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The Portland Hearts of Pine soccer team will be a focus of "Good Morning America" segments from Maine on Thursday. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer)

 “Good Morning America” will feature live segments from Kennebunkport on Thursday, focusing on Maine and the Portland Hearts of Pine soccer team. 

ABC News anchor Rhiannon Ally will be at Nonantum Resort as part of the morning show’s “50 States in 50 Weeks: America the Beautiful” series, a publicist for the network said on Monday. 

Ally is scheduled to be joined by members of the Hearts of Pine, and some fans. The show will air a story on the team, which recently finished its first season, featuring founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson. There will also be a 90-second segment “celebrating what makes Maine special.” Ally will be seen reporting from Kennebunkport throughout the show. Filming will be closed to the public.

“Good Morning America” airs from 7-9 a.m. on ABC TV stations, including WMTW (Channel 8) in Portland and WVII (Channel 7) in Bangor. The “50 States in 50 Weeks” series started in July, in Delaware. Other states the show has visited so far include Alabama, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

The Hearts of Pine, Portland’s first men’s professional soccer team, captured the hearts of fans this season, selling out every home game. Some 4,000 people bought season tickets for 5,500-seat Fitzpatrick Stadium. Some season ticket seats were re-sold for five times their face value, or more, by the end of the season. 

The team has a hardcore supporters group called Dirigo Union, with about 600 members. Members of the group formed a band to play at games and lead cheers, called the Valentine Band. Instruments include drums, horns and bagpipes.

Ray Routhier has written about pop culture, movies, TV, music and lifestyle trends for the Portland Press Herald since 1993. He is continually fascinated with stories that show the unique character of...

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