CARSON >> It is never easy when you have to break down the defense of the Colorado Rapids as the Galaxy could certainly attest to during the regular season.

However, Sunday, the Galaxy pressed and prodded and eventually found a goal, which came off of a Rapids defender, to prevail 1-0 in the first leg of their Western Conference semifinal series in front of a crowd of 24,487 at the StubHub Center.

“It’s an advantage,” Galaxy’s Landon Donovan said. “We said at halftime that 0-0 isn’t the worst thing in the world. You would rather be 0-0 than 1-1. We wanted to make sure we didn’t concede (a goal) and went forward in a smart way.

“We’re happy with the first half of this leg.”

The Galaxy will now take their 1-0 lead into Sunday’s second leg at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado. The Galaxy would advance if the game ends scoreless or even 1-1.

The task is challenging, considering the Rapids went 11-0-6 at home during the regular season.

The Galaxy scored only one goal against the Rapids in three regular season meetings.

“Our guys were pretty focused and I think we understand what this game was going to look like and what it’s going to look like next week,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. “We had a good collective effort.”

Colorado, anchored by goalkeeper Tim Howard, withstood every Galaxy advance through the first half, getting into passing lanes and blocking shots.

In the 55th minute, the Galaxy caught a break as defender Jelle Van Damme got a ball near goal, played it around his defender, crossed to Giovani dos Santos who sent a header toward goal. Dos Santos’ shot deflected off of Colorado defender Axel Sjoberg and into the net for the 1-0 lead.

“I just tried something and it worked out,” Van Damme said. “Sometimes you need a little bit of luck and in the end it is always nice to get an assist.”

The Galaxy continued to look for a second goal. In the 77th minute, Baggio Husidic had a shot from 20 yards out that Howard easily secured.

Two minutes later, Landon Donovan’s sent an early cross to Mike Magee atop the 18-yard box. Magee was able to chest the ball down, but his shot was stopped by Howard.

It wasn’t just the Galaxy that the Rapids frustrated with their defense. Colorado allowed a league –low 32 goals. They recorded 12 shutouts during the regular season and allowed one goal or fewer 27 times.

That’s a good reason why Colorado coach Pablo Mastroeni didn’t seem too distraught over losing the opening leg of the series.

“I think we’re in a really good spot,” he said. “It was a hard-fought game from both sides. There weren’t too many clear-cut opportunities on either end. It was a bad break on our part to concede that goal, but again we knew it was going to be a difficult challenge to come in here and beat these guys at their place.

“I thought 2/3 of the field we were pretty good, I thought in the final 1/3, we just lacked that last play, that last movement, that last pass and shot. Having said, that we’re going back home to a place where we’ve been very good this year. I like our chances at getting a goal.”