Soccer stars visiting Sudbury Thursday

Things are heating up with the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup of Soccer, as Canada prepares to face England Saturday in British Columbia. And for one day at least, Sudbury will be right in the thick of the action.

A pair of former female national team soccer players, both with experience in previous World Cup competitions, will be in Northern Ontario June 25, as part of a program organized through the U.S. Consulate in Toronto.

The cross-Canada tour, which includes six stops, was first conceived as a lead-in to the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, with the opening ceremonies set for July 10.

The program will bring U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame keeper Mary Harvey to the Nickel City, attending a morning media reception at Tom Davies Square, taking part in a soccer festival for elementary students at St. Charles College, and wrapping up her visit with a one-on-one session at Laurentian Uinversity with a few dozen local youth soccer players.

Joining the 1991 World Cup champion during her visit to Sudbury is Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame member Helen Stoumbos.

A graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University who's now a television broadcaster, Stoumbos will forever hold the distinction of being the first Canadian, either male or female, to score a goal in World Cup competition.

Joining the two soccer stars will be members of the male and female soccer teams that represented Ontario at the 2014 North American Indigenous Games in Regina.

The U.S. Sports Envoy program has partnered with native groups across the country, visiting a number of remote communities, with the Aboriginal Sport & Wellness Council of Ontario co-ordinating much of the trip throughout this province.