Amid the pandemonium that broke out after the final whistle in Bloomington last October when the Rutgers women’s soccer team became the first in school history to win a Big Ten regular season title, Riley Tiernan looked toward the sideline.
As her teammates jumped around on the field at Bill Armstrong Stadium, the Scarlet Knights’ star forward sought out the person most responsible for her place among the champions, the reason she became a key piece in arguably the greatest team in program history, her childhood idol and her biggest fan.
Tiernan eventually found her sister Madison, a volunteer assistant coach for the Scarlet Knights, and gave her a tight hug. Moments later, they posed for a picture, standing on either end of the trophy, wearing “BIG TEN CHAMPION” t-shirts.
The moment punctuated the peak of this South Jersey family’s incredible decade-long journey that coincided with the most successful era in Rutgers women’s soccer history. A household that once knew nothing about the sport produced one of the program’s greatest careers and another in the making, turning their beloved Scarlet Knights into the class of the Big Ten and the primary destination for New Jersey’s finest players.
“My wife Robin and I couldn’t be more proud of them. We couldn’t be more happy,” Joe Tiernan, father of the sisters, said. “When Madison committed to Rutgers, they weren’t quite the program they are now. By her junior year, they were number four in the country. The next time our kid is being recruited, Rutgers is a top program in the country. Our whole family takes great pride in that fact. We think we were a big part of that.”
And it is far from being over.
They’ll be back together this fall — Riley as a standout sophomore projected to be one of the best players in the Big Ten, Madison in her first year as a full-time assistant coach — in a season that begins this Thursday in New Mexico with a top-10 ranking and national championship aspirations.
By the end, the Tiernan sisters hope to build on everything they’ve achieved in Piscataway so far and bring Rutgers to the pinnacle of the sport.
“That is always the goal,” Madison Tiernan said. “We’re hungry for more.”
‘Dad, I stink!’
Joe Tiernan admits now that he and his wife had no clue about soccer when he first signed his oldest daughter up to play it. All they knew was 12-year-old Madison was faster and stronger and played harder than any of the other girls on the local Voorhees Avengers travel team.
In the summer heading into her freshman year of high school, they brought her to try out for Mount Laurel United, which eventually became the south squad of Players Development Academy (PDA), an elite local club team. Competing for a roster spot against players who received high-level coaching for years, Madison realized just how far behind them she was in her development.
“When she went to that club team and saw how technically behind she was compared to her peers, she said ‘dad, I stink!'” Joe Tiernan said.
Tiernan made the team in spite of her inexperience. Her coach was impressed enough to recommend she try out for the Olympic Developmental Program, a regional program directed by United States soccer that identifies a pool of elite players from various age groups to represent their state against other state teams.
Glenn Crooks, then the longtime head coach of the Rutgers women’s soccer team, oversaw New Jersey’s ODP teams. He liked what he saw from Madison throughout the trial process so much that he tried to put her on both his ODP squad and, eventually, his college team.
A year after telling her dad she stunk, Madison Tiernan had a scholarship offer from her hometown Scarlet Knights.
“What Madison did is really kind of unheard of,” Joe Tiernan said.
She jumped at the opportunity, calling her commitment to Rutgers “a no-brainer.” Although she “could have gone to any school in the country,” per her father, the choice was simple because she “always dreamed of playing at Rutgers and representing my state.”
She represented it well, following up a dominant high school career at Eastern Regional with a memorable college career. In four years, she helped usher Rutgers into a new conference, earning two top-four finishes in the Big Ten regular season standings, reaching two Big Ten Tournament title games and making the first College Cup — the soccer equivalent of the Final Four – – appearance in program history. A captain by her senior year, she ended her career with the sixth-most goals (25), fifth-most game-winning goals (nine) and seventh-most points (66) in program history.
All the while, she set a path for her younger sister to follow.
‘It was destined’
The Tiernan family has no qualms about admitting the mistakes it made in its older daughter’s soccer path, if only because it used the lessons it learned to benefit the youngest.
Riley Tiernan began playing high-level club soccer at PDA when she was nine years old. It gave her the head start her sister never had and allowed her to build “a more well-rounded tool kit,” something Madison proudly proclaims.
As for the high-motor, hard-working mentality that accompanies her technical skills? That runs in the family. Riley watched Madison and their brother Joey — who played lacrosse at Stockton — do it throughout her childhood; working hard and doing extra work after practice was just the way it was in the Tiernan household.
The combination made for one of the best prospects in the country in her class, a three-time first-team all-state selection and high school All-American at Eastern — where her No. 13 jersey was retired this spring — and national champion at the club level with PDA. Sought after by programs across the country, her next step was never really in doubt.
“It was destined for her to go to Rutgers,” Joe Tiernan said. “It might sound funny but we always just assumed that Riley would go, too.”
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His instincts were right; after years of being a spectator in the stands at Yurcak Field, Riley Tiernan was now among the Scarlet Knights competing on it.
She could not have gotten off to a better start, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten honors in 2021 after scoring eight goals and assisting another 13 in 25 games. She had one of each in Rutgers’ win over Arkansas in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, leading the Scarlet Knights back to the College Cup for the second time ever, matching her sister’s senior season in 2015.
“It was very emotional,” Riley Tiernan said. “She was on the team that went last time, so just having her there, literally on the sideline and not in the stands, it’s a totally different experience. It’s very rare for someone to have and I think it’s only fitting because she’s a huge part of why I’m here and why I am the player I am today. Having her there is surreal.”
Riley Tiernan is aware of the challenge her second season will be as a known commodity to other Big Ten coaches.
“Coming off such a big year, I’m going to have a lot more pressure,” Riley Tiernan said. “People know who I am now so I got to step it up even more, but now that I’ve experienced college soccer and I know what it’s like, I think I’ll be able to handle the challenges I’ll take.”
Just like in Bloomington and at Yurcak Field against the Razorbacks, Riley can look to the sidelines for guidance from her biggest supporter.
Madison (right) and Riley Tiernan hold up the Big Ten regular season champion trophy they helped Rutgers win last fall.
‘Everything they thought might happen, did’
The FaceTime from head coach Mike O’Neill came around midnight on a Thursday night in early January.
Days earlier, his longtime assistant coach Meg Ryan accepted the same job down the turnpike for conference rival Maryland, leaving an opening on his staff.
“The job is yours if you want it,” he told Madison.
It was the first of two major decisions she made in the span of 24 hours: the following night, her boyfriend Ned proposed.
Her response to both: “Of course!”
“I was an adult before, but I really grew up overnight,” Madison Tiernan said. “Two awesome things happening back-to-back.”
Her path towards her latest coaching position was winding, but Rutgers always seemed like the destination. Madison returned to her alma mater as Director of Player Development in 2017, a year after she was drafted 24th overall by the local club then-known as Sky Blue FC in the NWSL Draft.
She spent much of her time at Yurcak Field, playing home games for her professional team in the summer and coaching her alma mater in the fall and spring. Her professional career lasted about two-and-a-half seasons before injuries derailed it; she missed the 2019 season with a torn ACL and the 2020 Challenge Cup with an ankle injury, then a combination of the coronavirus pandemic and a meniscus tear upon her return forced her to reevaluate her future.
“(The final injury) reopened my eyes that there’s a life after soccer, but it can still be involved in soccer. That’s where I knew,” she said. “I was coaching at the club level and I loved the development aspect. I know that Rutgers is a huge piece of who I am … to be back and represent a different way and put a stamp on it from the coaching perspective has been super rewarding.”
Her fifth year on staff — the first three as the Director of Player Development, the next two as a volunteer assistant coach — brought her back to her roots, giving her a chance to teach her first pupil once again.
When it comes to her sister, Madison said she approaches it the same as she would with any other player, saying she focuses on “giving direction and helping her improve her game.”
“I’ve been in a coaching type role in her career of soccer her whole life,” Madison said of Riley. “Being eight years apart, she’s always watched me play and I’ve been able to help her in her game … We’ve always had that player-to-coach relationship, which has made it close to normal. There’s been no favoritism or anything like that. We’re going to respect our relationship as player-coach on the field and sisters off the field.”
Alongside an experienced coaching staff and a roster that ranks among the best in the Big Ten, the Tiernans hope to play their part in building on the foundation they’ve helped cultivate.
The one guarantee: there will be an enthusiastic pair of supporters in the stands.
Joe and Robin Tiernan operate the biggest tailgate at Yurcak Field, setting up shop hours before every home game and inviting every person in the parking lot to stop by. They started a pregame tradition last season that mirrors the “Scarlet Walk” held by the football program, setting up a guard of honor outside the venue’s entrance and clapping for the team as it walks into the venue over rotating background music of Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi or the Bells Must Ring.
Inside the venue, Joe watches the game with a new perspective. Admittedly a very vocal fan when Madison played in Piscataway, he’s “mellowed” in the years since, although he is “no less nervous.” During last season’s College Cup run, he’d share advice with other parents on what to expect, telling them to take it in and enjoy the fact their daughters are playing at the biggest stage on “one of the top programs in the country.”
It is a privilege that the Tiernan family will never take for granted.
“Everything they thought might happen, did,” Joe Tiernan said. “We’re pretty excited about that. It’s really great experience.”
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Brian Fonseca may be reached at [email protected].