Eraas taking flight with Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks

Russell Hodges
Posted 7/4/17

Rina Eraas hadn’t played any lacrosse prior to arriving at The Illinois Institute of Technology.

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Eraas taking flight with Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks

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Rina Eraas hadn’t played any lacrosse prior to arriving at The Illinois Institute of Technology.

The former Rochelle Township High School athlete accumulated three years of soccer and four years of tennis while serving as a four-time member of the Lady Hubs bowling team. But she didn’t begin her lacrosse career until her coach approached her while she was working with the Illinois Tech women’s soccer team.

“He really put the bug in my head that I should try it out, and he thought I’d be a really good fit for the team,” Eraas said. “It was a challenge at first trying to learn the basics skills and catch up to the people who had been playing their whole lives, but I proved to myself that you can throw yourself in and be beneficial to the team.”

Eraas started in 14 games for the Scarlet Hawks lacrosse team during her freshman season, helping the group finish with a 13-4 record. The defender played 14 more games as a sophomore, with Illinois Tech going 15-2 and 10-1 in its conference.

With the soccer program, Eraas and the Scarlet Hawks reached the United States Collegiate Athletic Association National Championships her freshman year, going 9-7-1 overall. She started all 20 games her freshman year, serving as a defender on a unit that allowed just 1.8 goals per game.

“It’s been great,” she said. “My teammates are what have made it so great… It’s a really great program. Soccer gave me the basic athleticism I need for another field sport, and tennis helped with hand-eye coordination. The rest was trial-and-error and putting in all the work.”

Looking to pursue an education in engineering, Eraas narrowed down her school selection to Illinois Tech and The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as she prepared to graduate RTHS. While Illinois Tech may be located in Chicago, the smaller campus and the school’s combined athletic and academic perks are what she said swayed her to attend.

“Illinois Tech has a great engineering program and it’s only a few minutes away from the heart of Chicago,” she said.

Eraas will continue to suit up for the Scarlet Hawks lacrosse team, but she said she will stop playing for the Illinois Tech soccer team in order to concentrate on her role as a cadet in the institute’s Air Force ROTC program. She said she will be commissioned as a second lieutenant after graduation, and she will serve four years with the Air Force before taking the next step in her career.

She said she’s unsure what that step will be, but as she continues to study engineering, she’ll be aiming to apply her academic skills to the field.

“I’ve always liked science and math so it kind of made sense for me,” she said. “I’m leaving it open and waiting to see how much I like the field I get into.”

Eraas may be leaving a chapter of her athletic career behind, but she said the skills she’s learned and the experiences she’s enjoyed have made her time with the Scarlet Hawks all the more memorable. And as she prepares for Air Force training this summer, she’ll be looking forward to getting back on the field with the Illinois Tech lacrosse team.

“We’re a family,” she said. “In high school you get along with your teammates and you might hang out, but in college you spend all of your time together. We get to travel to some really cool places… With college there’s a lot more time management, like figuring out how you’re doing to do your homework before waking up for practices at 5 a.m.”