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What do you give a record-setting home crowd? A franchise record six goals works.

The Portland Hearts of Pine broke out of a four-game stretch during which they earned just one point, scoring four first-half goals Tuesday night on their way to a 6-1 win against the Spokane Velocity, one of the top teams in USL League One.

The first-year Hearts of Pine continued to set impressive standards with a USL League One single-game attendance record of 6,440 at Fitzpatrick Stadium. The club sold 500 extra standing-room only seats with the intention of trying to break the USL1 mark of 6,378, set in April by One Knoxville.

“Coming here, I never knew it would have been like this,” said Natty James, who scored two of the first-half goals and created a third by drawing a foul in the penalty area. “Scoring those two goals in front of a full house, it’s amazing. No other team in this league has this amount of supporters, this amount of love.”

Portland’s previous record for goals in a game was five, at Richmond on Sept. 17.

Portland improved to 11-7-11 and has the same number of points as fifth place FC Naples but trails in the standings because Naples has one more victory. Portland can move up to fourth and get a home playoff game if it beats AV Alta FC in the regular-season finale on Saturday, but only if both Naples and fourth-place Union Omaha don’t win their final game. The top four teams host quarterfinals Nov. 1-2.

“It just gives us extra momentum for playoffs. It’s coming at the right time,” said striker Titus Washington, who scored his eighth goal of the season in the second half. “Scoring six goals two weeks before playoffs start gets us in a really good mood and everybody gets a lot more confident.”

Spokane (14-7-8) remains in third place in the 14-team league.

For the first 15-plus minutes, the large crowd was mostly silent, save the never-stopping supporters sections. That’s because Spokane was in complete control, with precision passing and a defense unperturbed by the Hearts’ signature attacking marks by their forwards.

Things changed when Jay Tee Kamara got his feet on the ball, drawing defenders after accepting a midfield pass from Pat Langlois. Kamara rolled a pass across the top of the box that James one-timed with precision, just under the cross bar for an 18th-minute goal.

“I knew what technique I wanted to do. The ball looked so big. It was coming so slow and I just hit it, and the time it left my foot, I saw it go in the back of the net and it was amazing,” James said.

James then drew a penalty in the box, and Ollie Wright converted in the 35th minute for the second straight game to give Portland a 2-0 lead.

Spokane scored on a quick counter by Nico Brett in the 41st minute.

Then the real fireworks started.

James, making just his fifth start of the season in a rejiggered lineup, scored his second of the game in the 43rd minute. Three minutes into first-half extra time, Nathan Messer struck from 25 yards just inside the left sideline, catching beleaguered keeper Carlos Merancio too far away from his net as Messer lofted the ball into the top right corner.

Washington pushed the lead to 5-1 with a rebound goal off a shot by Wright in the 59th minute.

Kamara made it 6-1 in the 67th minute when he took a pass from Wright and chipped a shot over Merancio’s head to finish a 3-on-2 rush.

Portland shook up its back four after allowing eight goals in its previous three games. Oft-injured Sega Coulibaly made his fourth start of the season at center back and Shandon Wright made his ninth start at right back, in place of Kemali Green (26 starts) and Mo Mohamed. In addition, center midfielder Michelle Poon-Angeron (27 starts) was on the bench to start, with Pat Langlois (18 starts) and James in the midfield lineup.

All the moves worked, providing a night to remember for the Hearts of Pine and the Fitzpatrick fan base that has made Portland’s third-tier soccer team an American soccer success story.

“Pound for pound, it’s as good an atmosphere as there is anywhere in the country,” Hearts of Pine coach Bobby Murphy said. “I’ve been in big stadiums. I’ve been in (Atlanta’s) Mercedes-Benz dome when it was sold out, coaching there. I’ve been at St. Louis. I’ve been in Orlando, every MLS stadium. I would put this atmosphere up against any one of those.”