HOUSTON, Texas -- Experienced Mexican club Santos Laguna looks to be hitting its midseason stride just in time for its CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) quarterfinal opener.

Tuesday's matchup with U.S. side Houston Dynamo kicks off this week's knockout phase action, and promises to be a battle between two teams at very different moments of their respective seasons.

While Houston just opened the Major League Soccer season over the weekend with a 2-0 win over DC United, Santos -- last year's CCL runner-up -- seems to be rounding squarely into form midway through the Liga MX Clausura.

With a 3-1 win at Jaguares at the weekend, Santos claimed a second straight league victory for the first time this season, boosting the Warriors to sixth in the domestic table. Despite the somewhat uneven form in 2013, the northern side has only lost twice in nine matches on the campaign, and comes to the BBVA Compass Stadium on an upswing.

The 2012 Clausura champion is clearly starting to hit its stride under head coach Pedro Caixinha, who took over in December, says veteran goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez.

"A few games into the season we're starting see his hand in this," Sanchez commented of his new coach. "What's missing is a little bit of finishing, but his idea is that we don't take too many risks and that we defend as a team, starting up top."

Following that strategy, the Warriors already boast the Liga MX's stingiest defense, having permitted only six goals thus far. But recent matches have seen a reawakening of the offensive thrust for which Santos Laguna has become known in recent seasons.

A double from U.S. international striker Herculez Gomez sandwiched a strike from Mexico star Oribe Peralta at the weekend, marking the first time Santos has scored three times in a single game this term.

More impressively, the goals all came within the first 20 minutes of the match, highlighting the return of the instant offense capability of a team known for lighting up the scoreboard in CCL play.

"Maybe we were lacking a little punch," said Gomez. "But it's not something that worries me because all three forwards - Oribe, Darwin [Quintero] and me - we've all had our opportunities, so it's not worrisome because we're generating chances."

Santos and the Dynamo square off Tuesday night in Houston, in the first of the home-and-away quarterfinal series that will determine one of the semifinalists in the 2012/13 edition of the CONCACAF Champions League.