Pyewell earns spot in Allegheny HOF
MEADVILLE — When Allison Pyewell Nichols was a soccer player at Butler, she worked various camps teaching younger kids the game.
Among those wide-eyed youngsters were eventual Butler Area School District Hall of Famers Meghan Schnur and Annie Lowry.
“I remember them,” Nichols said. “It was fun seeing the success they went on to have.”
Speaking of success — Nichols is becoming a Hall of Famer herself.
The 1995 Butler graduate is one of six athletes being inducted into the Allegheny College Hall of Fame during the school’s homecoming Oct. 18.
Nichols graduated from Allegheny in 1999 ranking among the school’s top four all-time with 31 goals and 73 points. She was the North Coast Conference Scholar-Athlete Award winner in 1999, was a three-time All-NCAC player and led the Gators to a school-record 17-game winning streak and a 21-game home unbeaten streak.
“I went to Allegheny because they had a great academic program in the sciences and I was looking to study pre-med,” said Nichols, now a physician’s assistant with UPMC. “It was a small campus in a small town. I fell in love with the place.
“My fondest soccer memory there is how close-knit our team was. Because of our teamwork and cohesiveness, we were able to do some great things.”
While at Butler, Nichols played numerous positions — sweeper, stopper, outside midfield — but was never called on to be a big scorer. Scoring goals was the last thing she expected when she went to Allegheny.
“I was recruited as a sweeper,” she said. “It turned out they needed me to play an offensive position and it worked out.”
Allegheny was 52-26-3 during Nichols’ career.
She was team captain for two years and was named to the NCAC’s 20th anniversary all-decade team in 2003.
Growing up, she played travel soccer for the Pittsburgh Strikers for a number of years. Her parents, Richard and Barbara Pyewell, coached her as a youth. Her father served as a soccer referee for a number of years as well.
“When I first tried soccer, I hated it,” Nichols recalled. “I quit after a year, tried gymnastics, then wound up going back. My parents really got involved in it and that made me want to play.
“The section we played in during high school was really tough. We were competitive, but we had a hard time cracking the playoffs.”
Nichols credits playing collegiate soccer with setting up much of her life. Her husband, Josh, played on Allegheny’s men’s team and the two met through the sport.
“I also learned time management skills and how to be diligent in getting things done,” she said. “I remember doing school work on bus trips ... whatever it took.”
Nichols is the mother of sons ages 9 and 3, and a 7-year-old daughter today. Her husband and her have coached their two oldest kids.
“We never pushed them toward the game, but they’ve been around it,” she said. “Josh and I have played in adult league games and they’ve seen us play.
“My son’s played hockey, my daughter’s done gymnastics and dance. They experience different things, but it’s fun for us that they enjoy soccer the way we did.”
It will be fun going into her collegiate alma mater’s Hall of Fame as well.
“Pretty surreal moment when I found out,” Nichols admitted. “It’s exciting for my family. I’m proud of what we were able to do there.”
