Montville — Waterford's players admit to having a mental block.

That mental block has a name, too — East Lyme.

“When you choke like that versus the good teams, it kind of gets in your head a little,” Waterford senior Luther Wade said.

The Lancers have established themselves as one of the best boys’ lacrosse programs in the area. They looked the part Thursday when they t-boned the St. Bernard/Wheeler co-op 16-2 to clinch at least a share of the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II title.

Caleb Holdridge had six goals and two assists for Waterford (12-3, 5-0) and Ryan Huta added four goals and two assists.

It isn’t disrespectful to a Fitch, Norwich Free Academy or Stonington to suggest that the Lancers and East Lyme are the favorites to play for the ECC tournament title next Thursday.

The Vikings haven’t lost a league game in over two years.

Waterford, which played for the CIAC Class S title last spring, hasn’t lost to any team in the league for over two years. Except East Lyme.

The Lancers had a four-goal lead over East Lyme in the first quarter of their only regular-season game this season (April 26). The Vikings rallied for an 11-9 win, holding Waterford scoreless in the fourth quarter.

“Our history with them, the first two quarters we come out great, then it drops off,” senior Logan Bowdish said. “We just have to come together and play our lacrosse the whole game and not stop.

“We know that we can compete with them. We’re both very good teams. It’s just getting past that mental block.”

Waterford head coach Chris Landry said of East Lyme, “They’re the top dog.”

Landry made it a point to toughen up the nonleague schedule after last year’s run to the state final, where the Lancers were thrashed by Somers, 19-5. Waterford has played Class S contender East Catholic and Notre Dame of West Haven.

Arguably, the jewel of the Lancers’ non-league schedule was last Saturday’s game at St. Joseph. The Cadets have played in seven of the last nine Class S finals and won four.

Waterford won in overtime, 12-11.

“We really didn’t make a ton of mistakes,” Landry said. “I don’t look at that game and say, ‘Oh, we let up 11 goals. We just made mistakes 11 times.’ It was just good plays by them. That’s a traditionally great program.

“That was a big part (of that game) for us — to believe we can compete with good teams when we’re prepared, and we execute.”

Waterford never gave the Saints a chance Thursday as they shut them out in the first half and led 12-0 less than three minutes into the second half.

Eight Lancers scored. Michael LaForte had a goal and four assists, and Kyle Jacobson had a goal and two assists. Peter Lincoln added a goal and an assist, and Jason Blain, Jackson Alloway and Bowdish all scored.

It wasn’t as if Waterford beat a tomato can. The Saints are 12-3, with two of those losses coming less than 24 hours.

“The first couple of weeks of practice, I wasn’t sure,” St. Bernard/Wheeler coach Kyle Legnos said about his expectations. “We had some pretty good matchups at the beginning of the year, and we gained some confidence and kept it rolling.”

Patrick Brady and Jack O’Leary scored for the Saints.

The ECC tournament starts with the semifinals on Tuesday. East Lyme has won 13 of the previous 14 titles.

“(The past) is not going to stop us from going out and competing with them,” Wade said.

n.griffen@theday.com