Miami (Fla.) coach Mary-Frances Monroe considers Shannon McCarthy to be the hardest working women’s soccer play she has ever coached.

In late February, McCarthy, a Brighton native and 2015 Hurricanes graduate, signed a professional contract with FC Kibi International University Charme in Takahashi City, Japan, which opens its spring season Saturday.

Signing with FC University Charme was a hat tip to the exhausting preparation McCarthy, 22, put in during her five years at Miami as well as her work with the Michigan Hawks club soccer program she joined when she was 11.

“Shannon was a player that knew she needed to put the work in to succeed at the highest level,” Monroe said of the 5-foot-8 defender. “… She’s got a good awareness about her soccer ability and had to train extra to get to where she wanted to be.”

McCarthy, who played in 72 games at Miami, missed most of her redshirt sophomore season in 2012 after she learned of a blood clot in her left arm and was later diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, a disorder that occurs when blood vessels between the collarbone and first rib are compressed.

She played in only three games that season but she returned the following year and led Miami as a two-time captain her final two seasons.

“She bounced back great,” Monroe said. “Shannon took it upon herself to be a leader, even though she wasn’t playing. That’s helped her be even better of a player today because she had to be a student of the game and learn a lot that season. She was a great two-year captain, and I don’t think the injuries put her back at all.”

Monroe said that after practices, McCarthy would ask the coach to stick around for an extra training session. The coach said when McCarthy wasn’t in the classroom, she was on the field either training by herself or getting additional reps in with a few of her teammates.

“I have spent many hours by myself with the ball on a field, on a track running fitness tests or in the weight room lifting more than I thought possible,” McCarthy said in school news release last month. “And those hours have culminated with this point (of me signing with FC University Charme). I am ready for this.”

McCarthy finished with nine career points at Miami (one goal, eight assists), including notching five assists her senior year. She made 59 career starts.

Her father, Marty, was a pitcher for the Toledo baseball team in college and enjoyed a brief stint with the Detroit Tigers organization in the late 1980s.