Shawn-Claud Nicholas Lawson (born 13 January 1994) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Simcoe County Rovers Simcoe County Rovers Football Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Barrie, Ontario, that plays in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. History The club was founded in 2021, by former Canadian national team p ...

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league began play in 2014 and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league in the Canadian ...

. Born in Canada, he represented Jamaica at youth international level.

Early life

Lawson was born in Scarborough,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, the son of former Jamaican national team player Jimmy Lawson. As an infant, he had an open heart surgery after the doctors had discovered a leaking valve. Lawson started playing youth soccer at the age of three with Ajax SC. He briefly played for North Scarborough SC and also trained with Dutch club Feyenoord's academy in 2006 and 2007. He later played for

Pickering FC Pickering Football Club, commonly known as Pickering FC, is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Pickering, Ontario. The club was founded in 1984 as a youth soccer club and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 20 ...

, where he was invited to attend trainings with English clubs

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...

and Birmingham FC after attending a soccer camp led by Canada national team player

Paul Peschisolido Paolo Pasquale Peschisolido (born 25 May 1971), commonly known as Paul Peschisolido, is a Canadian soccer manager and former player. Peschisolido was manager of English League Two club Burton Albion from May 2009 until March 2012. A forward, P ...

. He was part of the U15

provincial program. Afterwards, he returned to Ajax SC helping lead them to the 2011 Canada national U-18 championship, in which he scored the game-winning goal.

College career

In 2012, he began attending Oakland University, playing for the

Oakland Golden Grizzlies The Oakland University Golden Grizzlies are the athletic teams that represent Oakland University (OU) in the Horizon League and Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The school fields 16 teams: baseball, men's and ...

on a scholarship, after having interest from Clemson, North Carolina, Bucknell, Harvard, Colgate, Michigan, and the University of Cincinnati. He scored 8 goals in 78 appearances and won back-to-back

Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midw ...

titles in 2014 and 2015.

Club career

In 2013, during the college off-season, he joined NPSL club

Detroit City FC Detroit City FC (DCFC) is an American professional soccer club based in Detroit, Michigan, that competes in the USL Championship. The club played in the National Premier Soccer League from 2012 to 2019 and the National Independent Soccer Associ ...

. He played 19 total matches between 2013 and 2014. He scored the 2014 NPSL Goal of the Year. In 2015, he joined

PDL PDL is an initialism for: Politics * Democratic Liberal Party (''Partidul Democrat Liberal''), a former political party in Romania * Labour Democratic Party (''Partito Democratico del Lavoro''), a former political party in Italy * Pole of Freed ...

club

Des Moines Menace Des Moines Menace is an American soccer team based in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1994, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The Menace have had sustained success in USL League Two duri ...

, scoring his first goal and collecting his first assist on June 26 against the

Springfield Synergy FC Saint Louis FC U23 were an American soccer team based in Fenton, Missouri, United States. Founded in 2006, the team played in the Premier Development League (PDL), now USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Heartl ...

. In 2016, he played for NPSL club

Michigan Stars FC Michigan Stars Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the Metro Detroit area. The team currently competes in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA). History The club was established circa 1998 as Windsor Spart ...

. For the 2017 season, he re-joined Detroit City, leading them in scoring in 2017 with nine goals across all compeititons, also winning the NPSA Northwest Region Championship in 2017. After the NPSL season, he joined

Durham United FA Pickering Football Club, commonly known as Pickering FC, is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Pickering, Ontario. The club was founded in 1984 as a youth soccer club and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 201 ...

. The next year, he again returned to Detroit City, where he led the team in scoring in 2018 once again with eight goals across all compeititions. He also had a training stint with

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

club

Ottawa Fury FC Ottawa Fury Football Club was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competed in the North American Soccer League and USL Championship and played its home games at TD Place Stadium. The Ottawa Fury FC were d ...

in 2018. In late 2018, Lawson played for

side

Darby FC Darby FC is a Canadian semi-professional association football, soccer club based in Whitby, Ontario and Clarington, Ontario. The club was founded in 2015 to compete in League1 Ontario. The club was formed as a partnership between two local area ...

, making three appearances in August and September of that year. He returned to Detroit City in 2019. On July 7, he scored a hat trick in a 3-1 victory over

AFC Ann Arbor AFC Ann Arbor is an American soccer club based in Ann Arbor, Michigan that currently plays in USL League Two. The team played in the National Premier Soccer League from 2016 to 2019. History AFC Ann Arbor was started by a group of Ann Arbor ...

. He scored another hat trick on August 6 in the club's annual cross-border exhibition against Canadian club

Windsor TFC Windsor TFC is a Canadian soccer team based in Windsor, Ontario, that was founded in 2004. They have competed in the Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL) and Canadian Soccer League (CSL). Throughout their tenure in the CPSL/CSL, Windsor ...

. In 2019, he set the club record with 19 goals in a single season, being named the DCFC Black Arrow Award winner as team MVP. With the club, he won the NISA Fall Tournament Championship. He departed the club after the 2020 season as the club's all-time leading scorer with 51 goals across all competitions. On 29 April 2021, Lawson returned to Canada, signing with

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...

side

Atlético Ottawa Atlético Ottawa is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at TD Place. The team was founded in 2020 by Spanish club Atlético Madrid. History ...

. After the season, Ottawa elected not to exercise its contract option on Lawson. In February 2022, Lawson signed with

. He scored six goals, appearing in all 21 of the team's regular season matches and two playoff appearances.

International career

He first joined the

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

in 2010, later playing for them at the

2011 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2011 CONCACAF U-17 Championship determined the four CONCACAF representatives to advance to the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico. Jamaica staged the championship between 14 and 27 February. The United States defeated Canada 3–0 in th ...

, making two appearances in the group stage against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...

and Guatemala, and a third appearance in the third-place match against the

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

. He was subsequently called up for the

2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fourteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, and the eleventh played since the change in age limits from under 16s to Under 17s in 1991. It was held in Mexico with games being played amongst various venues ...

, where he made one appearance against Japan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Shawn Claud 1994 births Living people Men's association football forwards Canadian men's soccer players Jamaican men's footballers Soccer players from Scarborough, Toronto Canadian people of Jamaican descent Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Jamaican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Oakland Golden Grizzlies men's soccer players Detroit City FC players Des Moines Menace players Michigan Stars FC players Pickering FC players Darby FC players Atlético Ottawa players National Premier Soccer League players USL League Two players League1 Ontario players National Independent Soccer Association players Canadian Premier League players Jamaica men's youth international footballers Simcoe County Rovers FC players