t have many opportunities to fire away at Stanford’s goalies.

“She’s like a basketball defender who can stand in the key indefinitely,” Cardinal coach John Tanner said of Healy. “It’s an important role, one that she’s really embraced.”

When a would-be shooter advances toward the goal, Healy goes on the attack, pushing the player out of the offensive zone and denying entry passes. Typically, that player happens to be the focal point of the opposing team’s offense.

“I muscle her out and then get between them (her and the goalie),” Healy said.

It’s a job that, from the sound of things, requires brute force. However, the way Tanner describes her, Healy sounds less like an enforcer and more like a Secret Service agent who coolly but aggressively steers would-be attackers away from the president, sending them on their way.

“Your heart rate can get really high in water polo,” Tanner said. “She takes things easy and finds ways to stay really calm.”

That’s not an easy task in water polo, especially at Healy’s position.

“There’s a lot of suit grabbing, a lot of scratching, a lot of kicking and a lot of punching,” Healy said. “Unless it’s above the water, you won’t get a call. If the refs don’t see it, it didn’t happen.

“You get used to it over the years, for sure.”

Still, Healy recognizes that losing her temper won’t help her team.

“I know if I get super flustered, my opponents are going to want to do it again to get a rise out of me,” she said. “That helps me keep calm.”

While defense is Healy’s primary focus, she contributes on the offensive end as well. She finished the season with 15 goals for the Cardinal — slightly fewer than the 23 she netted in 2024 — and assisted on four more.

Three of Healy’s goals came in two of Stanford’s biggest matches of the season: Healy scored two of Stanford’s school record-tying 28 goals last Friday in the Cardinal’s 28-6 thumping of Wagner College of New York in the NCAA quarterfinals. She also tallied once in the Cardinal’s 11-9 victory over UCLA in the MPSF title match.

“She’s a threat on offense,” Tanner said. “She forces the center on the other team to play defense.”

When that happens, Healy tends to wear down opponents’ chief shooters, making her ability to defend them much easier.

“Centers don’t want to swim all the way across the pool,” she said. “I try to make them swim as far as they can so I can tire them out.”

Healy’s efforts helped Stanford go 25-1, with the Cardinal’s sole loss coming by one goal to then No. 2-ranked USC back on March 29.

Only a sophomore, Healy has not yet declared her major. However, she is learning toward international relations. She hopes to use it to perhaps one day attend law school or pursue a career in military intelligence.

For now, though, Healy’s focus is on helping Stanford add to its ever-growing collection of NCAA championships.

“That’s why you go to practice every day — you want that,” Healy said. “Last year, we were knocked out in the semifinals, so we (were) super hungry for it.”