Riley Tiernan

Last updated

Riley Tiernan
Personal information
Date of birth (2002-11-14) November 14, 2002 (age 22)
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Angel City
Number 33
College career
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2021–2024 Rutgers Scarlet Knights 83 (19)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2025– Angel City 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of March 21, 2025

Riley Tiernan is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, where she was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and four-time All-Big Ten.

Contents

Early life and college career

Tiernan was raised in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, one of three children born to Robin and Joe Tiernan. Her older sister, Madison, played college soccer at Rutgers before becoming a full-time assistant coach there during Riley's sophomore season. [1] [2] Tiernan began playing club soccer with PDA at age nine. [2] She played four years of prep soccer at Eastern Regional High School, winning the Group IV state championship 2018 and being named the Courier-Post Player of the Year and United Soccer Coaches All-American in 2020. [1] [3]

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Tiernan started all 25 games in her freshman season with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in 2021. She helped Rutgers go 10–0 to win the Big Ten Conference regular-season title and then reached the final of the Big Ten tournament. In the NCAA tournament, she had four goals and two assists, including one of each in their 2–2 quarterfinal draw (and shootout win) against Alabama to send Rutgers to the national semifinals for the second time in program history, where they lost to Florida State. She finished her freshman season with 8 goals and 13 assists and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten. [1] [4]

Following her freshman season, Tiernan became one of the first five student-athletes to sign a name, image, and likeness (NIL) deal with Rutgers's NIL collective. [5] She started all 20 games in her sophomore season in 2022 and scored 4 goals with 6 assists, earning third-team All-Big Ten honors. In her junior season in 2023, she started all 20 games and scored 3 assists with 4 goals, being named second-team All-Big Ten. She returned to a double-digit points total in her senior season in 2024, scoring 4 goals and providing 11 assists in 18 games, and was named third-team All-Big Ten. She had two assists during the Big Ten tournament as Rutgers reached the final, but she was suspended for that game after picking up a red card in the semifinal against USC. [1] [6] She left Rutgers as the program career assist leader with 34 assists in 83 games. [1] [7]

Club career

Angel City

Tiernan was invited to train with Angel City FC as a non-roster trialist and performed well during the preseason Coachella Valley Invitational. Angel City announced that they had signed Tiernan to her first professional contract on March 3, 2025, on a two-year deal with a club option for another year. [8] She made her professional debut on March 16, starting and playing the full 90 minutes in the season opener, a 1–1 draw against the San Diego Wave. [9]

International career

Tiernan was called into training camp with the United States under-20 team at the end of 2021. [10]

Career statistics

As of March 21, 2025
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeagueCup [a] Playoffs [b] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Angel City FC 2025 NWSL 20——20
Career total20000020

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Riley Tiernan". Rutgers Scarlet Knights . Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  2. 1 2 Fonseca, Brian (August 15, 2022). "How the Tiernan sisters helped build Rutgers women's soccer into Big Ten juggernaut". NJ.com . Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  3. ↑ McGurk, Tom (December 27, 2020). "Player of the Year: Eastern's Riley Tiernan". Courier-Post . Retrieved January 22, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Anzidei, Melanie (December 3, 2021). "Rutgers women's soccer falls to Florida State in heartbreaking Final Four loss". NorthJersey.com . Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  5. ↑ Vorkunov, Mike (May 5, 2022). "NIL isn't just for the whales; athletically underfunded Rutgers wants to compete. 'This is basically a business.'". The Athletic . Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  6. ↑ Bator, Mark (November 10, 2024). "Women's Soccer Falls Short in Big Ten Championship Game". Rivals.com . Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  7. ↑ Vasquez, Jonathan (September 19, 2024). "Riley Tiernan sets program record in Rutgers women's soccer win over Oregon". The Daily Targum . Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  8. ↑ "ACFC Signs Forward Riley Tiernan and Midfielder Hannah Johnson". Angel City FC. March 3, 2025. Retrieved March 3, 2025.
  9. ↑ Riley Tiernan at Soccerway OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  10. ↑ "U-20 USWNT Head Coach Tracey Kevins Calls 24 Players To Chula Vista, Calif. To Kick Off Concacaf U-20 Women's Championship Prep". United States Soccer Federation. December 1, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
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