The veteran goalkeeper has embraced a fresh start with FC Dallas after former club Chivas USA shut down at the end of last season.

Dan Kennedy has honed the art of focus.

It's a useful trait for any goalkeeper, of course. Perhaps no other position in sports punishes split-second lapses so severely. But this was a particularly useful skill set at the distraction mill known as Chivas USA.

First came the swaths of empty seats and locker room upheaval. Then former employees filed discrimination lawsuits against the club. Next came a change in ownership, followed by more empty seats and more locker room upheaval. And, finally, contraction.

All the while, Kennedy zeroed in on his game — and blocked out the rest.

"I've learned in this game that you can't get caught up worrying about what you can't control," Kennedy told Goal USA. "Maybe that was one of the things that kept me focused, and why I was able to be successful there despite the circumstances. It was all because I focused on what I could control — and that was taking care of myself, preparing for games and making sure I was ready."

The 2012 Goalkeeper of the Year finalist has topped MLS in goals allowed each of the past three seasons, yet remains in the conversation as one of the league's elite shot stoppers. The refrain says Kennedy was thrown to the wolves by a patchwork roster. And the statistics back it up: No player has faced more shots since 2011 than Chivas' sacrificial lamb.

After seven seasons with the now-defunct club, Kennedy has moved on. The top pick in November's dispersal draft will suit up for an FC Dallas side coming off a 16-12-6 campaign. Having never appeared in a playoff game, the 32-year-old finds himself on a dark-horse MLS Cup contender.

"It's been really good for me to just have a change of scenery and get out of my comfort zone," Kennedy said. "It's given me a little push."

In Kennedy, Dallas added a known commodity following last year's rotation between Chris Seitz and offseason casualty Raul Fernandez. While it remains to be seen if Kennedy will beat out Seitz for the starting spot this season, the vocal veteran already has carved a locker room niche.

As coach Oscar Pareja put it, "He brings a lot of glue within the group."

"Right off the bat, the first thing I noticed was the experience and leadership he brings to the locker room," defender Zach Loyd said. "He's always here early, always motivating guys, always works hard. So it's nice to have someone come into the locker room and have an immediate impact in that way."

Those are the qualities that earned Kennedy the captain's armband and a contract through 2016 with Chivas. But that pact will never be completed after the Southern California club ceased operations at the end of last season, with the league launching a new Los Angeles franchise in 2017.

Although reports of Chivas' imminent demise surfaced in September, the players weren't informed until after the regular season ended in late October. Down the stretch, Kennedy said some teammates did start exploring their options elsewhere. Yet most players kept fighting — whether it was to keep their current job or impress for the next one.

"We addressed it and asked for the club to comment and address the speculation," Kennedy said. "But in the end, it was speculation. So the club would tell us, 'Listen, we don't know what's going on.' We had to just continue to act as if the club would move forward. This game, it can be cruel and it can be very, very short. So you really have to just execute in the moment."

With Dallas, Kennedy has been devoid of such sideshows. While Kennedy and his wife plan to rent out their California home, she hasn't made the move to Texas just yet — leaving the goalkeeper to make soccer his "complete focus from sunrise to sunset."

"He comes out on the field and it's 100 percent business for him," captain Matt Hedges said. "That's the kind of player that I like. Off the field, you can be good friends. On the field, he’s down to work."

Born and raised in Orange County, Kennedy is a self-described "California kid." He acknowledges life in Texas will take some getting used to, though early-career stints in Puerto Rico and Chile showed he isn't afraid of the unknown. Now he's ready to move on from that strange, if ultimately satisfying, Chivas USA chapter.

After seven years, it's time to focus on something new.

"For me, I started my career there in 2008 and it was an amazing place to play," Kennedy said. "By the time I left, the club was just struggling. I felt for the fans that stuck through it all for us. But I'm ready to just put that part of my career behind me and make the most of what I have left."

Follow THOMAS FLOYD on