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Of course, all this is about temporary tattoos, which Allyson Stainbrook and Amanda Ellsworth plaster on their necks for the world to see before Idaho State soccer games.
Every match, Stainbrook and Ellsworth choose a couple tattoos from their stash they keep in the Bengal locker room. Sometimes, it’s random. Once in a while, a certain tattoo speaks and just demands to be that day’s decoration.
One tattoo that simply stated “Death Before Dishonor” was particularly popular.
Who knows what they’ll sport against Eastern Washington (2-7) in Idaho State’s Big Sky Conference opener Thursday at Davis Field at 4 p.m.
The shtick began on a road trip to Boise. The team stopped at a gas station, and there was a coin machine with temporary tattoos. Stainbrook says the team’s athletic trainer at the time, Daryl Finch, dared the Bengals to wear them during a game — preferably in the most visible spot possible.
“Me and Amanda just started wearing them,” Stainbrook said. “After that, it just kind of stuck, because it felt right. It was our good luck.”
They wore their fake neck tattoos all the way to the Big Sky championship, the first since ISU took the title back in 2006.
Naturally then, they had to continue the tradition into 2013.
"Before the game I always get weird looks,” Stainbrook said. “When we’re co-captains and shaking hands, girls are looking at me, and the refs are saying, ‘Is that real? Is that covering up a hickey?’”
Ellsworth tends to notice a few second glances the day after games when she goes to class. They’re temporary tattoos, not one-day tattoos.
“They don’t wash off easily, so when you take a shower and you’re tired and you wake up the next day and go to class, people are giving you dirty looks,” Ellsworth said. “You go to the bathroom and look, ‘Oh, that’s why.’”
The tattoo gimmick falls under the umbrella of sports superstitions.
Ellsworth and Stainbrook do it for an intimidation factor, a little swagger and, well, because it’s fun.
It’s the casual side of a serious game and a long, steady season. Idaho State, along with Portland State, was the Big Sky coaches’ preseason favorite to win the championship.
If the Bengals are indeed the squad to fulfill those expectations, it won’t resemble the one that suffered through a five-game losing streak that started in Lubbock, Texas, Aug. 30 and lasted through Sept. 22 when the Bengals broke through and knocked off Wyoming 1-0 in Laramie after Stainbrook scored off a free kick in the 113th minute of double overtime.
Despite being outshot 15-8 and receiving four yellow cards in a 17-minute span, the Bengals banded together and won a road game for the first time this season.
“We weren’t panicked, and we felt like we were going to win,” Stainbrook said. “I don’t know how to explain it. It felt right.”
It felt right after nothing had for several weeks.
Idaho State’s tailspin began with a 3-0 loss at Texas Tech, and then both Utah Valley and Utah State escaped with victories in Pocatello. The Bengals hit rock bottom in the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Soccer Classic.
Hawaii and Florida Gulf Coast blasted Idaho State, 4-1 and 5-1, respectively.
"I wish it hadn’t lasted for five games, obviously,” said ISU coach Allison Gibson. “It was kind of one of those things we had to endure. I’m glad we did it before conference. ... I think that now we have that understanding that we’ll fight for each other and we’ll do things for each other on the field.”
The week after the Hawaii trip, and before traveling to Wyoming, Gibson and the Bengals had a string of practices that started at 5 a.m., a mini fall camp of sorts.
They were stripped of all their training gear. They would have to earn it back.
The Bengals responded by arriving at practice in identical v-neck, white T-shirts that said “24 strong,” referring to the number of players on the roster and Gibson’s theme for the week.
“We just got back to focusing on playing for each other, working for each other and redefining what teamwork meant,” Gibson said.
The theme of playing for one another — and Stainbrook’s and Ellsworth’s omnipresent tattoos — continues against Eastern Washington Thursday.
"We have struggled, but I think every single game, every loss, we’ve learned more and more about each other,” Ellsworth said. “... We showed that against Wyoming, Sunday. We finally put all the pieces back together.”
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