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.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.