After having suffered some lopsided defeats early in the season, NOVA ice hockey coach, Barrett Haga, finally found some time to smile after the second period of the Nov. 20 Sunday morning game against the University of Maryland at the Prince William Ice Center.

The defending Virginia Community College champion men’s basketball team began its season in early November. Duplicating last season’s success, however, is not a given as most of last year’s team is gone. The only holdover players are forward Jonathan Ball and the injured Andre Allen. Jamal Fair returns from the 2009-10 team.

The Northern Virginia Community College women’s volleyball team, with the help of early-season successes, ended its 2011 season with a winning record at 13-12.

The Northern Virginia Community College women’s basketball team led almost the entire game on Dec. 7 at Annandale, easily defeating the Howard Community College Dragons of Columbia, Md., and more than doubling their score.

NOVA’s co-ed ice hockey team began its season on Sept. 16, and has played eight regular games through Nov. 5.

The NOVA men’s soccer team’s chances for a winning season rested on the results of its final game against the Stevenson University JV team in a match on Oct. 23 near Baltimore.

This year’s Northern Virginia Community College women’s volleyball team carried over three players from last year’s 11-14 squad and added two new sophomores plus five freshmen.

Northern Virginia Community College, through its Alexandria campus community relations coordinator, is again sponsoring several greeting events of Honor Flights from all over the United States during the year bringing WW II veterans to Washington, D.C., and is looking for volunteer greeters

NOVA has recently announced that it has joined the National Junior College Athletic Association, effective for the 2011-12 academic year.

The NOVA men’s soccer team won its second match of the young season on the afternoon of Sept. 27 at Woodbridge’s Howison Homestead Park.