![]() Tiernan with Angel City in 2025 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Riley Shea Tiernan [1] | ||
Date of birth | [2] | November 14, 2002||
Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||
Position(s) | Forward | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Angel City | ||
Number | 33 | ||
College career | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2021–2024 | Rutgers Scarlet Knights | 83 | (19) |
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2025– | Angel City | 17 | (7) |
International career‡ | |||
2025– | United States U-23 | 2 | (0) |
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of August 21, 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of June 2, 2025 |
Riley Shea Tiernan (born November 14, 2002) 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 All-Big Ten four times.
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. [3] [4] Tiernan began playing club soccer with PDA at age nine. [4] 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. [3] [5]
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. [3] [6]
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. [7] 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. [3] [8] She left Rutgers as the program career assist leader with 34 assists in 83 games. [3] [9]
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. [10] She made her professional debut on March 16, 2025, starting and playing the full 90 minutes in the season opener, a 1–1 draw against the San Diego Wave. [11] Tiernan scored her first professional goal on March 30, 2025, scoring the eventual game winner against Seattle Reign to secure a 2–1 victory and Angel City's first win of the 2025 season. [12] Tiernan recorded her first professional assist and her second goal of the season in the following match against Houston Dash on April 12, 2025, which ended as a 3–1 victory. [13] On May 1, 2025, Tiernan was named the NWSL Rookie of the Month for her performances during the month April. [14] Tiernan scored her first professional brace the following day on May 2, 2025, the first goal and fourth, which was the ultimate game winner in stoppage time to secure a 4–3 victory against Washington Spirit. [15] On June 5, 2025, Tiernan was named the NWSL Rookie of the Month for a second consecutive month after scoring 3 goals, leading all rookies in scoring, and tied for third in the Golden Boot race. [16] The following day on June 6, 2025, Tiernan was also named to the NWSL Best XI of the Month for the first time, for her performances throughout May. [17]
Tiernan was called into training camp with the United States under-20 team in December 2021. [18] After Tiernan's impressive performances during her rookie season with Angel City, Tiernan was called up to represent the United States with the under-23 team on May 21, 2025. Tiernan made her debut with the U-23 team coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 victory against Germany on May 30, 2025. [19]
Club | Season | League | Cup [a] | Playoffs [b] | Total | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Angel City FC | 2025 | NWSL | 17 | 7 | — | — | 17 | 7 | ||
Career total | 17 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 7 |
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Individual