D.C. United (pictured) is the top seed in the 2014/15 CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. (Photo: Lloyd Stone)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In 2014, D.C. United won their first Eastern Conference regular season crown in seven years, set a league record for single-season improvement and became the only American Major League Soccer side to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2014/15 CONCACAF Champions League (CCL).

All facts that make its early playoff exit even more difficult to swallow.

After losing 3-2 on aggregate to the New York Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference semifinal series, United is left to wonder what could’ve been if not for a disappointing performance in a 2-0 first-leg defeat on the road.

“I’m trying to get big picture, but that, it’s still too soon, so to speak,” said D.C. manager Ben Olsen of evaluating the season.  “Our expectations of ourselves were higher.  And the way we performed, the way we all collectively feel like we let each other down away in New York, is going to have to sit with us a little bit.”

That disappointment may fuel players through what will be an abbreviated offseason, which ends with the opening of CCL quarterfinal play in late February.

By topping Group 4 with maximum points from its four games, United is the tournament’s top seed and will play Alajuelense, with the first leg set for Feb. 24-26 in Costa Rica, before a return match at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium the following week.

The encounters will be D.C.’s first competitive fixtures of the 2015 campaign, and will come approximately four weeks after its first training session.  So in his final team meeting of the year, Olsen implored his players to remain as sharp and fit as possible over the holiday period.

“We’re looking at it as a wonderful opportunity to represent MLS in the right way,” Olsen expressed.  “This offseason is the most important offseason this club has had in a very long time.  So they need to make sure they’re doing what they can to put themselves in the best shape possible so that we can hit the ground running when we meet in preseason.”

Should United advance beyond the quarters, they’d play either the Impact de Montreal or Pachuca in a two-leg semifinal series several weeks later.  With MLS in full swing by then, fitness shouldn’t be an issue.

As the tournament’s top seed, United would also host the second leg in the semifinals and final, should they advance that far.

Defender and captain Bobby Boswell, who advanced to the CCL quarterfinals with the Houston Dynamo in the inaugural 2008/09 competition, said between the draw and the seeding, United knows it has the potential to make a deep run.

“I think we’ve probably put ourselves in as good a spot as any team has in terms of where we’re at,” Boswell stressed.  “I think we have a good chance here.”