The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation got one thing right.

The Air Force men’s soccer team finished exactly where it was predicted to end the regular season, earning the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament last weekend.

What happened after that was a shock to everybody.

Well, almost everybody.

The Falcons clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1997 with a victory over No. 9 New Mexico in an MPSF title match that came down to penalty kicks.

Air Force nailed all five of its shots, beginning with a goal by senior Zane Dydasco, a 2008 Kamehameha alumnus.

Dydasco, second on the team in goals and points, gave Air Force an advantage it never gave away.

"We all gathered at center field and thought to ourselves that we’ve made it this far, let’s leave it all out there and make sure we have each others’ backs," Dydasco said. "That put us all at ease."

Air Force needed a game-tying goal with 16 seconds left in regulation before winning it on penalty kicks for its third win over the Lobos this year.

UNM hasn’t lost to anyone else, going 16-3-1.

"We had already beat them twice and up to (the first goal), it was a 1-0 game and it just didn’t seem to feel right for some reason," Dydasco said. "New Mexico was playing for a seed in the tournament rather than playing for their lives like we were and it got real interesting. It was a big emotional roller coaster."

Dydasco caps an outstanding four-year career with a trip to the NCAA tournament, where the Falcons will play at Washington on Thursday. The winner will play at Creighton in a second-round game on Sunday. The Bluejays beat Air Force in the Falcons’ last appearance in the tournament 15 years ago.

Dydasco and his teammates gathered at a local sports bar on Monday to watch the NCAA selection show.

"It was awesome because last year we were hoping for an at-large bid and we were that team on the bubble that didn’t get it," he said. "To see our name come up was a great capping of the whole season."

A second-team All-MPSF selection as a sophomore, Dydasco has played in 73 matches for the Falcons, tallying 10 goals and 11 assists.

He tied a career high with 11 points and had a personal-best four goals in 2012, including two game-winners.

As the reigning Gatorade Player of the Year in Hawaii, Dydasco was looking at various schools, including Seattle University, Indiana and Xavier, before eventually settling on Air Force.

"Of course it was a lot different than a normal freshman year at other schools," Dydasco said. "The Air Force Academy kind of appealed the most to me out of the other schools I was looking at because of the potential it has afterwards and what it can do for me and what I can do for my career."

Dydasco originally wanted to be a pilot, but wound up majoring in Systems Engineering Management and will work heavily in cyber warfare once he graduates in May.

He’s one of two Dydasco siblings currently playing soccer at the Division I level. Sister Caprice is a sophomore at UCLA, which advanced to the second round of the NCAA women’s tournament over the weekend.

"I think we’re both really supportive of each other," Zane said. "As far as competition goes, she’s at UCLA and that school is at a completely different level than us, but we’re always texting each other back and forth after games so I don’t think there’s any rivalry between us at all."