Completed Event: Men's Soccer at Brown on September 23, 2025 , Tie , 1, to, 1
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Providence College Athletics
Men's Soccer Ranked No. 3 In Final NSCAA Poll
12/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Dec. 17, 2014
Complete Final Postseason Rankings (Dec. 16) | 2014 Friar College Cup Central
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Providence College men's soccer team was ranked third in the final NSCAA (National Soccer Coaches Association of America) poll of the season, released on Dec. 16. Following an historic run to the NCAA College Cup semifinals after winning the 2014 BIG EAST Tournament Championship, the No. 3 ranking is the highest Providence College men's soccer has reached in the polls.
After a BIG EAST Quarterfinal win over Villanova (2-1) and a BIG EAST Semifinal victory over Creighton (1-0), the Friars came back to defeat Xavier in the BIG EAST Championship match, 2-1 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., to claim the program's first BIG EAST title.
Led by Third Team All-American Phil Towler (Cumbria, England), Providence carried that momentum into NCAA Championship play. The 11th-seeded Friars earned their first ever first round bye and then played host to Dartmouth in the second round. They went on to post a 3-0 win, including two goals from Dominik Machado (Attleboro, Mass.) and one from Mac Steeves (Needham, Mass.).
The Friars have made eight all-time appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including seven in the last 10 years. But the win over the Big Green meant Providence advanced to the third round of the NCAA Championship for the first time in program history.
The Friars then hosted UC Irvine in the third round and were able to post a 1-0 win behind a Markus Naglestad (Kristiansand, Norway) goal in the 76th minute that was sandwiched by two key saves from Keasel Broome (Claymont, Del.).
With the win over the Anteaters, Providence headed back on the road for a NCAA Championship Quarterfinal match at Big Ten foe Michigan State. The Friars were faced with an early 1-0 deficit against the fourth-seeded Spartans but regrouped to take a 2-1 halftime lead on goals from Daniel Neustadter (Mainz, Germany) and Dominik Machado. A superb second half strike from Fabio Machado (Santa Catarina, Brazil) proved to be the difference in the 3-2 Friar win.
The victory over Michigan State was a program-record 16th win of the season as the Friars headed to the College Cup with the most wins out of the four remaining teams (UCLA, UMBC and Virginia).
In the NCAA semifinals, the Friars and UCLA played an entertaining game that saw the Bruins take a 1-0 lead at the half. Steeves then scored a pair of goals, each assisted by Thomas Ballenthin (Lexington, Mass.), in a nine-minute span to give Providence a 2-1 lead in the second half. But at 80:54 Larry Ndjock scored his second goal of the game to eventually force overtime, where the Bruins would claim the double-overtime win on a deflected shot by Chase Gasper (104:55).
Steeves was selected as the Most Valuable Offensive Player of the 2014 NCAA College Cup, becoming the first player in the 31 seasons that a Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the College Cup has been selected (including each of the past 18 seasons) to earn the honor while playing for a team that did not advance to the Cup final. He was also named to the 2014 College Cup All-Tournament Team.
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