Multi-sport CK star and soccer standout honored with Kitsap Hall of Fame nod
There is a reason Nicole Zygmontowicz is loved by those who have been around her or coached her. It's not just for her athletic skills, especially in soccer, but for her excellent character.
After Vicky Webb accepted the job as Central Kitsap High School head coach in 2000, she quickly came to the opinion, now shared by many, that Nicole Zygmontowicz — now Nicole Reilly — was loved by coaches not just for her prolific athletic skills, especially in soccer, but for her excellent character.
Zgymontowicz was also new to CK that fall, having transferred to the school after helping Klahowya win the 1999 state 2A girls soccer championship as a freshman.
“It was my first year and I had no idea she was such an amazing player,” says Webb. “She was very humble and kind and very respectable to me. I was blessed to coach her. I was the lucky one. She probably could have played major college basketball as well, and she was even a better person.
“I’m happy to have her honored after all these years. I’m very excited for her.”
Zygmontowicz, now known by her married name, Reilly, being honored Jan. 28 at Kiana Lodge in Poulsbo where she will be inducted into the Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame.
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It’s not just Webb who sees the five-foot-10 Zygmontowicz as one of the best female athletes to come out of this area. Many see her the same way. She excelled at soccer and basketball as well as fastpitch softball, and probably could have been a champion at tiddlywinks if she so desired.
We perhaps shouldn’t have expected less. Her mother (Debra) was a star high school athlete in fastpitch, basketball and track and field in Michigan, and has been her daughter’s biggest supporter.
“She’s my biggest influence,” Zygmontowicz said in a Kitsap Sun story after she was named the paper’s Female Athlete of the year in 2001 as a 15-year-old sophomore, making her the youngest to gain that honor.
It’s rare for an athlete to be honored as a first-team All-Olympic League in three sports in the same year, and Zygmontowicz did it multiple times. She also landed on the Kitsap Sun Super Six basketball team twice.
Zygmontowicz played just one year of fastpitch softball at CK and hit .397 with 15 RBI and two home runs, which led the Cougars. She also played select softball with the Diamond Dusters.
She injured her ACL her junior year of basketball and recovered to play soccer, basketball and track and field her senior year.
As good as she was in everything, soccer came first in her heart and became the game she stuck with the longest. She began playing it at five years old and went the top pretty quickly, eventually playing on a select travel team and making the state Olympic Development team for three years.
College recruiters began lining up in the hopes of reeling her in. She had many choices but she wanted to experience the world so she accepted the University of Houston’s scholarship offer and played two years for the Cougars. She had an immediate impact, making the team’s freshman of the year award and the Conference USA All-Freshman team while starting 31 of 32 games and playing multiple positions.
But the situation at Houston after two and half years became dicey and Zygmontowicz decided to leave.
“There were a lot of changes with coaching,” Zygmontowicz says. “A lot of people were leaving.”
She wasn’t sure she would continue with soccer. She began working out with a trainer in Houston who had coached NBA players, leading to thoughts about playing basketball.
Then she got word from Joel Grey of Port Orchard that the University of Evansville, where daughter Heidi Grey was enrolled, was looking for players.
“I had mentioned it to her dad, Mark,” says Grey, whose family owned Grey Chevrolet in Port Orchard at the time.
So Zygmontowicz visited Indiana to see the school, loved it, and transferred.
“Ziggy was a great player for UE and stepped right into center back for us,” says coach Chris Pfau, who is back for a second stint at Evansville. “She was a huge impact right from the start. Not only was she a great defender, she was great with the ball and able to start our attack from the back.
“I believe she was one of the top defenders not only in our conference but in the region. We beat two nationally ranked teams during her career at UE. Great leader that led by example. But even a better person. She always had a smile on her face and players loved her. She helped UE soccer go from last in conference to No. 2 in conference by the time she was done.”
Zygmontowicz finished with a degree in business administration at Evansville, earned first team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors for her defense and was named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Tournament team in 2007.
Now living in Newark, Delaware, she’s been in technology sales for 13 years. Nicole and husband Tim have two young sons – Colin 6, and Daniel, 4 — who are into swimming, soccer and basketball, but without pressure to follow mom's footsteps.
“We are following the philosophy my parents had with me, expose our children to everything and let them chose what they enjoy,” says Zygmontowicz.
Soccer is still in Zygmontowicz’s heart. She played some professionally with the Houston Stars and the Fort Wayne Fever and she continues to play in Delaware with various women’s, co-ed and Spanish leagues. She also coaches youth boys the girls at the Delaware Football Club and works out at the Hockessin Athletic Club, where she admits to still getting some hoops in.
"I don’t know who I would be without (sports)", says Zygmontowicz. "Athletics and team sports brought me so much joy. I was able to travel all over the country, and met a lot of people who became friends.
“The more I practiced the better I got. I became obsessed with seeing results and success. I wanted to be a well-rounded athlete. My left needed to be just as strong as my right. Any free time I had was spent working out, focusing on speed, footwork, and fundamentals for what every sport season I was in.”
Zygmontowicz still competes at a high level, which further cements her reputation as one of the best female athletes to come out of our area. And as good as she was she was just as good a person. And still is.
“It’s a huge honor,” she says of making the Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame. “It brings tears to my eyes because people actually remember me and what I did and what I was.”
KITSAP SPORTS HALL OF FAME CEREMONY
When: Jan. 28 (social hour at noon, induction ceremony at 1 p.m.)
Where: Kiana Lodge (14976 Sandy Hook Road NE, Poulsbo)
What: Annual banquet hosted by the Kitsap Athletic Roundtable honors athletes, coaches and officials from West Sound.
Tickets: $50 adults, $20 youth 6-12. Purchase by emailing requests to KAR treasurer Jodee Strickland at jodee.strickland@aol.com, or online at kitsapathleticroundtable.org.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Nicole Zygmontowicz heads to Kitsap Hall of Fame for soccer career
