Junior lacrosse player Katrina Dowd. Photo courtesy of Stephen J. Carrera.

If you haven’t been following Northwestern women’s lacrosse, our then-leading scorer, SESP senior Hilary Bowen, went down with a knee injury on April 4. The Cats needed somebody to step up, so Katrina Dowd, a Communication junior, took it upon herself to fill the void left by HilBo’s torn ACL.

“I’ve definitely put more responsibility on myself,” said Dowd. “I know that going to the Final Four is a goal we’ve had since the beginning of the season, and I’m playing as hard as I can to get us there.”

And during the NCAA playoffs, Dowd has been stepping up in a big way. She’s scored seven goals in both of Northwestern’s first two postseason games, and now leads the team with 67 goals.

In light of Dowd’s recent performance, and that headband she wears during games, I’ve come up with seven reasons why Katrina Dowd is the karate kid. That’s one for each of the goals she scored in Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinal game against Princeton.

1. Hilary Bowen is Mr. Miyagi.

In the 1984 motion picture The Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi is the wise old man who teaches the actual karate kid, Daniel Larusso, the martial arts abilities he needs to defeat some local karate bullies. The age difference between senior Hilary Bowen and junior Katrina Dowd might not be as apparent, but Bowen has given Dowd the advice she’s needed to excel since the veteran attacker went down with a knee injury. Dowd has used HilBo’s advice pretty successfully to become the Cats’ leading scorer.

2. She’s a brunette.

All right, so this one’s kind of a stretch, but it’ll make sense once you get to number three on the list. The important thing to take away here is that the karate kid can’t have blond hair, because he or she has to battle Los Angeles surfer boys.

3. The headband.

This is the obvious one. This is the one that made me start making these comparisons. Every game, Dowd wears a white headband tied around her head that makes her look just like the original karate kid from the headband up. Again, this comparison wouldn’t be nearly as strong if Dowd had blond hair.

4. She’s clutch.

If Daniel Larusso didn’t come through in the end to defeat the Cobras, the film wouldn’t have the cultural notoriety it does today. In the same vein, if Katrina Dowd didn’t come up huge in NCAA tournaments, she could not be the karate kid.

“Katrina sort of lives for these NCAA tournaments,” said senior teammate Hannah Nielsen. “Every year since she’s started, she’s played really well in the playoffs, especially the championship game.”

When the Cats win their fifth straight national championship game, you’ll realize that my comparison is right on.

5. She’s clutch because it’s personal.

In the final scenes of The Karate Kid, Daniel Larusso takes the final fight with an injured ankle, even though his mentor tells him he doesn’t have to. It’s the same story with Dowd. Bowen didn’t ask her to step up after she went down — Dowd took it upon herself to improve the team.

“Katrina has just exceeded all expectations in terms of stepping up,” said head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller.

6. She’s from the East Coast.

Dowd was born in Yorktown Heights, New York, and although she didn’t travel as far as Daniel Larusso, these two both had to move west to claim their fame. Larusso won a karate tournament in California, and Dowd has won two national championships (so far) with her Evanston-based team.

7. She’s on pace to break the NCAA tournament scoring record.

This record currently belongs to Dowd’s teammate and mentor, Hilary Bowen, who set the record in 2008. Dowd needs to score three more goals to tie the 17-goal record. Assuming Northwestern makes it to the national finals, Dowd has two more games to score three goals, and she’s scored seven in each of the Cats’ first two postseason games.

“This is what you play the whole regular season for, so this is when you want to show up,” said Dowd of the postseason. “I just want to be a threat whenever I get the ball.”

Will she break the record? Of course — she’s the karate kid!