[1] Under her birth name, Anneke Linser, she played college ice hockey for five seasons at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), and participated in U18 international play for USA Hockey's national women's team.
[2][6] At the time of her graduation, she had the third most games played for the women's ice hockey team in the university's history, having played on UMD teams that made three straight NCAA tournaments, two of which made it to the NCAA Women's Frozen Four.
[7] Following graduation from UMD, Rankila initially signed with the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), but after the PHF was dissolved in the summer of 2023 as part of the creation of the PWHL, she chose to sign with Djurgårdens IF and play the 2023–2024 season in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL).
[8] She found early success offensively in the SDHL,[8] and her achievements by the end of the season included scoring 31 points in 36 games, with a plus/minus rating of +29,[3] a track record that had many PWHL draft watchers anticipating that she would be selected in that league's second annual draft in the summer of 2024.
[10] Although Rankila did not make the Sceptres' opening night lineup to begin the 2024–2025 season, she was successful in securing one of the final places on the team's roster,[11] and made her PWHL debut on December 1, 2024, in a game against the Montreal Victoire.