Stonington — The Stonington and Waterford boys’ lacrosse teams have had a common issue this season. Their wins had come too easy.

The Eastern Connecticut Conference rivals made it difficult for the other for most of Thursday’s game. Stonington finally pulled away in the second half for an 8-3 win in a matchup between the only unbeaten teams in ECC Small Division play.

Stonington rolled through its first five games before it got knocked around by Old Lyme last Saturday, 17-7.

“We kind of had an easy schedule,” Stonington junior Nick DeDominicis said, “and this was a good challenge for us coming off a tough loss against Old Lyme. Old Lyme kind of helped us because they’re a very good team.”

DeDominicis had four goals for Stonington (6-1, 5-0) and Jack Hall scored three times. David Bibeau added a goal and an assist and Carter Scott and Conor Boumenot each had an assist.

“It was the first time we’ve been really tested all-around,” Stonington coach Dean Patty said about Old Lyme. “We took it to heart, that game. ... Waterford is an ECC rival, someone we played quite a bit last season. We played up for the game for sure.”

It was the second straight challenging opponent for Waterford, which lost to conference king East Lyme on Tuesday (4-0).

“Our schedule is our schedule,” Waterford coach Chris Landry said. “We played some lopsided games this year and I think it doesn’t always help us.”

Tony Vocalina had a goal and an assist for the Lancers (4-3, 4-1) and Bray Griffith and Peter Lincoln scored.

“Three or four of those (early) games were lopsided,” Landry said. “You’re feeling good. Then the looks you get against some of those early teams you don’t get against a good, quality team like (Stonington) or East Lyme.

“We just have to continue to play well against good teams and replicate what we do against all teams and be consistent.”

Both teams played well defensively and, in the case of Waterford, very deliberate.

DeDominicis made the game’s first goal with 5 minutes, 21 seconds left in the quarter. Hall scored with 15 seconds remaining in the period to give the Bears a 2-0 lead. DeDominicis scored again seconds into the second period.

Griffith and Vocalina scored within a minute of one another to cut Waterford’s deficit to 3-2 with 3:15 left in the first half.

Stonington outscored the Lancers in the second half 5-1.

“We finally got everything clicking tonight,” Patty said. “It was a team effort tonight. It started back with the goalie, Kenny Reid, making saves, and then a transition to us getting the ball up and controlling the ball on offense, which is something we’ve had issues with in the past. Not tonight.”

Landry said: “Right now, it feels like a there’s a brick wall standing in front of that goal. It’s a little bit mental. We just have to relax and not get so tense and play.”

n.griffen@theday.com