SOCCER

Valdez Elliott, Class of 1985, was a four-year starter for the Lakeside varsity soccer team. During her time on the pitch, she was a three-time Most Valuable Player Award recipient (1982-84) and won the prestigious Viking Award in back-to-back seasons (1984-85). She was named a DeKalb County All Star all four years of high school, and in 1983-84 was named the DeKalb County Division Most Valuable Player.Outside of Lakeside, Valdez Elliott was a member of the 1983 U-19 State Select Team, and in 1984 was named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-South Team. In 1985, she was named to the NSCAA/Converse All-South Team, and was a National High School Athletic Coaches Association/Carnation All-American Honorable Mention selection.Valdez Elliott continued her education at Clemson University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Language and International Trade. During her time with the Tigers, she competed on the sailing club team where she met her future husband. In 1993, she attended the National Institute for Paralegal Training and later worked for the Bankruptcy Trustee of Northern Alabama.In 1995, Valdez Elliott lived in Paris for four months while her husband took overseas assignments, and in 1996 had her daughter and happily became a stay-at-home mom. Today, she spends much of her time outdoors and enjoys hiking, identifying wildflowers, and racing sailboats with her husband.

Hornsby, Class of 2004, competed on the varsity soccer and swimming teams during his time at Lakeside, all while simultaneously training for Olympic kayaking. As a senior, he qualified for the 2004 Olympic Trials, a major milestone in his athletic journey.Following his graduation from Lakeside, Hornsby went on to study aerospace engineering at the University of California San Diego. His engineering background became a key part of his athletic path, helping him support his Olympic ambitions by first building and developing starting gates, and later by creating an event management website used to run sporting events.Across his kayaking career, Hornsby was a three-time USA Olympic Trials winner, a 10-time World Championship Team member, a Pan American Games Medalist, a 2012 London Olympian, was a National Champion more than 20 times, and became the American record holder in the K-1 200M.After retiring from paddling, Hornsby began his sailing career in the America’s Cup. During his sailing career, Hornsby achieved 11 SailGP event podiums with two event wins, and was the 2024 Maxi 72 World Champion and the 2025 Maxi 72 European Champion. Beyond sailing, he continued to grow within the team environment, eventually taking on responsibility for fiber optics systems. Today, he is on the sailing team in his fourth season of SailGP and also serves as the technical director for the team.

Smith, Class of 1997, first began playing soccer in the TYSA youth soccer program before spending time within Georgia Select and the Olympic Development Program. At Lakeside, he captained the 1997 State Championship Team as a senior and was an All-State selection that same season.Deciding to forgo his competitive soccer career, Smith continued his education at the University of Georgia before returning to soccer. In 2008, he returned to Lakeside as a varsity assistant coach and junior varsity head coach for the soccer program, and helped lead the Vikings to another state title. He became the varsity head coach in 2013 and held the position until 2017 when he stepped down to focus on being an elementary school principal at the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf as well as an Academy coach at TYSA.During his time with TYSA, Smith served as the Academy Junior Director and coached several other youth Academy teams, which he still does today. At AASD, he started and coached a competitive soccer team that was a member of the Atlanta Athletic Conference.Smith returned to DeKalb County in 2024 as an educator and coach. He led the Henderson Middle School soccer team to a DeKalb County Championship in 2025, the program’s first. Today, he continues coaching soccer at both Henderson Middle School and Lakeside High School.

Ray, Class of 1973, was a multi-year soccer star while playing for the Vikings. In 1972, he helped Lakeside reach the playoffs, and would go even further as a senior the next season as the Vikings advanced all the way to the state championships. That same year, he was an All-State selection. During his senior year, he was also the President of the Lakeside Key Club.Following Lakeside, Ray continued his education at the Oxford College of Emory University, and continued to play on the pitches in Oxford. In the 1974 and 1975 seasons, he helped lead the Eagles to the Georgia Junior College Championships, winning both years. He would later earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Georgia where he also played on the Bulldogs’ club soccer team from 1976-77. Across those seasons, the Bulldogs won the Southeastern Conference Championship twice.After graduating from Georgia, Ray embarked on a profession centered around medical device sales and marketing. During his career, he worked with companies such as Drager, Philips Respironics, and Mercury Medical.Ray has been married to his lovely wife Cindy Cheney Ray for 44 years. Together, they have three sons: Ryan, Dylan, and Kevin. Ray’s love for soccer has not faded over the years, as he still watches as many Premier League matches as he can.

The rich history of Lakeside soccer features talented players and dominant teams that were more than formidable while competing on the pitch. With seven total soccer state titles, the Vikings are in no shortage of memorable matches, however, the decades of supremacy all began with the program’s first-ever state title in 1970.Led by Head Coach Bill Driskell, who took over the soccer program in 1969 just three years after the Georgia High School Association included soccer in its interscholastic athletic program, the Vikings achieved a 14-1-1 record across their championship season. This sparked a stretch of dominance no other school at the time could match, as Lakeside proved to be an athletic powerhouse.The championship path for the 1970 Vikings featured victories over Paulding County (8-0) and Northside-Atlanta (4-0) before a thrilling 1-0 overtime victory against Westminster to secure the championship berth. In the title match, the Vikings bested North Springs 1-0, engraving their names in the Lakeside history books as the program’s first-ever soccer state champions.Driskell, who was also a well-respected teacher, passed away in February of 2020 due to complications from surgery for esophageal cancer, but his legacy remains as one of Lakeside’s earliest athletic influences. His impact, and the achievements of those who competed on the 1970 State Championship team, will never be forgotten.