"I've said it every game this year, it's never easy with us," Brule said.

Hold it.

It actually turned out to be easy for the Lancers in the first 78 minutes of the first-ever Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament championship game at Lyman Memorial on Friday night.

The Lancers had allowed only two Lyman shots and were cruising along, but then had to scramble in the final two minutes of the match to hold on for a 2-1 win and capture the title.

It also allowed Waterford to tie its program record for most consecutive wins with 16.

"That was definitely very frantic and kind of characteristic of our team," said Waterford senior Julie Lavoie.

The top-seeded Lancers (16-2) dominated the first half of play, taking seven shots to the Bulldogs' one. That continued into the second half.