Bacerra's shutout, Thomas' 4 goals lead PC over Jets, but Comets lose to Mesa

SAN MARCOS (10-22-2018) / UPDATED 10-24-2018 – Palomar's women's water polo team solidified its hold on second place in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference regular-season standings on Monday at Wallace Memorial Pool, defeating visiting San Diego Miramar 13-0 behind a shutout by goalie Taylor Bacerra and a four-goal performance by its season scoring leader, Emma Thomas.

But the Comets missed an opportunity to lock up second by themselves and slipped into a tie with Grossmont for second in the conference, both with 4-2 records, when they lost 10-4 on Wednesday to visiting San Diego Mesa, the regular-season PCAC champion.

Palomar 13 SD Miramar 0

Bacerra, a freshman out of Rancho Buena Vista High School, notched 12 saves for the Comets, who upped their conference record as of Wednesday to 4-1, trailing only Mesa in the conference's regular-season standings.

Thomas, a sophomore out of Fallbrook High School, added three assists, six steals and a block to her four-goal performance.

Other goal scorers for coach Mandy Simon's Palomar squad were Sophie White, a freshman from Vista High School (3 goals, 2 assists, 2 steals); Katelyn Humphrey, a sophomore from Fallbrook High (3 goals, 1 assist, 1 steal); Kelly Rowan, a sophomore out of Temecula Great Oak High (2 goals, 2 assists, 3 steals) and Maddy Johnson, a freshman from Fallbrook High (1 goal, 2 assists).

Palomar led 6-0 after the first quarter, 10-0 at halftime and 11-0 after three quarters.

Miramar's goalie, Catherine Bresniker, notched three saves.

SD Mesa 10, Palomar 4

In Wednesday's game, the Comets got goals from Humphrey off an assist from Rowan; Rene Richardson (a sophomore from Fallbrook High), also off an assist by Rowan; Thomas, with an assist by Johnson and Thomas again unassisted. 

Bacerra notched 13 saves in goal and also contributed four steals. White also had four steals. Rowan also contributed two blocks.

Palomar split its two conference meetings with Grossmont, losing 7-6 at home on Sept. 12 and winning 9-7 on Oct. 10 at Joan Kroc Center in San Diego.

The conference championship will be decided at the PCAC's two-day tournament on Friday, Nov. 2, and Saturday, Nov. 3, at Southwestern College's recently-opened $52 million Wellness and Aquatics Complex.