Try to remember the most frustrating sports moment you have ever had — whether you were playing on the field, watching from the stands or just following the game on television.

Try to remember just how depressing, upsetting and maddening that moment was for you, how nothing could shake the incident from your mind and how a million scenarios of how it could’ve gone differently remained saved in your head for days or weeks to follow.

Then try to imagine that defeat coming at the hands of your most bitter rival, a team that, year in and year out, you focus solely on beating no matter the circumstance.

Now envision feeling that same emotion every year for three straight seasons.

And while that’s probably still an underestimate, this is roughly the emotional strain that members of the USC women’s water polo team have had to endure in their collegiate athletic career.

In the past three seasons, the Women of Troy have entered the NCAA tournament ranked first, second and third in the nation, respectively, notching at fewest 19 wins each year. They posted a 21-2 record at home, won two invitationals and captured a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title in that time span. In 2009, they went 24-1, swept conference play and rolled into the NCAA tournament on a 14-game win streak. Even after arriving at the NCAAs, the Women of Troy continued to perform well, winning each of their three quarterfinal-round matches.

Hard luck · Senior two-meter Kami Craig and the Women of Troy have fallen just short of the NCAA championship each of the past three years. - Amaresh Sundaram Kuppuswamy | Daily Trojan

So what is there to complain about?

Unfortunately, it is at this point where things start to go downhill.

In 2007, it was a down-to-the-wire 7-6 semifinal heartbreaker that left the No. 3 Women of Troy out of the championship game. In 2008, No. 2 USC was able to reach the final, but an offensive stall left it with a three-goal deficit and a second-place finish. And in 2009, the team’s closest run at the title in five years was halted, as the No. 1 Women of Troy were unable to net a game-tying goal late in the match to avoid an upset.

Three consecutive years, three consecutive top-three finishes — but no title.

And to add the proverbial salt to the wound, all three of these NCAA losses came against bitter rival UCLA, who went on to win the tournament each year and now sits atop a streak of five consecutive national championships.

Obviously USC’s success outside the NCAA tournament does not go unnoticed, and the Women of Troy have solidified themselves as a perennial national title contender. But for the Women of Troy to come so close without ever tasting true victory surely has left a sour taste in their mouths.

And judging by their first-half play this season, that is a taste that the entire team wants to get rid of.

Riding a nine-game winning streak, USC has moved into the No. 1 ranking for the first time since it lost in the NCAA final last year. The team is fresh off the UC Irvine Invitational, where the Women of Troy  won all four of its tournament games by four or more goals and secured the title with a 10-6 rout of previous No. 1 Stanford. They have been held to fewer than 10 goals in a game only twice — in which they scored nine and seven — this season and now sit at 11-1 and 1-0 in the conference.

And they show no signs of letting up.

“We have a whole new attitude now and a little burning desire to get revenge,” said senior two-meter Kami Craig, who was Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week last week.

Having played nine of its first 12 matches on the road, USC now has six home games in a row to settle in for. Considering how USC have dominated at McDonald’s Swim Stadium over the past few years, I’d be willing to bet that a return home is an advantage the team does not take lightly.

“There is nothing like playing at home,” Craig adds. “You have your home crowd, you’re at your home pool and you have the home-court advantage like everybody says.”

If the Women of Troy can continue their success, they more than likely will find themselves two months down the road in the NCAA tournament for the seventh consecutive season.

And while anything could happen there, it seems to be a certainty that there will be no shortage of effort or energy in pool for USC; not only because it is the seniors’ last opportunity to capture the title but also because it is a chance to drown out those missed opportunities of seasons passed.

“One-Two Punch” runs every other Friday. To comment on this article, visit dailytrojan.com or e-mail James at jbianchi@usc.edu.