B. J. Prager
William J. "B. J." Prager is a retired professional lacrosse attackman who played professional field lacrosse in the Major League Lacrosse. He starred as a member of the Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse team from 1999 through 2002, where he was Ivy League rookie of the year, a three-time United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-American, a four-time All-Ivy League selection, a team captain and an NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player of a national champion team. For over a decade, he held the freshman goal scoring record at Princeton.
During his time at Princeton, the team qualified for the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship all four years, reached the championship game three times, won the championship game once and won four Ivy League championships. In his career, he has scored game-winning overtime goals in both state high school and national collegiate championship games as well as participated on two championship MLL teams.
Background
Prager is from Garden City, New York on Long Island. He began playing lacrosse in fifth grade and continued through to high school. He led Garden City High School to an undefeated 21-0 season culminating on his overtime game-winning goal in the 1997 New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class B Lacrosse Championship. In 1996, the team had a 13-0-1 streak that included the Nassau County and Long Island Championships. During his high school career, he scored 154 goals.College career
Prager attended Princeton where he earned the 1999 Men's Ivy League Rookie of the Year and the 2001 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament Most Outstanding Player. His 25 goals as a freshman in 1999 was a Princeton freshman record. In 2010, Ivy League Rookie of the Year Mike Chanenchuk totaled 28 as a Princeton freshman to surpass Prager's record. He served as co-captain of the 2002 team.During his four years at university, Princeton won the Ivy League Conference outright each year, achieving undefeated 6-0 records in 1999-2001 and having a 5-1 record in 2002. In both 2000 and 2002, he was a third team USILA All-American Team selection, while he was an honorable mention in 2001. He was a first team All-Ivy League selection in 1999, 2000 & 2002 and a second team selection in 2001. He was a 2002 USILA Scholar All-American.
In 2000, Prager tore his anterior cruciate ligament while he was the leading scorer with 23 goals in his first 8+ games and was lost for the remainder of the season. In the 2001 NCAA championship semifinals, Prager scored three goals against Towson State in a 12-11 victory. In the finals, he scored a total of four goals, including the game-winning goal in overtime with an assist from Ryan Boyle as well as the ninth goal in the 10-9 victory over Syracuse. In the 2002 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship semifinals, he scored five goals in an 11-9 victory over Johns Hopkins, but in the 13-12 finals loss, Syracuse defenseman Solomon Bliss held him to one goal.