By Zach Lowy
It has been nothing short of a sensational 12 months for Jason Shokalook. Born on September 30, 2002, Shokalook quickly grew accustomed to leaving his hometown of Erie, PA, in order to pursue his sporting goals.
Every Monday and Wednesday, his mother would pick him up from school and drive 2.5 hours south to Pittsburgh so that he could play hockey, and another 2.5 hours back, and every Tuesday and Thursday, they’d drive 2 hours west alongside Lake Erie and head to Cleveland, where he played soccer.
This ended after two years, as he chose to prioritize soccer, a decision that culminated in an athletic scholarship offer from the University of Akron, where he majored in business. Shokalook broke onto the scene during his junior year with 9 goals in 18 appearances before taking things up a notch in 2023, scoring a league-high 14 goals and 5 assists in 17 appearances, in addition to leading all BIG EAST players in shots (83) and points (33) and winning the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year.
Shokalook also proved his value at the USL League Two, spending the summer of 2021 with SC United FC and the summer of 2023 in Flint City, before being selected by Chicago Fire with the 35th pick of the 2024 MLS SuperDraft. Similarly to other center forwards like Keinan Davis, Shokalook was forced to bide his time and play a secondary role to MLS Next Pro Golden Ball and Golden Boot winner David Poreba, bagging 3 goals and 3 assists in 27 appearances across the 2024 season.
And after starting the 2025 season on the bench, Shokalook enjoyed a breakthrough campaign for Chicago’s reserves with a league-high 20 goals as well as a brace in their playoff defeat vs. New York Red Bulls. He was able to make his first and only MLS appearance after coming on for the final minutes of a 7-1 win vs. D.C. United, but after signing a first-team contract through the 2026 season with club options for 2027 and 2028, Shokalook will now be looking to make his mark in MLS on a consistent basis this season.
GBC Ghana spoke to Shokalook about a number of topics, including:
How would you describe your style of play? What kind of center forward are you?
For people who don’t really know me that much, I would say that my main strength is that I want to work hard, and I want to try, and give everything I can. I would also say that my biggest strength on the field is running and behind, and causing problems for the opposing defense, and the main thing that I want to prove is that I can help the team, make an impact, and help this organization win games and keep rising up in the ranks of MLS.
At 23 years of age, have you ever had to cope with any major long-term injuries, or not yet?
I’ve never had anything that’s too serious, knock on wood, but, yeah, thankfully, I haven’t had any serious injuries that have kept me out for a long time. I’ve had some little strains in different parts of the body, and these types of things, but I think that thankfully, with the amazing athletic training staff at Chicago Fire, they’ve really worked to get me back healthy as quickly as possible in the safest way. Right now, that’s my main focus: making sure that I’m staying strong within my whole body so that I can avoid any of these long-term injuries.
Lastly, we’ve seen plenty of players go from playing in USL League Two to MLS Next Pro to shining in MLS, like Diego Luna. How much of a goal is it for you to be able to not just be a successful player in MLS, but also represent all the MLS Next Pro players, as well as the tons of kids in Erie who may never have believed that they had a chance of becoming a professional soccer player?
When I got drafted by the Chicago Fire and came to the club, one of my main goals coming out of there was to help inspire these young kids who are working so hard and show that it’s possible. Erie may not be the biggest soccer town or whatever you want to call it, but my main goal was to give these kids hope and prove that these things are possible.
If you have a dream of becoming a professional soccer player, and you’re willing to work and make sacrifices and do all of the little things right, it’s possible. Same thing with MLS Next Pro, I think that making a step into the MLS, my goal to go and try to prove myself in MLS and show that it’s possible, just like Diego Luna and these types of guys showed me that it is possible. I think that that’s a big driver for me: I want to inspire people and pursue what I’m going after fully, so that I can show other people that it’s possible if they do it as well.
