TORONTO – Toronto FC defender Logan Emory showed his toughness by playing through a right shoulder injury that required surgery after the season was over.

“It says a lot about him, the type of character he has,” TFC director of team and player operations Earl Cochrane told MLSsoccer.com recently. “He wanted to try to soldier through it, and he did. It wasn’t lost on us.”

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Emory had a subluxation, or instability, in the shoulder that can result in dislocation. When the 24-year-old from Boise, Idaho, injured the shoulder again in the 0-0 draw against the Montreal Impact on Oct. 20 his season appeared to be over. But he was able to play a few minutes in the final game of the season, a 2-1 loss to Columbus a week later.

“When I did it originally back in the summer, we decided to wait and see what happens,” Emory said at the end of the season.

The plan was to let him play out the season with surgery scheduled for during the week after it ended.

“He went through a long stretch of the season with the pain in the shoulder,” Cochrane said. “It’s one of those injuries where you determine that he’s not going to do any more damage than has already been done. You get through it as long as you can stand the pain. He’s a tough kid and he went through the season and immediately following the season had the surgery and everything went well.”

Emory, in his first season in the league, played in 23 games with 19 starts. He signed with Toronto before the season after playing for two years with the Puerto Rico Islanders of the USL.

“The plan is I won’t be back fully, for full contact, by January,” Emory said. “But I should be fine to go before the season starts.”