| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Angel City | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2021–2024 | Rutgers Scarlet Knights | 83 | (19) |
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2025– | Angel City | 0 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
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.
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]
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]
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]
Tiernan was called into training camp with the United States under-20 team at the end of 2021. [9]