The list is long and impressive. Norman Schwarzkopf, George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, Ulysses S. Grant and Joey Riley, to name a few.
Wait a minute. Joey Riley?
OK, well, not just yet.
But four years from now, Hamilton Township hopes to tack another name onto that collection of legendary West Point graduates.
Thanks to his soccer talents and natural leadership prowess, Riley has committed to play for Army’s soccer program next fall while starting the path to becoming an officer. The Pennington School senior outside back got a ringing endorsement from coach Chad Bridges when the military came calling.
“I’ve sent a few kids to the Naval Academy, sent another one to West Point,” Bridges said. “When they were recruiting Joey I didn’t have any hesitation in saying ‘Yup, this is a kid that can do it there.’
“I knew right away because of his mentality. He’s a strong kid, disciplined on and off the field. He does whatever it takes to do great in school, to do great on the field and within the community. He was a unanimous selection for captain. An outstanding leader in all phases of the game.”
That’s what it takes to succeed at West Point, which has produced some of the greatest military leaders in world history. It won’t be simple, but that’s fine with the Grice Middle School product.
“It’s gonna be a great challenge,” Riley said. “From the people I talked to up there, they say nothing at West Point is easy. They tell you ‘You’re not gonna come up here and do the easy stuff, like sit around on the weekends.’
“Coach (Brian) Plotkin, when he was recruiting me, said ‘At West Point, we do hard things.’ It’s as simple as that. It takes the discipline; it takes relentlessness. It’s gonna take all of that but I’m willing to step up in that role and see what I got.”
It’s certainly a different experience than frat parties and football games, so why would Riley want to go that route?
It all started his freshman year at Pennington. Senior captains Keane Brown and Justin Davidyock, who played the same position as Riley, went to Navy and West Point, respectively.
“Those were the guys I looked up to,” Riley said. “Once I saw they were going there I looked more into it. That sparked my interest. I feel like it was always something that could happen.
“Once I found out the coach was interested and wanted me, I kept looking more into what it actually was, the classes, the basic training and all that. It was something I could really see myself doing and once I got up there it felt like home.”
It’s always admirable when a young man wants to serve his country. Just as laudable are the soccer skills that opened the door to Riley’s future with a program that is not elite but always competitive.
The all-around athlete, who played catcher on Sunnybrae Little League’s first-ever 12-year-old District 12 Tournament championship team, entered Pennington as a standout in both sports.
He played varsity baseball and soccer for two years but opted strictly for soccer after his junior season.
“I had a pretty good junior year,” he explained. “I was thinking ‘Do I want to play baseball?’ Junior year is a crucial year for college interest and I played really well in soccer.”
When a recruiter from the high-powered Cedar Stars club in Bergen County offered Riley a spot on the team, he chose that in the spring despite the three-hour round trip. Cedar Stars puts its players in positions to be seen by colleges, which Riley liked.
“I had a week to decide if I wanted to keep playing baseball or give myself a chance to play soccer at a higher level,” he said. “It definitely wasn’t easy. I’ve been playing baseball my whole life, but within that time period I thought ‘I have to give myself my best shot to see what I could do in soccer,’ and that’s when I made the decision to play soccer year-round.”
Bridges was happy that Riley remained with the sport, and when he decided to nix baseball the coach began doing all he could to help in the recruiting process.
Riley brings a winning attitude to the pitch and has played on three straight NJISAA Prep A state championship teams. His name won’t appear among the scoring leaders, but if there were a goals-prevented stat he’d be right up there.
“He’s never the kid that’s gonna wow you with stats, he just wows you with his work rate and leadership,” Bridges said. “He’s got an incredible soccer IQ. He can predict where the play is gonna happen with his ability to read the game. That’s a big thing to me.”
The coach added that despite playing outside back, Riley is Pennington’s defensive leader, which is unique since that role usually belongs to a goalie or center midfielder.
“Joey has a way of telling people where to go,” Bridges said. “And of course they listen to him because he’s done it.”
As a West Point graduate, he will have to lead men and women. The prospective future officer feels it is an inborn role and he’s not shy about saying it.
“Coach Bridges always says anybody can be a leader on the field and I think I fit the role naturally,” said Riley, who possesses great tactical awareness and a strong soccer IQ. “It’s natural for me to just say what I’m thinking and for others to follow even if I’m not in a central position.”
Riley’s career began in the Hamilton rec league, where he first took an interest in the sport. Hibernians coach James Angiolino asked Joey to join his team, and Riley enjoyed playing competitive soccer and baseball.
In middle school he was with Match Fit but did not play club his first two years in high school because he was playing baseball. Last year, he got the call from Cedar Stars of the MLS Next program.
“You go there and you’re going to be seen,” Riley said. “Colleges are going to the showcases and the tournaments they play in. A couple Pennington guys who played before me (Bacary Tandjigora, Kubah ‘Elvis’ Appiah) had gone there to train. When I talked to them about it they said the coaches were great, the team was great.”
He made the jump back into club soccer and felt that missing two years of travel didn’t hurt his game because of the talent at Pennington. Riley felt that even in practice, he was going against players who were as good as or better than those on other teams the Red Hawks played.
Riley has been a defender as long as he can remember. He does enjoy pushing up and getting into the offense but knows his main role is to stop the other guy.
“I feel like I have the toughness for it,” he said, adding with a laugh, “people who watched me play say that I’m from New Jersey. I take pride in defending and being an unsung hero. You’re not gonna get your name out there for winning games by defending but every team needs those players who are willing to do the dirty work and that’s what I take pride in.”
Riley feels the two attributes a good defender must have are being physically fit, especially for defenders who roam up and down the flank all game, and being able to mix patience with aggressiveness.
“You want your defenders to be really aggressive, but you have to be patient at the same time,” he said. “Knowing when to try to win the ball and when to sit back and be patient in your shape is really important.”
It’s not surprising Riley brings that knowledge to the field, considering his 4.05 grade-point average at Pennington.
“Since elementary school I was always on top of my school work,” he said. “My parents weren’t telling me to do it; I just always wanted to do it. I’m kind of like a perfectionist. I always want to do the best, I’m super, super competitive, whether it’s school, board games, soccer, anything. I always want to do good and have that drive.”
He sure sounds like officer material. Patton would have been proud.
