Amy Neal, No. 14 in Orange, gives the ball the boot. Photo by Andrew Bruckse/Tennessee Athletics

On her home turf, Amy’s about to rip one against Missouri. Photo by Andrew Bruckse/Tennessee Athletics

COMMENTARY: By ARNIE LESHIN

Watch and learn, learn that it’s oh so easy to switch channels on Sundays, especially when your favorite NFL team is driving you batty, causing you to scream at the TV screen, and no other pro game interests you.

So in mid-afternoon this past Sunday, I made the move and found a women’s soccer match that had just begun. A Southeastern Conference contest matching Missouri at Tennessee.

Not often do you see a familiar name. It’s different than viewing an NFL clash where you recognize about every jock.

But Amy Neal is a familiar name to me, and the All-State athlete from Los Alamos was out there, a starting defender/forward for the Volunteers, a sophomore in her second season on the varsity, and the best was yet to come as I stayed tuned into the scoreless, important, stretch-run SEC game.

Why? (a) I had already lost interest that day in the NFL, and (b) because I hadn’t seen Neal since she came blazing around the turns to win the New Mexico state 200 meters. This helped cap-off a four-year championship run for the Hilltoppers’ track and field girls, three with Neal on the squad.

Previously, the school’s quality program had won state only two times.

So this was great, one of our own from the Land of Enchantment, a starter with a Division I program, on national TV, showing why she was a four-year letterman at Los Alamos High. Soccer, check. Track and field, check. Swim team diver, check.

And as the recipient of the Patricia Purvis-Kim Crane Scholarship Award, Amelia Bennett Neal’s next stop became the Orange & White in Knoxville. UT. She chose Tennessee over Colorado School of Mines and UNM, and chose kinesiology as her major.

So there she was, the two-time state 4A Soccer Player of the Year, the four-time district Player of the Year, and who led her Fusion Club Team to the state title two-straight years. With the Hilltoppers, she scored 96 goals in four seasons to go with 61 assists and back-to-back state runner-up finishes under long-time head coach Jeri Kubicek, who is now retired,

On the field and in the classroom (National Honor Society), she starred. She even found time to work with the Youth United Way and Los Alamos Youth Leadership.

So I caught up with Neal, but she was on the team bus heading to the University of Mississippi in Oxford for a Thursday night match, the last of the regular season. Her message was that she would call me after practice. She did, after the team meeting, for this was a win or bus home and store the gear away.

This usually quiet town is suffering from football fever these days, but Neal and teammates have that one objective, that being to win and gain a spot in the SEC playoffs. UT wins and claims the 10th position in the playoffs. Ole Miss needs a win or tie.

History favors the Volunteers (8-9-1). They are 12-3-2 versus the Rebels and 6-0-1 in Oxford. Currently, they are 7-0 when scoring two goals or more. Catch it if you can: ESPNPLUS at 8 EST.

“We win,” Neal says, “we move on. We lose, we go home.”

Prior to this, it was the other key match with Missouri on the fast turf — Bermuda Grass and total field irrigation — at state-of-the-art Regal Stadium, which was dedicated in 2007 and appeared awesome via the tubes.

Here, the Tigers held the better record and were already assured of the playoffs, hoping for a win to gain a higher seed. But with the help of the multi-talented, 5-foot-8 Neal, the Volunteers struck first in the 49th minute when she headed in a shot from left of the goal. That wiped out the halftime scoreless tie.

Seven minutes later, Neal assisted on a goal by 2012 All-America Hannah Wilkerson of New Zealand, just returning after knee surgery. One more score in the second half made it 3-0 and that’s the way it ended. With four minutes remaining, Neal finally came out and Mo was outright outplayed by the Vols.

For Neal, it was her fifth goal of the campaign. She found the net previously with a deciding header in the 46th minute against Milwaukee, with a game-tying header versus Wisconsin, a blast into the left side of the net against LSU, and with a goal and assist at Eastern Tennessee State.

As a freshman, she scored twice at Alabama and added a pair of assists in 89 minutes of playing time. In the opener against Oklahoma, she began her collegiate career with 17 minutes on the field. Against then-20th-ranked Texas A & M, she was out there for 72 minutes.

And she can run with the best.

Along with winning the state 200 in 2012, she ran whatever leg she was needed as Los Alamos, in 2011, won the state 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays. In the 1600 stick-pass, she handled the anchor leg in the preliminaries and second leg in the finals. In the 400 relay, she ran an impressive opening leg and the quartet broke its own state record.

That year, she finished sixth in the 200 and fifth in the pole vault.

“The pole vault was my idea,” she says.

In 2012, Neal and the sprinters again bettered their own state 4 x 100 mark by running 48.50. In the 4 x 200, the Toppers improved from third to first with Neal running anchor and the time only 0.5 off the state record. In the pole vault, she took seventh, but no doubt was hampered by running this race and that race in rapid order, both years.

Now it’s just soccer, her favorite sport, but she says she keeps in running shape by playing soccer.

How about playing for the United States National Soccer Team?

“That’s every girl’s dream,” Amy says.

And Rocky Top, the age-old Volunteer cheer song? Knoxville?

“It’s neat and I do love it here,” she says. “My freshman year I got homesick at times, but now I’m okay with being away. I did keep in touch with the Los Alamos teams last year because I knew most of the athletes, but now my parents keep me informed.”

I then stepped in and informed her that the Los Alamos girl’s soccer team was seeded third in the state tournament and gained a first-round bye, but she was already aware of it.

The informers are mom Rose Ann and dad John Neal.

The siblings are older brother Avery and older sister Kelsey. Avery played Hilltopper soccer and basketball, is a graduate of Pacific University, and is awaiting medical school. Kelsey is taking a break from Colorado School of Mines by working for Disney Enterprises. She competed in soccer, track and field, and diving back on the hill.

And little sis is right there on national TV, not only this season, but in years to come. Why so? Well, she’s a quality player in a quality program playing at a recognizable DI school. Simple as scoring a goal.

Rocky Top to her.

And also to Stephen K. Lee, UT assistant director of media relations, for assisting me with all of this good stuff for all to read, especially up in Los Alamos, one of my favorite places.