MASSIVE Lacrosse Hit Called For Penalty Leads To Contentious Debate Over Legality Of Slobberknocker

Virginia lacrosse advanced to the Final Four with a win over Georgetown on Saturday. The Hoos took down the Hoyas on a neutral field in Albany and will face the winner of Sunday's NCAA Lacrosse Tournament game between Johns Hopkins and Notre Dame.

Virginia scored 17 goals in the three-goal win and forced Georgetown to keep its head on a swivel by playing physical and laying the wood at every moment possible. One particular instance led to some debate.

UVA senior long pole Mitchell Whalen subbed in from the near sideline right as the Hoyas crossed midfield in transition. Meanwhile, Georgetown long pole Will Tominovich found himself wide open on the offensive attack and his teammate dished him the ball.

He never heard Whalen coming.

Tominovich failed to collect the pass cleanly and turned to gather the loose ball when — BOOM!

He got licked. There were audible gasps as the Hoyas defender hit the turf, and the Cavaliers defender landed right on top.

Unfortunately, the slobberknocker was called for an illegal check penalty.

But was it the right call? Was the hit clean? Was it dirty?

Did Virginia lacrosse deserve to be called for a penalty?

Those questions led to some contention.

Let's take a closer look:

Whalen comes in on Tominovich's right side.

ESPN

He extends his left arm to lay the hit:

ESPN

There never appears to be an helmet-to-helmet contact, but the angle is not conclusive.

ESPN

And then Tominovich ends up on the turf.

ESPN

From the replay angle, though, there may be more evidence to suggest that Whalen's helmet connected with Tominovich's helmet. However, it too is disputable.

Virginia went on to win anyway, so the penalty did not have an impact on the outcome.

But was it clean? Should it have been called for a penalty?