Riley Tiernan

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Riley Tiernan

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| full_name = Riley S. Tiernan

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|2002|11|14}}{{cite web|url=https://angelcity.com/club/roster/riley-tiernan|title=Riley Tiernan|publisher=Angel City FC|access-date=2025-05-21}}

| birth_place =

| height = 5 ft 8 in

| position = Forward

| currentclub = Angel City

| clubnumber = 33

| youthyears1 =

| youthclubs1 =

| collegeyears1 = 2021–2024

| college1 = Rutgers Scarlet Knights

| collegecaps1 = 83

| collegegoals1 = 19

| years1 = 2025–

| clubs1 = Angel City

| caps1 = 13

| goals1 = 7

| club-update = June 20, 2025

| nationalyears1 = 2025–

| nationalteam1 = United States U-23

| nationalcaps1 = 2

| nationalgoals1 = 0

| nationalteam-update = June 2, 2025

}}

Riley S. 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.

Early life

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.{{cite web|url=https://scarletknights.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/riley-tiernan/13778|title=Riley Tiernan|publisher=Rutgers Scarlet Knights|access-date=2025-01-22}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2022/08/how-the-tiernan-sisters-helped-build-rutgers-womens-soccer-into-big-ten-juggernaut.html|title=How the Tiernan sisters helped build Rutgers women's soccer into Big Ten juggernaut|last=Fonseca|first=Brian|date=2022-08-15|website=NJ.com|access-date=2025-01-22}} Tiernan began playing club soccer with PDA at age nine. 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/courier-post-riley-tiernan-of-easter-reg/163706585/|title=Player of the Year: Eastern's Riley Tiernan|date=2020-12-27|newspaper=Courier-Post|via=Newspapers.com|last=McGurk|first=Tom|access-date=2025-01-22}}

College career

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/college/rutgers/2021/12/03/rutgers-womens-soccer-falls-florida-state-final-four/8837045002/|title=Rutgers women's soccer falls to Florida State in heartbreaking Final Four loss|last=Anzidei|first=Melanie|date=2021-12-03|website=NorthJersey.com|access-date=2025-01-22}}

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/3294283/2022/05/05/rutgers-nil-money-college-collective/|title=NIL isn't just for the whales; athletically underfunded Rutgers wants to compete. 'This is basically a business.'|last=Vorkunov|first=Mike|date=2022-05-05|website=The Athletic|access-date=2025-01-22}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://rutgers.rivals.com/news/women-s-soccer-falls-short-in-big-ten-championship-game|title=Women's Soccer Falls Short in Big Ten Championship Game|last=Bator|first=Mark|date=2024-11-10|website=Rivals.com|access-date=2025-01-22}} She left Rutgers as the program career assist leader with 34 assists in 83 games.{{cite news|url=https://www.dailytargum.com/article/riley-tiernan-sets-program-record-in-rutgers-womens-soccer-win-over-oregon-20240919|title=Riley Tiernan sets program record in Rutgers women's soccer win over Oregon|last=Vasquez|first=Jonathan|date=2024-09-19|newspaper=The Daily Targum|access-date=2025-01-22}}

Club career

= '''Angel City FC, 2025–''' =

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.{{cite news|url=https://angelcity.com/acfc-post/acfc-sign-forward-riley-tiernan-and-midfielder-hannah-johnson|title=ACFC Signs Forward Riley Tiernan and Midfielder Hannah Johnson|date=2025-03-03|publisher=Angel City FC|access-date=2025-03-03}} 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.{{Soccerway}} 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.{{Cite web |agency=Associated Press |date=2025-03-31 |title=Riley Tiernan scores her first career goal to lead Angel City past Seattle |url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/angel-city-fc/story/2025-03-30/angel-city-vs-seattle-recap-riley-tiernan |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Match Recap: Angel City 3, Houston Dash 1 {{!}} 4.12.25 |url=https://angelcity.com/acfc-post/match-recap-angel-city-3-houston-dash-1-4.12.25 |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=angelcity.com |language=en}} On May 1, 2025, Tiernan was named the NWSL Rookie of the Month for her performances during the month April.{{Cite web |last=NWSL |date=2025-05-01 |title=Angel City FC Forward Riley Tiernan Named April Rookie Of The Month, Presented By Ally {{!}} Angel City FC Forward Riley Tiernan Named April Rookie Of The Month, Presented By Ally {{!}} National Women's Soccer League Official Site |url=https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/april-rotm |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=NWSL |language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |date=2025-05-03 |title=Riley Tiernan leads 4-3 victory against Washington Spirit |url=https://www.thesportingtribune.com/2025/05/02/riley-tiernan-leads-acfc-victory-against-washington-spirit- |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=The Sporting Tribune |language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |last=NWSL |date=2025-06-05 |title=Angel City FC Forward Riley Tiernan Named May Rookie of the Month, Presented by Ally {{!}} National Women's Soccer League Official Site |url=https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/angel-city-fc-forward-riley-tiernan-named-may-rookie-of-the-month-presented-by-ally |access-date=2025-06-05 |website=NWSL |language=en}} The following day on June 6, 2025, Tiernan was also named to the NWSL Best XI for the first time, for her performances throughout May.{{Cite web |last=NWSL |date=2025-06-06 |title=NWSL Announces May Best XI of the Month, Presented by Amazon Prime {{!}} NWSL Announces May Best XI of the Month, Presented by Amazon Prime {{!}} National Women's Soccer League Official Site |url=https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/nwsl-announces-may-best-xi-of-the-month |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=NWSL |language=en}}

International career

Tiernan was called into training camp with the United States under-20 team in December 2021.{{cite news|url=https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2021/12/u20-uswnt-head-coach-tracey-kevins-calls-24-players-to-kick-off-u20-womens-championship-prep|title=U-20 USWNT Head Coach Tracey Kevins Calls 24 Players To Chula Vista, Calif. To Kick Off Concacaf U-20 Women's Championship Prep|date=2021-12-01|publisher=United States Soccer Federation|access-date=2025-02-16}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2025/05/20-players-named-us-under-23-womens-national-team-germany|title=20 Players Named for U.S. Under-23 Women's National Team Trip to Germany for Two Matches against the Hosts|date=2025-05-21|publisher=United States Soccer Federation|access-date=2025-05-21}}

Career statistics

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" \|+Appearances and goals by club, season and competition ! rowspan="2" \|Club ! rowspan="2" \|Season ! colspan="3" \|League ! colspan="2" \|Cup{{Efn\|Includes the NWSL Challenge Cup}} ! colspan="2" \|Playoffs{{Efn\|Includes NWSL Playoffs.}} ! colspan="2" \|Total
Division !Apps !Goals !Apps !Goals !Apps !Goals !Apps !Goals
Angel City FC \|2025 \|NWSL \|13 \|7 \| colspan="2" \|— \| colspan="2" \|— \|13 \|7
colspan="3" \|Career total !13 !7 !0 !0 !0 !0 !13 !7

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

|+Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

! rowspan="2" |Club

! rowspan="2" |Season

! colspan="3" |League

! colspan="2" |Cup{{Efn|Includes the NWSL Challenge Cup}}

! colspan="2" |Playoffs{{Efn|Includes NWSL Playoffs.}}

! colspan="2" |Total

Division

!Apps

!Goals

!Apps