William J. "B. J." Prager is a retired professional

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

attackman who played professional

field lacrosse Field lacrosse is a full contact sport, full contact outdoor men's sport played with ten players on each team. The sport originated among indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were initiall ...

in the

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff f ...

(MLL). He starred as a member of the

Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse The Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse team represents Princeton University in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse play. Princeton currently competes as a member of the Ivy League and plays its home games at the Class of 1952 Stadium in Princeton, New J ...

team from 1999 through 2002, where he was

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

rookie of the year, a three-time

United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association is an association of member institutions and organizations with college lacrosse programs at all levels of competition, including the three NCAA divisions and non-NCAA schools, at both the varsi ...

(USILA) All-American (twice third-team, once honorable mention), a four-time All-Ivy League selection (three-time first team), a team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

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 Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. 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 The New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) is the governing body of interscholastic sports for most public schools in New York outside New York City.http://www.nysphsaa.org/ ''nysphsaa.org'', accessed 15-JAN-2008. Th ...

Class B Lacrosse Championship. In 1996, the team had a 13–0–1 streak that included the Nassau County and

Championships. During his high school career, he scored 154 goals.

College career

Prager attended

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

where he earned the 1999 Men's Ivy League Rookie of the Year and the

2001 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The 2001 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship game was played at Rutgers Stadium in front of 21,268 fans. A Princeton goal with 41 seconds remaining in the first overtime period lifted second-seeded Tigers (14-1) to a 10-9 victory against top-seeded ...

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-

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 The USILA All-American Team is an honor given annually to the best American men's college lacrosse players at their respective positions by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. The first USILA All-Americans were named in 1922, a ...

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 The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

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 Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), ...

with an assist from

Ryan Boyle Ryan J. Boyle (born November 22, 1981 in Hunt Valley, Maryland) is a former lacrosse player who last played professional field lacrosse for the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse (MLL). He most recently played professional box lacros ...

as well as the ninth goal in the 10–9 victory over

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

. In the

2002 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The 2002 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament was the 32nd annual tournament hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the team champion of men's college lacrosse among its Division I programs, held at the end of the 200 ...

semifinals, he scored five goals in an 11–9 victory over

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...

, but in the 13–12 finals loss, Syracuse defenseman Solomon Bliss held him to one goal.

Professional career

After graduating, Prager worked for

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Gol ...

in an analyst training program. He played with the Bridgeport Barrage during the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2003 MLL season The 2003 Major League Lacrosse season was the third season of the league. The season began on May 31 and concluded with the championship game on August 24, 2003. General information Schedule was reduced from 14 to 12 games. Baltimore moved thei ...

s and then the

Philadelphia Barrage The Philadelphia Barrage were a field lacrosse team that are based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and member of Major League Lacrosse. They were the Bridgeport Barrage from 2001 to 2003 at The Ballpark at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Connecticut. T ...

from

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. On July 19, 2003, Prager scored five goals in a 22–17 victory against the

Baltimore Bayhawks The Chesapeake Bayhawks were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Annapolis, Maryland since 2010. They played in the greater Baltimore metro area beginning with the MLL's inaugural 2001 season, as the Balti ...

. The Barrage won the

Steinfeld Cup The Steinfeld Trophy was a trophy given annually to the winners of the Major League Lacrosse (MLL) championship. The trophy is contested in a 4-team playoff where the top teams (based on regular season record) compete in a single-elimination format ...

in both 2004 and 2006. In 2006, he scored the goal that ended the

Denver Outlaws The Denver Outlaws were a Major League Lacrosse professional men's field lacrosse team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They began playing in the MLL in 2006 as an expansion team. Since joining the league, the Outlaws have played in the ...

' last lead possession of the game. He was second in the league in

power play Power play or powerplay or their plurals may refer to: Sports * Power play (sporting term), a sporting term used in various games * Powerplay (cricket), a rule concerning fielding restrictions in one-day international cricket * Power play (cur ...

goals in 2004 and led both the 2004 and 2006 teams in shooting percentage. After retiring from professional play, Prager represented the

New York Athletic Club The New York Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central Park South in Manhattan, and Travers ...

Personal

His father is Bill Prager. Prager is from a family of competitive lacrosse players: His younger brother, Matt, who was in the class of 2005, played at Princeton. The 2002 season was the first time the two of them played on the same organized team. Another brother, Pat, played lacrosse at

C.W. Post Charles William Post (October 26, 1854 – May 9, 1914) was an American innovator, breakfast cereal and foods manufacturer and a pioneer in the prepared-food industry. He was the founder of what is now Post Consumer Brands. Early life Char ...

Statistics

Princeton University

MLL

The following are his MLL career stats:

References

External links

Prager
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prager, B. J. Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Lacrosse players from New York (state) Lacrosse forwards Major League Lacrosse players People from Garden City, New York Sportspeople from Hempstead, New York Philadelphia Barrage players Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse players Garden City High School (New York) alumni