Jordan Sperling scored four goals, Gabe Lisi scored twice and Austin Stassinis concluded the game’s scoring with a pretty header off a cross from Lisi.

Now Fitch will be trying to take a page out of the Tigers’ approach.

“Nobody likes to lose,” Fitch coach Dan Conley said. “Nobody likes to lose to their rivals and nobody likes to lose 7-0 to anyone. We’ll use this as motivation. We know we’re better than we showed tonight. Afterward, we talked about believing in one another and trusting one another.

“It’s up to us to show improvement and that happens in practices. We’ve got to step it up.”

Staff photo / Brad Emerine Howland’s Vasili Gentis gains control of the ball in front of Fitch’s Ben Kimble in the first half Tuesday.

The Tigers got on the board just over five minutes into the game as Sperling finished a feed from Lisi.

“Offensively, we’ve just not been scoring much, and tonight we challenged the senior class,” Howland coach Brian Stiles said. “This was their game tonight. They had to figure out a way to come into a place where we normally struggle to score goals and put it together. We know our back end will be there for us, so tonight was about getting the offense going.”

“Our first goal came off the exact drill we have been working on,” said Stiles, whose team improved to 3-0-1. “Gabe hit a nice cross and Jordy put it away. We have really been struggling with finishing with that one touch and we found it and it was a great way to start.”

It sparked a 3-0 run in just under seven minutes, as Lisi and Sperling added on with 30:59 and 27:45 left.

“We did a great job keeping the ball on their end, which was kind of out goal tonight,” Stiles said. “We have a lot of skill and that tends to wear teams down, having to always chase. What we hadn’t been doing well is finishing goals. Tonight, we did a much better job of that. We worked on it hard this week.”

Sperling notched his third goal and Lisi his second later in the first half, as Howland led 5-0 at halftime.

“I thought we played pretty well early in the game, but then they got that initial goal and from that moment forward, we didn’t match their intensity in the first half,” said Conley, whose squad fell to 2-2. “They are an excellent team. There’s a reason why they came in second at state last year. They a state-title contending team.

“I believe we’re a much better team than we showed tonight. Sometimes, you don’t have your best game. We didn’t get any bounces and the balls we typically win in the air, we didn’t win. They pressured us very well and forced us to make decisions we weren’t ready to make. We made a lot of unforced errors, errors we just don’t normally make.”

What upset Conley most wasn’t the score, it was his team’s first-half effort.

“At halftime, I told the boys that the second half would define the rest of our season,” he said. “We put our heads down in the first half after giving up all those goals. We’ve never been in a situation like that as a team. We gave much better effort in the second half, even though we didn’t get the result we wanted. We either win or we learn. I think we learned a lot tonight. We took a lot of good steps in the second half.”

Sperling added his fourth goal with 29:47 remaining in the game, following a blast by Gabe Altawil that was blocked by Falcons’ keeper Jamey Sorrells for one of his 12 saves.

“Tonight was a fun night,” Sperling said. “The guys in our program are all very unselfish and great players. They make it easy to play well. It’s easy to score goals when you have loads of talent around you and everyone is pulling for each other.

“Those guys in the midfield really help us execute our game plan. Those guys will sprint 40 yards to make a slide tackle and then take the ball and go 40 yards the other way. They just really shut down our opponents. We’ve got multiple guys all getting in there and making plays and that allows us to play on the opponents’ side most of the game.”

Stassinis ran onto a Lisi cross to head in the final goal with 12:42 left.

“That last one was pretty,” Sperling said. “Austin just ran through the ball. Coach says run through the ball and if it takes putting yourself into the net, that’s fine. That’s exactly what Austin did there, just ran through the ball.”

Howland realizes there is plenty of work left to do if the Tigers are thinking about a return to a state title match.

“We’re not even close to where we should be right now,” Stiles said. “But everybody is behind schedule (due to the pandemic) so far. Right now, I feel like I’m coaching these guys in the middle of July. But we know where we can be. We can see that. If we continue to elevate every day in practice, we know our potential. We’ve seen where we have to get to.”

“We have potential to get back (to state), but we’re not there yet,” Sperling said. “We still have to grow as a team. We’re taking steps every day to get there, but we need to keep improving to get to that level eventually.”

That’s precisely what the Falcons are thinking about.