The College of DuPage lacrosse team hosted its first regular season home game of the 2026 campaign, welcoming NJCAA member Herkimer College. After an opening period filled with back-and-forth action, DuPage took a late first-quarter lead on a Bennett Jones goal, his second of the day, and never trailed again. Jones finished with six goals as the Chaparrals earned an 18-9 victory.

DuPage opened the scoring when Vincent Garcia-Hockett buried a shot into the net just after the one-minute mark. Jones added his first goal shortly after Herkimer evened the score at 1-1 to give the Chaps a 2-1 advantage. The Generals responded with two straight goals to take a 3-2 lead, but DuPage answered emphatically with five consecutive scores to build a 7-3 cushion. The Chaparrals would not relinquish the lead again, cruising to the nine-goal win.

Tanner Polep finished as DuPage's second-leading scorer with four goals. Garcia-Hockett added two more scores to complete a hat trick. MJ Keplusek, Asher Dilts, Jackson Daylor, Nathan Lenoci, and Mello Brown each found the back of the net once for the Chaparrals.

In goal, Nathan Peake recorded nine saves, posting a .500 save percentage while anchoring the DuPage defense.

Head coach Bill Sanford said the following after the Chaps win:

"I thought we had our wits about us for a lot of the game, but at the times that we didn't, it definitely cost us in terms of controlling the game a little bit more. I give a lot of credit to Herkimer. They came out and gave us a lot of different looks. Some of them we handled well, some of them we didn't, but at the end of the day, I think our best players made really key decisions in the second half and our goalie was really seeing the ball."

The Chaparrals now head east following the victory, with stops in Batavia and Troy, New York, along with Columbia and Baltimore, Maryland, where they will face four different opponents across the NJCAA lacrosse landscape.