Former Long Island University player Alex Godelman has passed away.
One-time Blackbirds men’s soccer coach Arnie Ramirez announced Godelman’s death on his Facebook page on Tuesday morning.
Godelman, who had been ailing for the past few years, played for the LIU team that registered a 20-0-2 mark before losing to the University of Connecticut in the Elite Eight of the 1982 NCAA Division I playoff on penalties.
“Rest In Peace Alex and thanks for being part of the team that won 20 games tied 2 and lost to UCONN in the final eight of the NCAA’s playoffs on penalties,” Ramirez said on Facebook.
Godelman was a Soviet Jew. “Alex is just learning English, but you should hear him imitate the way some of our Hispanic players say ‘Is possible.’ The guys get along very well,” Ramirez said in a 1981 New York Times story about his United Nations lineup of a team.