East Lyme - Nick Geary stood about 20 yards away from the Stonington High School goal Friday and was looking to pass the ball inside to one of his East Lyme lacrosse teammates.

Geary waited a few seconds for an opening and, not seeing one, opted to let the ball fly.

Somehow, it sailed past a few players and into the net.

It was that kind of night for Geary, who paced East Lyme to a 15-9 win and its third straight ECC title.

"I'm usually pass first," Geary said. "I'll look for the dump on the crease. There wasn't anything there, so I just shot it."

Geary was wise to shoot as he was spot-on all game. He had a game-high five goals and six assists and was the obvious choice for MVP.

"I just found my shots," Geary said. "I was able to connect on every one of them pretty much."

Evan Long had two goals and three assists for the No. 2 Vikings (14-4) and Nic Page had three goals. Mitchell Andres added two assists and a goal.

"We have a lot of different weapons," East Lyme coach Gary Wight said. "It's all about sharing the ball and understanding your role for the game. And these guys are mature guys and understand that different games require different things of themselves.

"Nick lit it up. I think he had a chip on his shoulder from the previous game with Stonington because he didn't do well. He had a lot of shots, but they just weren't going in the net."

Stonington beat the Vikings in their one-and-only regular season meeting, 7-6, on April 11.

It was East Lyme's only conference loss.

"That first game that was a reality check," Geary said. "We were sort of cocky, and Stonington is a good team. They showed us something when we lost to them. This game, we came out full of fire."

The top-seeded Bears scored 10 seconds into the game to take the initial lead.

East Lyme scored nine of the next 10 goals.

"I really don't know what to say," Stonington coach Paul Deon said. "They were packed in a tight zone. We weren't running the offense correctly. The guys weren't setting the picks where they were supposed to be, and they were looking for where we don't normally score from in the offensive sets we were in.

"We missed some opportunities early on, and then they scored a couple of goals and the momentum shifts"

Nick Balestracci had two goals and two assists for the Bears (14-4) and Zach Poirier added a goal and three assists.

"They're a good team, and I think Stonington is going to go a long way in the (CIAC Class S) playoffs," Wight said. "I think they can make a run at the states this year."

n.griffen@theday.com