Princeton University Athletics
National Champions!!!
May 28, 2001 | Men's Lacrosse
B.J. Prager missed last year's NCAA championship game between Princeton and Syracuse with a torn ACL. He more than made up for it in this year's rematch.
Prager scored four goals, including the game-winner 3:19 into overtime, to lift the Tigers to a thrilling 10-9 win over Syracuse in front of 21,286 at Rutgers Stadium.
The victory gave Princeton its sixth NCAA men's lacrosse title in the last 10 years, four of which have now come in overtime. It also avenged last year's 13-7 loss to the Orangemen in the title game.
Prager was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament after scoring seven goals in the Final Four. Princeton's win snapped a four-game losing streak to Syracuse, which included a 16-4 loss in the 2000 regular season, the loss in last year's championship game and a 14-8 loss at the Carrier Dome in this year's regular season.
Unlike those last three games, in which Princeton was outscored 14-2 in the first quarter, this time it was the Tigers who came out quickly, building a 5-1 first half lead and an 8-4 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Syracuse, though, stunned the Tigers with four goals in 7:20 to tie it at 8-8 before Prager gave Princeton the lead 9-8 on a feed from Ryan Boyle with 6:13 to go. Princeton then had several opportunities to run out the clock, but Syracuse forced a turnover in the final 30 seconds and called timeout with 28 seconds left.
Freshman Michael Powell then tied it with just 16 seconds to play, giving Syracuse the momentum heading into overtime.
Matt Bailer won the face-off to start the OT against Syracuse's Chris Cercy, the No. 1 face-off man in the country, but Princeton could not score. Each team would have possession before the wild final sequence began.
Damien Davis stripped Powell of the ball, but he in turn lost it back to the Orange on the clear. Ryan Mollett then took it away from Powell, and Ricky Schultz and Chris Harrington were able to clear the ball for Princeton. Boyle then took the ball behind the net and found Prager on the other side, where Prager beat Syracuse goalie Rob Mulligan for the game-winner to start a wild celebration.
Princeton (14-1) 3-2-3-1-1 -- 10
Syracuse (13-3)0-3-1-5-0 -- 9
1st quarter
P 2:44 Brad Dumont
P 4:08 Owen Daly (Matt Striebel)
P 8:34 Matt Striebel
2nd quarter
P 1:44 Brad Dumont
S 2:08 Brian Solliday (Spencer Wright)
P 6:14 Matt Striebel
S 7:39 Pat Hogan (Liam Banks)
S 13:33 Josh Coffman (Michael Powell)
3rd quarter
P 4:25 Rob Torti (Matt Striebel)
S 4:56 Pat Hogan (Tom Hardy)
P 9:11 B.J. Prager (Ryan Boyle)
P 13:14 B.J. Prager (Dan Clark)
4th quarter
S :21 Spencer Wright
S 2:57 Michael Powell
S 4:57 Brian Solliday (Spencer Wright)
S 7:20 Spencer Wright (Michael Powell)
P 8:47 B.J. Prager (Ryan Boyle)
S 14:44 Michael Powell
OT
3:19 B.J. Prager (Ryan Boyle)
NOTES -- In addition to Prager, the other Princeton players to score NCAA championship-winning goals in overtime are Andy Moe (1992), Kevin Lowe (1994) and Jesse Hubbard (1996) ... Matt Striebel had two goals and two assists for Princeton ... Brad Dumont had two goals, while Owen Daly and Rob Torti had one each ... Trevor Tierney made 14 saves for the Tigers ... Boyle assisted on all three Prager goals, giving him 37 for the season, 20 on goals by Prager ... Prager had three goals in the semifinal win over Towson and four in the championship game after having his 31-game goals-scoring streak snapped ... Syracuse outshot Princeton 48-34 and had a 57-56 edge in ground balls ... Syracuse won 12 of 22 face-offs ... Princeton's Scott Farrell held Syracuse's Michael Springer, who had 13 goals in three games against Princeton, without a goal in the championship game ... Syracuse's Liam Banks, the MVP of last year's Final Four after scoring six goals against Princeton in the final, had one assist ... Ryan Mollett, Trevor Tierney, Matt Striebel and Sean Hartofilis were also on the all-tournament team ... Princeton had players named All-America: Trevor Tierney (first-team), Ryan Mollett (first-team), Damien Davis (second-team), Ryan Boyle (third-team), Sean Hartofilis (third-team), B.J. Prager (honorable mention), Matt Striebel (honorable mention), Rob Torti (honorable mention)