In the cozy world of Patriot League lacrosse, the Lady Dragons have a chance for their fourth straight league title on Thursday when they travel to Hingham to take on the Harborwomen at 4 p.m.

Sporting a 9-6-1 record with four games left in the regular season schedule, life outside the league is what is causing problems for Duxbury.

A 14-7 loss to Hopkinton, a 14-14 tie with Notre Dame, and a 20-8 hammering at the hands of Londonderry (NH) surely had Coach Sue Paull up all night wondering how she could change the team’s current trend.

“This year’s schedule is the hardest Thom Holdgate  has ever given us. All the non-league games are against top-20 Division I teams,” said Paull. “We lost almost all of them, but we’ve been able to hold our own, especially in the game with Wellesley. It’s going to get us tournament ready by playing all these tough Division I schools. I’m hoping the kids don’t get discouraged, but I also hope they realize these games are as hard as it gets.”

Thursday’s game with Notre Dame boiled down to who had possession last, as neither team could take more than a one-goal lead throughout the afternoon.

Goals by senior captains Caitlin Burke and Katie Griffin got the Lady Dragons off and running before junior Keri Gould put them ahead 3-2. Notre Dame scored 47 seconds later to tie the score at 3-3, and it was tit-for-tat the rest of the way.

Goals by Griffin (2), Gould (2), freshman Hannah Murphy, and sophomore Molly Zaverucha gave Duxbury the lead five times in the first half and they went into the locker room ahead 9-8.

Duxbury thought they had the game in hand when Burke went solo from the top of the box and scored for a 14-13 lead with 3:10 remaining, but Notre Dame’s Grace Ciolfi’s fourth goal of the game with 1:05 left on the clock tied it up at 14.

The Duxbury defense held the fort in the final minute, stopping a ND shot and creating an opportunity for a win in the final 30 seconds.

Unfortunately, the clearing pass bounced in front of the receiving player and skitted out of bounds, giving the Hingham school one more chance that went awry.

Gould and Griffin had big games with four goals each, while Duxbury’s Kate Brennan had seven points (4g/3a) for the visitors.

“If we are going to do anything in the tournament, we need to cut down on our turnovers. That is what killed us today,” said Paull. “There were a lot of dropped balls today and we need to work on our draws. We need to be able to come up with the ball nine out of 10 times and play with more confidence against these better teams.”