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Chivas hopes to keep rolling over Whitecaps

Jul 11, 2014 - 8:24 PM Vancouver, BC (SportsNetwork.com) - Chivas USA aims to continue its climb up the Western Conference table on Saturday when the club travels to BC Place to tangle with Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

A run of three successive 1-0 victories has moved Chivas off the bottom of the Western table and to within five points of fifth-place Vancouver, which has earned only one win in its last four fixtures.

That victory came last time out in a 1-0 triumph over Cascadia Cup rivals Seattle courtesy of a 12th-minute goal from Sebastian Fernandez. The three points is always valuable, but the match also showed that Vancouver is able to get by with a new pairing in central defense.

First-choice options Jay DeMerit and Andy O'Brien are both out because of injury, leaving head coach Carl Robinson to go with Johnny Leveron and Carlyle Mitchell at the heart of his defense.

And after the duo struggled a bit in a 2-0 loss to Colorado two weeks ago, Leveron and Mitchell put together a much better effort in helping the Whitecaps keep a clean sheet against the league-leading Sounders.

"We talked about it at the start of the season that we like consistency down there and that's what we're trying to do," Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted told MLSsoccer.com. "When someone new comes in you always have to figure out what kind of player he is and what he does in certain situations.

"But that said, the guys that have come in have done good, so it's not going to be an excuse. We can manage some changes and we need to make some changes because there's a lot of games."

The biggest test for Leveron and Mitchell on Saturday will come in the form of Chivas forward Erick Torres, who has scored 12 goals in 17 games for the Goats this season and has tallied the lone goal in each of the team's last three wins.

Torres scored his latest goal in a 1-0 win over Montreal in stoppage time with a well-taken bicycle kick that was worthy of winning any match.

"I believe it's very important to have a positive streak. I think people get more involved with us, and we are now working to bring them joy," Torres said of his side's current run of form. "We have to continue working and improving those details, but I think we are on the right path, and that's being shown on the results."

Defense has been a big reason for the winning run that Wilmer Cabrera's team finds itself on as the club has managed to keep three successive clean sheets after failing to record a shutout in its first 14 games this term.

Vancouver has had some struggles in front of goal recently as the Whitecaps have managed to score only once in their last three games, so Chivas may have a good chance at continuing both its shutout streak and winning run.