The Idaho State Bengal Soccer team started the season with a sweep of Boise State and Idaho, the two other Division I soccer teams in the state.

    But don’t put those brooms away yet; the Bengals have also swept the first Big Sky Player of the Week awards of the 2013 season.

    Amanda Ellsworth was named the Offensive Player of the Week and Allyson Stainbrook was named Defensive Player of the Week.

    Returning Big Sky Co-offensive Player of the Year, Ellsworth started 2013 off with bang. She scored two goals and added an assist to help claim bragging rights in the Gem State.

    In the season opener against Boise State, Ellsworth scored in the 97th minute scored to give the Bengals a 2-1 overtime win over the Broncos.

    In Sunday’s game against Idaho, the Bengals and Vandals battled to a 0-0 tie for the first 39 minutes of the match. That changed when Ellsworth drove into the box and sent a pass over the head of a defender to teammate Jessica Sanchez. Sanchez then sent a dribbling shot into the corner for her first goal of her Bengal career.

    Just minutes later Lia Margolis found Ellsworth streaking to the goal with a centering pass. Her header cleared the goalkeeper’s gloves for her second goal of the weekend and the season.

    “Amanda is such a competitor,” said head Coach Allison Gibson. “I’ve never coached a player like her. She always seems to be in the right place at the right time.”

    Stainbrook, an All-Big Sky Second Team player in 2012, set the tone for a defense that gave up just one goal in 187 minutes of soccer over the weekend.

    Stainbrook’s presence on the backline was key to holding Boise State and Idaho to a combined 7 shots on goal.

    The senior was also a catalyst in the Bengal offense. She was a part of nearly every Bengal offensive drive and even tallied four shots on goal against Idaho Sunday.

    “Every time I looked up there was number 14 pressuring the ball,” Gibson said. “Day-in-and-day-out, she proves herself on the field. To me that is the reason she is the captain.”