Short of a championship, Shyra James had accomplished just about everything any soccer player could ask for when her senior season wrapped up last November.

Excelling at the next level, however, requires more than a few exemplary skills and a bunch of gaudy statistics. It often requires sharp attention to the little details — matters such as nutrition, fitness and scouting upcoming foes — to turn those above-par skills into a stable and lengthy pro career.

Mastering those details is a big reason why James has returned to the Colorado women’s soccer team for one final season, taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA for the COVID year of 2020. With a prolific scorer at the top of a lineup boasting a wealth of returning experience, James is a big reason why the Buffaloes expect to make noise in their return season in the Big 12 Conference.

“My thought process was that last year would be my last year,” James said. “But as I talked to my coaches and my parents, they felt like it was best if I came back. At first I was like, ‘No, I don’t want to come back.’ But it’s better for me in the long run, so I chose to come back.

“I just thought (another year) would help with my mentality. I feel like I didn’t have a pro mentality yet, and with one more year I could focus on working on that and holding myself to a higher standard. This extra year is going to be beneficial.”

When the Buffs open the season on Aug. 15 at home against Marquette, James already will be one of the program’s all-time scoring leaders. If she stays healthy the entire season, James might reset the program’s bar to some lofty standards.

James’ 15 goals and 32 points last year both were the second-highest season totals in team history, trailing only the 17 goals and 37 points compiled by Nikki Marshall in 2006. James owns two of the top-10 season goal-scoring totals in program history (also 11 in 2022), and James and former Buff midfielder Taylor Kornieck are the only players with multiple entries on that list.

James enters the 2024 campaign with 40 career goals, trailing Marshall’s 42 for the all-time mark. James ranks third all-time in points with 86 (trailing Marshall’s 93 and Kornieck’s 102), and she also is the program’s career leader with 0.53 goals per game (ahead of Marshall’s 0.49 and Kornieck’s 0.48). Thanks to the extra season, James has a chance to put some of those career marks essentially out of reach.

“We had a lot of conversations about it, and I think we both came to the conclusion that she still has more growth, on and off the field,” CU head coach Danny Sanchez said. “The professional realm is different than college, in that college provides a lot more support, a lot more resources, than you’re going to get at that level. As we talked about it, her growth, her opportunity to finish her degree, which is very important to her and her family, and she has some unfinished business here. She has an opportunity to go down in the record books at a lot of levels, passing a lot of really good players. You only get one chance to cement your legacy, and I think that was part of it as well.”